I just hosted my first Annual Cookie Exchange. It was a great way to get together with the girls and swap recipes! Even though I’ve never participated in a cookie exchange – I have seen pictures of them where a table is covered with waxed paper and the cookies are just dumped on to the table. That is not what I envisioned my cookie exchange to be. If you’ve spent hours picking out a recipe, shopping for the ingredients and then mixing, rolling, shaping, baking and decorating your cookies – they deserve to be show cased on a pedestal. I’m just saying!
The cookies needed a special place to sit pretty before we devoured them. First – the table cloth. I’ve never ironed my table cloth before…but boy does it make a big difference. So if you have time before throwing a party – I highly recommend ironing your table cloth before hand. Trust me…it never made sense to me before I tried it myself!
Next, I set out pretty and functional dishes. I kept the serving trays and platters simple. I know it’s tempting to use all fun holiday inspired plates and such, but I really wanted to keep it sophisticated and I didn’t want the dishes to compete with the cookies. The cookies were the main focus after all. Add some elements to create a festive atmosphere. Keep it simple. I covered some empty soup cans with wrapping paper and crumpled up some foil to put in the bottom. Then filled them with an assortment of candy canes. I also placed bows and other holiday decorations around the table to tie it all together. It was just stuff that I had in my Christmas box that I’ve saved from gift baskets and presents. Also – tall vases are perfect for tall flowers such as gladiolas. It was easy, trim the bottoms and stick them in a tall vase. I actually wanted to fill the vase with cranberries, but I couldn’t find any cranberries anywhere! Maybe next year.
Here are some of the cookies that we got to sample: YUM!
Barefoot Contessa’s Jam Thumbprint Cookies
Nestle’s Yuletide Layered Bars
Even Bakerella’s Cake Pops made an appearance…
Molasses Spice Cookies
Cowboy Cookies
Martha Stewart’s Kitchen Sink Cookies
I truly believe that it’s the little details that make your gatherings, party or event stand out. The mini ornament place card holders were so cute and I got so many compliments on them! I got a set of 6 at Michael’s with my 40% off coupon for less than $3.00. The great part is you can reuse them year after year. I printed up every one’s names and their cookies. It was a fun way to label every one’s creations.
and…here’s the best part of the night…actually getting to eat the goods! Clearly, my plate is too small!
(Molasses Spice, Better Home & Garden’s Snickerdoodles, Toffee Cookies, Cowboy Cookie, Chocolate Mousse cup & Pumpkin Bar with Cream Cheese Frosting) Can we say delish?!
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