Christmas Cookie Season

Christmas Cookie Season, only the most wonderful time of year! You’ve got your classic sugar cookies, chocolate chip, gingerbread, thumbprints & so many more. There is no going wrong!

In the spirit of Christmas cookie season I thought I’d take a moment and share my love for cookies, cookie swaps and my cookie recipe from last year.

Cookie Exchange 

The first cookie swap I went to was about 3 years ago when my friend Nicole invited me to join her at her friends annual cookie exchange. We went a little early to help set up and I quickly caught on that this was a well orchestrated event full of Christmas cheer and fun. The set up was pretty simple, around the perimeter of the room there was a L shape of tables for each of the cookies to be displayed on. There were about 25-30 people in attendance and everyone made 12 dozen cookies so there were a lot of cookies to display! Then, in the middle of the room there were a few round tables with chairs for everyone to sit at during the party. To set up we decorated all of the tables with Christmas décor, created a hot chocolate bar and organized a gift table for the gift exchange.

Once everyone arrived we played a few games, exchanged gifts and then lined up to pick out cookies. The cookie exchange itself was somewhat of a process with that many people and cookies! When everyone arrived they picked a number and that was the order we lined up in to select the cookies we wanted. I don’t remember the exact process but I remember we went around a bunch of times until all the cookies were taken. The cookie selection didn’t disappoint and the presentation was phenomenal. Every kind of cookie you could imagine was there and they were all delicious. Cookie presentations varied, probably the most popular were Christmas/ holiday plastic baggies and others had cookies in decorative tins or boxes.

That year I made an Italian Christmas cookie with lemon icing topped with rainbow sprinkles. I can’t find a picture or I’d share one. These cookies were quite labor intensive being that I made so many, plus I had to put icing and sprinkles on them but they were delicious! Overall for my first go at a homemade cookie I was really happy with the outcome. The only point I missed a little on was the presentation. No one told me about that so I was the girl who showed up with cookies in gallon Ziplocs, ha! That didn’t stop anyone though, my cookies went fast 🙂 Below I included the recipe I made the next year for Sea Salt Raspberry Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, trust me they are delicious!

To keep the cookie tradition going I’ll be hosting a small cookie swap with friends this year. I don’t have a recipe in mind yet but I’ll be checking out Pinterest. So far my friends have claimed chocolate chips, pistachio, Orea balls, slutty brownies, and M&M cookies. I’ll be sure to share some pictures of all the cookies! Please leave cookie recommendations in the comments, much appreciated!

Sea Salt Raspberry Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp of table salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of baking soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder, sift if lumpy
• 1 jar of raspberry jelly
• Sea salt to taste
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 3 oz bittersweet chocolate melted and slightly cooled

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt baking powder and baking soda together
• in a stand mixer with paddle attachment beat the butter, sugar and cocoa powder until blended well (2 mins). Add large eggs 1 at a time, add vanilla with the last egg. Continue mixing, add cool melted chocolate, add flour mixture, stir to combine
• Use a teaspoon or mini ice cream scoop to place cookies on the baking sheet. Bake 9 minutes, take out 3 minutes early to make indents with a spoon. Place tsp of raspberry in indent. Let cool and sprinkle with sea salt to taste

Leave a comment if you try these and let me know how they turn out!