No wonder Cookie Monster is one of the most beloved Sesame Street characters of all time, because nothing reduces mature adults into little children more than a plate full of cookies. We had our annual Christmas party yesterday and we decided to participate in a cookie swap. Have you ever done this?Everybody makes two dozen cookies; the recipe of their choice, and brings them to the party. The cookies get laid out on a table and the guests each get to make a platter full of two or three of each kind of cookie. We had 11 people and about 15 different varieties of cookies to make a generous platter of cookies from. The hostess bought us special Christmas platters to house the cookies and take home as a party favor. It was a blast, and all of the cookies were fantastic. We even ended up swapping a few recipes by the end of the party.
The best part of the cookie swap is that now everyone has all these different, colorful and fantastic cookies, we get to share them with our families! When I got home, the quiet household came to life and more than a few cookies were consumed before dinner. We had gingerbread men, candy canes with colorful frosting and Christmas trees. There were smores bars and wedding cakes and peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses. One woman made colorful bags full of a wonderful mix she called "White Trash", which was Check mix with melted white chocolate and another made homemade English Toffee.
I got a recipe for these little treats:
Pretzel Squares
Rollo Candy
Pecans
Put the Rollo candy on top of the pretzel square, then the pecan on top of that.
Place in an oven heated to 325 degrees.
Watch as the candy melts, just enough to adhere to the pretzel and the pecan to the candy, a few minutes.
Remove from oven and let harden.
Enjoy!
The tough part is now staying away from the cookie platter, especially when a cookie would make a nice breakfast on the go and great lunch follow up. Too bad there's not a fool proof way to remove all the fat and calories these colorful creations are chock full of.
Now that would be one heck of a Christmas present, right?
The Mave LOVES cookies!!!! The office always gets edible gifts from other practices during the holidays. We usually wind up pawning them off on our patients as they sit in the waiting area...lest we over-indulge. :-)
ReplyDeleteI am not the biggest cookie eater (I'll take cheese and nuts or a cheeseball over cookies anyday), but that sounds like fun, regardless!
ReplyDeleteMave- A great way to share the wealth! I hate to waste food. I also love these little treats called "Cotlets" they are kind of like a Turkish Delight.
ReplyDeleteSybil-I am like you. I'll take a salty cheese and cracker over a sugary treat any day. BUT, it's really nice to have this colorful platter full of great homemade cookies to share.
There used to be these butter cookie things that were covered in white frosting and then sprinkled with litt;e green and red candy bits that only came out around Christmas and I haven't seen them in a while. Not the glaze white frosting but something thick and probably very bad for you, and the sprinkles weren't the shiny, sparkly kind they have now but little colored things the size of ants and stuff. That was always a Christmas passion of mine when I was a kid. I've seen some that are close to it, but nothing is like it was anymore... sob...
ReplyDeleteI like that idea of the cookie swap.
ReplyDeleteThe only drawback is that as the King Cookie Monster, I would eat them all!
I'm with Sybil - I LOVE my nuts and/or balls during the holidays !
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea!
ReplyDelete