Holiday cookie exchange

I took part in a cookie exchange today!

I feel like I won a jackpot.

Here is what I scored:

Here is what I shared:

See the difference?  I used fancy plastic wrap and most of them used their imaginations.

I scored snowballs, chocolate chip cookies, peppermint bark, spiced sugar cookies, butter cookies with cherries on top, white chocolate lemon drop cookies, lemon rolled cookies, gingerbread men, oatmeal raisin cookies.  Great variety and I'm kind of surprised there weren't any shortbread cookies.  So far, the quality of the ingredients used is good too, though I have yet to sample them all.

We brought a treat to share, but because the cookie I made to exchange had peanuts in it, I did not share them in the nut-free facility we were using for the event.  I made a batch of cake balls and shared them instead.  They went over well, but they weren't the biggest hit.  I honestly feel the butter cookies with the cherries on them were better. 

I'm really impressed with the perceived effort that went into the gingerbread men.  This means she rolled out, cut out and fully decorated 72 individual cookies.  That's more dedication than I had for the cookie exchange.

 

 

 

 In retrospect, I will put more imagination and effort in to a cookie exchange next year and maybe my offerings will be dressed to impress!

I made Janet & Greta Podleski's Girl Guy Cookies, a cross between a peanut butter cookie and a spicy molasses cookie.  They are chewy and bake up really purdy-like so they look good for setting out on a platter and trading to new friends and neighbours.  The recipe is here for the Girl-Guy Cookies.

Girl-Guy Cookies with a chewy centre and crispy outside.