I must have grown up too close to Detroit to know what a Carvel was until 2009. That St. Patrick’s Day my friend Ned started it all with a big fuss over Cookie O’ Puss (click for video introduction). Cookie Pusses would have been enough of an amazing discovery, but a festive St. Patrick’s Day Cookie Puss with an “O” lodged in his name? Cookie O’ Puss was just too much! Unfortunately we were in Savannah, Georgia– St. Patrick’s capital of the South– and Savannah doesn’t need a Cookie O’ Puss to be festive, so neither we did.

Besides, it was my friend Colleen’s birthday and we already had festive non-O’Puss ice cream cake.

I regretted it. Cookie O’ Puss swamped my mind for weeks. His voice. His festive red hair. His dilated green pupils. His hat! I did daily Google searches for Cookie Pusses. Beware: there’s a lot of dirty pin ups of Cookie Puss out there. None of this was ever enough. I decided I must make my own knock-off Cookie O’ Puss to get it out of my system. But when?

Easter Eve it was decided. A picnic was already planned for Easter Sunday, and it was my better friend David’s birthday. A cake was in order! Below is the only remaining evidence of Easter O’ Puss’s short life:

One of my fondest memories is frantically calling my friends* to coordinate our arrivals at the park before Easter O’ Puss disappeared forever. The hysteria was a little unnecessary. Even after we ate him and he melted his sticky, gooey mess stuck around for hours. We had to move our croquet game a few feet down to keep out of the ants.

This year there is no Easter O’ Puss, but I did find the genetic mutation of a bunny, chicken and something purple:

*Additional shout-outs to Kevin, Jeremy & Dave who made Easter O’ Puss a success, but not because of their birthdays which is why there was no eloquent mention in the storytelling.

Happy O’ Easter, Akitschionados!