Photo by Jim Franco
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A Sweet Deal
By Dorie Greenspan, November & December 2007
It’s a baking bonanza: you give cookies, you get cookies—lots of them
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Sweet Deal Recipes
Almond and Currant Teacakes
Cherry and Spice Brownie Bites
*Coffee-Hazelnut Biscotti
*Sweet and Savory Roll-ups
*World Peace Cookies
* denotes Online Extra recipe
’Tis the season for mistletoe and holly, sugarplums and elves, and cookies, cookies, and more cookies. As a baker, I love that just about now, even people who seldom fire up their ovens dust off their mixing bowls and head for the kitchen to bake cookies, the official sweet of the season. Cookies are what we leave near the chimney for Santa, have on hand for friends who drop in, and bake for one of the holiday’s liveliest traditions—the cookie exchange.
The idea behind a cookie exchange is brilliant: each person arrives with a dozen home-baked cookies for each guest (plus an extra dozen for sampling) and leaves with as many dozen different cookies as there are invitees. In between, there’s time with friends and a chance to sample what everyone brought. The respite from the holiday whirlwind is welcome; the companionship, just what we need; and the economy of effort, stunning: you bake one big batch of cookies, and you end up with a variety it would have taken you days to make on your own. It’s rare when you can have your cookies and eat them, too.
To get you started, we’ve come up with a couple of cookie recipes that are sure to be crowd pleasers but that are just enough out of the ordinary to ensure your friends won’t be bringing the same kind. And we’ve put together a list of tips to make your cookie exchange the best and easiest party of the season.
Hosting Made Simple
Follow these tips to turn your next cookie exchange into a holiday affair to remember.
Plan ahead Invite your friends at least three weeks in advance. Getting the invitations out early means your guests can bake at their leisure.
Limit the list Because every guest will be expected to bake a dozen of his or her cookies for every other guest, as well as an extra dozen for the party, it’s best to hold the guest list to between 8 and 12 people.
Have some great cookie recipes on hand Not all of your friends will be great bakers. But encourage them to join in the fun by giving them a no-fail recipe to try.
Provide a little cookie guidance Ask your guests to avoid delicate lace cookies, thin wafers, and cookies with gooey icings or sticky frostings; cookies destined for an exchange should be sturdy, because they’ll be traveling from house to house.
Spill all your secrets Encourage your guests to come with copies of their recipes. Swapping recipes as well as cookies makes the exchange richer. If there are stories attached, so much the better.
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Be the bag lady Don’t forget to ask everyone to bring carry-home containers for the cookies they’ll collect. But do stock extras as well—decorative shopping bags and zipper-lock storage bags are ideal for those who might have forgotten theirs or who underestimated the abundance of their cookie cache.
Make it pretty Arrange your table so everyone’s cookies can be displayed. Holiday platters and serving dishes make a beautiful table, but not many of us have a dozen of these; use what you’ve got, and fill in with cookie jars, cutting boards, and cookie sheets lined with holiday napkins.
Keep the party nibbles simple Cookie exchanges are generally a sweets-only affair, so feel free to leave it at that. Serve coffee, tea, and eggnog on the side.
Share the wealth Think about starting a new tradition—the giveaway. Ask each guest to bring an extra dozen, then pack them up in a big box, tie them with a pretty ribbon, and deliver them to a place where people won’t have the time to bake their own cookies—the fire station, say, or the local soup kitchen. It’s a sweet way to share the spirit of the season.
Dorie Greenspan is the author of Baking: From My Home to Yours (Houghton Mifflin, 2006), and also writes a blog at www.doriegreenspan.com. Read her article "Hot Freezables" in the November & December 2006 issue of AARP The Magazine.
Find lots more delicious desserts in our recipe database
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