Help me not be a "cookie nerd" as my friend put it

[Ottakee]

We have just started going to a new church in the past year. In 2 weeks they are having a cookie exchange with the ladies. You bring 3 dozen cookies---2 dozen to exchange and 1 dozen will go to shut ins or a local ministry, etc.

 

A friend who just started attending a few months ago and I want to go to this but we don't want to be cookie nerds as she put it.......the person who no one exchanges with, or the one who they do just because they feel sorry for you because no one else will exchange with you........like the dreaded being picked last for a team in jr. high.

 

She said she can do chocolate chip cookies and rice krispie cookies, me, I can handle the chocolate chip and a few variations but struggle with the rice krispie bars :-) She is a good cook and so I am but we cook comfort food type stuff, not Christmas cookie exchange type stuff.

 

Any ideas for us?

[QueenCat]

I've never seen an exchange where you literally trade with a specific person. Every exchange I've ever been to involved everyone putting their baggies on a big table. You walk around the table and take the requisite number of baggies, and you can't take more than one baggie from the same pile.

[SJ.]

Cookies with Andes Mint chips in place of chocolate chips are easy and always a hit here.

[Night Elf]

I agree with CathieC. The cookie exchanges I've been on, all the plates of cookies are set on the table. You go around with a plate/container and pick up one cookie from each plate. That way you're getting some of what everyone brings.

[Bambam]

These are what I made for our cookie exchange this year

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-chocolate-orange-cookies/

 

The recipe is very similar to a chocolate chip recipe and makes and bakes about the same. I did toss in orange flavored cranberries because I wanted them to be prettier and more seasonal. They have been a big hit so far. I did make them and freeze the ones for the cookie exchange (which is next week), and I have my fingers crossed that residents of my household won't eat them all before then.

[Belacqua]

Cocoa Snowflakes look a lot more complicated than they really are. Really good, too.

[KRG]

These are some of my favorite Christmas cookies:

http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chocolate-crinkles/941e22b3-9a48-4fb1-bdb0-27479e76d484

[plansrme]

These are what I made for our cookie exchange this year

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/white-chocolate-orange-cookies/

 

The recipe is very similar to a chocolate chip recipe and makes and bakes about the same. I did toss in orange flavored cranberries because I wanted them to be prettier and more seasonal. They have been a big hit so far. I did make them and freeze the ones for the cookie exchange (which is next week), and I have my fingers crossed that residents of my household won't eat them all before then.

 

OP, I vote that you make these, but PLEASE don't do what one reviewer did and substituteTANG for the orange zest.  Ewwwww!  I can't resist the reviews on allrecipes:  "I made it exactly as described, only I substituted half soda for the baking powder, used half the recommended amount of chips, macadamia nuts instead of walnuts, and I added cream of mistletoe.  Other than that, exactly as described, but I give them 3 stars."

 

Bambam, these look great; I'm going to make them with the cranberries as you suggested because I have about twelve pounds of dried cranberries on hand.

 

As for being a cookie nerd, chocolate chip cookies made from the recipe on the back of the bag will instantly brand you a cookie nerd.  You are correct that you're going to need to step up your game.  Good luck.

[Halftime Hope]

My two very best cookie recipes are listed here in post #21 for the world's best ginger snaps (people ask me for the recipe year after year) and really, really good spritz cookies.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/482178-do-you-have-a-recipe-that-is-just-so-good-and-so-much-better-than-any-other-that-youd-cry-if-you-lost-it/?hl=%26quot%3Bginger+snaps%26quot%3B&do=findComment&comment=5103367

 

The ginger snaps look nice if you make them exactly as I describe, taking care to roll smaller balls and make the balls very uniform, then roll in sugar.  They're very pretty that way. 

 

The spritz cookies are as pretty as you'd like them to be, but take care not to brown the bottoms.  The green wreathes (details in the recipe) as really pretty and would take you off the "cookie nerd" list immediately.  The green Christmas trees are really spectacular, too, but you can't be allergic (figuratively) to green food coloring or to pretty, colored sugars.)  LOL!

 

 

 

[zoobie]

Peanut butter cookies with miniature Reese's cups or Hershey Kisses. Pioneer Woman has a tutorial with pictures: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/01/cookie_dough_and_candy_/

[Erica in OR]

Just made these Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Cookies for our church exchange today. So good. Gingerbread for the holiday flavor, but enough of a twist for those who aren't crazy about gingerbread. I made sure to label the plate to tell what they were. 

 

http://www.daydreamkitchen.com/2013/04/chocolate-chip-gingerbread-cookies/

 

Erica in OR

[Ottakee]

Thanks for the ideas. I also saw http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/white-chocolate-macaroon-cookies/ed40caf7-ac3d-45ee-951c-dcbf74e8e99f and thought those looked good.

 

I am sure it will be setting out our stuff and everyone goes through the line and picks 1-2 of whatever varieties they want until they reach their 2 dozen. This is like a potluck though where you want YOUR dish to be the one that is empty---not still 1/2 full at the end :-)

 

My friend is inviting along her daughter in law who is good at this stuff too.

 

We aren't really that big of wimps and the church has been extremely welcoming, it is just hard to be the "new person" and "cookie nerd" all in one.

[Ausmumof3]

You could sub the chocolate chips for white choc chips and macadamia they taste great

[Liz CA]

I think thumbprints are some of the easiest cookies around. Make your fave dough, form balls, poke a hole in the top and fill with jam or melted chocolate.

 

Vanilla Crescents are very easy and good:

 

1 3/4 cups of flour

1/2 cup of finely chopped walnuts

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1 whole egg

1 yolk

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract *

powdered sugar

 

Mix everything together. Shape into small crescents and bake at F 350 for 12-15 minutes.

While they are still hot, dust with powdered sugar. Let cool and serve.

 

* This is a Scandinavian recipe and they have vanilla flavored sugar. If you can come by some of that, mix equal parts of Vanilla sugar and powdered sugar together and dust the cookies and omit the vanilla extract in the dough.

 

:laugh:

 

[Ali in OR]

Actually, I would want the cookies that taste good, not some exotic holiday recipe. Tollhouse cookies are fine with me! Make something that you would want to have leftovers--i.e. something that your family likes. Then if you have leftovers it's all good.

 

I would make the Andes Mint cookies, a recipe I got from these boards in 2006. This is the one I make 4 batches of to give out to dd's teachers and assistants at school. I'm now including the recipe with the cookies since I've gotten many requests for it.

 

Andes Mint Cookies

 

• 28 Andes Mints (1 box), halved
• ¾ cup butter
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp water
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 ¼ tsp. baking soda

In saucepan, heat and mix butter, sugar, and water. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until all chips are melted. Pour into bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. Beat in eggs at high speed. Add remaining ingredients and beat to blend. Chill dough for 1 hour. Line baking sheets with foil. Roll dough in 1" balls and bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Place an unwrapped half mint on each cookie as you remove them from the oven. As soon as the mints have softened, spread them over the cookies with a knife.

 

[happypamama]

I'd make these, because who doesn't love brownies?  But they're still cookies.  They're easy but so, so good.

[Beth S]

I would just make my favorite cookies, hoping that everyone would skip over my plate & I can just eat the leftovers in the car on the way home. :-)

[LostSurprise]

Make what you want. If you're worried about it do extensive field testing with the kids.  ;)

[Halftime Hope]

Another darling cookie that is usually a hit is Tea Time Tassies, basically a teeny, tiny pecan pie, done in mini-muffin tins, without papers.  http://www.cooks.com/recipe/ji2fl11c/tea-time-tassies.html   This is the recipe my MIL used from way back when.  It makes two dozen in the smaller mini-muffin pans I have, but only 18 in the non-stick mini-muffin tins which are slightly bigger.  It's worth it to take your time and press the dough into the tins neatly, because they really do come out really darling--itty, bitty pecan pies. 

 

You can do something very similar with cheesecake and cherry filling, but you'd have to google for a recipe.

[GailV]

I would just make my favorite cookies, hoping that everyone would skip over my plate & I can just eat the leftovers in the car on the way home. :-)

 

This is why I've started making Nutella No Bakes for everything.  We needed 12 dozen cookies to help make cookie trays this weekend, so that's what I made ... in batches of 5 dozen each, so we ended up with an extra 3 dozen.  And, yeah, they looked dumpy compared to the fancy stuff others made, but it was really, really fun to eat the leftovers.  

 

Cookies are pretty much my favorite food, but there are few things more disappointing than a Tollhouse cookie made incorrectly.  Which is why I almost always pass them by at potlucks -- the odds are they weren't made the way I like them.  But I am apparently beyond a Cookie Nerd and well into the land of Cookie Snob.  (Also, other cookies rarely suffer from this problem, so maybe I'm just a Tollhouse Snob.)

[HollyDay]

There is always the bakery section of your local grocery store :)

 

Seriously, about 4 Christmases ago, our oven died while I was baking cookies for the cookie exchage at dd's ballet.  I was stuck.  The bakery was my only solution.  It was fine. 

 

Bar cookies might be easier than drop cookies.

[OrganicAnn]

I was involved with a cookie exchange a couple of years ago and they had a rule - no chocolate chip cookies.   I don't know why, except maybe they were afraid everyone would bring them.  

 

I would go with something with a hook to catch people's interest.   Below link is a grinch cookie.    I've not made them, but they look good.  

 

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/68750331783213856/

[Ellie]

Well, your friend might reconsider the rice krispie treats. Although they are yummy, some people don't consider them "cookies," as they don't contain flour or eggs. Crazy, I know, but there it is. Or she could make them and y'all could eat them yourselves, lol.

 

I've made these cookies several times; They're really quite easy:

 

Cranberry Orange Cookies

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg

1 teaspoon grated orange peel

3 tablespoons frozen concentrated orange juice

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chopped cranberries

1/2 cup chopped pecans

2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 tablespoons frozen concentrated orange juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375*F.

 

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat 1/4 cup butter, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda until blended. Add egg, grated orange peel, and 3 tablespoons frozen concentrated orange juice until blended. Fold in flour and salt until just blended. Stir in chopped cranberries and chopped pecans until well combined. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon on ungreased baking sheet about 2" apart.

 

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, or until light brown and set on top. Transfer cookies to wire racks and let cool.

Frosting: In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, 1/4 cup softened butter, 3 tablespoons frozen concentrated orange juice, and vanilla; mix until smooth. Spread on the cooled cookies.

Makes 36 cookies.

 

These are pretty easy, as well; I like to make them just because of their name, lol. Oh, and when it says to let them rest for 2 minutes before taking them off the cookie sheet, they really mean that; if you don't they will crumble:

 

Cranberry Hootycreeks

½ cup butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
5/8 cup all-purpose flour (1/2 cup + 2T)
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
 

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper. In a medium mixing bowl, beat together butter, egg and teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy. Add dry ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned. Cool for 2 minutes on baking sheets, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

[Catwoman]

Go buy some cookies at the bakery.

 

That way, if no one wants them, you won't take it as a personal insult to your baking.

 

Also, there's no pesky clean-up like there is when you actually bake something.

[Chocolate Rose]

Go buy some cookies at the bakery.

 

That way, if no one wants them, you won't take it as a personal insult to your baking.

 

Also, there's no pesky clean-up like there is when you actually bake something.

 

I really hate it when people do this. I know it's the easy way out, but it defeats the whole purpose of a cookie exchange. Anyone can go buy the cookies.

[OrganicAnn]

I always assumed that a cookie exchanges had to be homemade cookies.   Unless it is a group event where every has to participate, then I could see buy cookies.   But if it is a voluntary event, then why participate if you don't want to bake cookies? (rhetorical question not intended toward the OP).     

[OrganicAnn]

I always assumed that a cookie exchanges had to be homemade cookies.   Unless it is a group event where every has to participate, then I could see buy cookies.   But if it is a voluntary event, then why participate if you don't want to bake cookies? (rhetorical question not intended toward the OP).     

[QueenCat]

I really hate it when people do this. I know it's the easy way out, but it defeats the whole purpose of a cookie exchange. Anyone can go buy the cookies.

 

Me too........... I don't need to exchange for store bought cookies, I can go buy those myself. Thankfully, the exchange I'm involved with requires the cookies to be homemade. I suppose no one would know if you bought cookies from a bakery rather than a grocery store, though, as those are more in the style of homemade.

[RanchGirl]

It really depends on who in in your exchange and what the hostess expects.  I have been to a cookie exchange hosted by a friend who is otherwise quite lovely but I was stunned to find out what a cookie snob she was.  She really was disappointed in some of the cookies brought to her exchange that some folks didn't put enough effort into.  I remember haystacks in particular were quite offensive to her.  Chocolate chip cookies or worse yet, rice krispie treats might have had her on the floor with smelling salts.

 

I'm not a cookie snob, but I think the point of a cookie exchange (at least the ones I have been involved with) is that you get a nice variety of fancy Christmas cookies but you only have to make one type of fancy Christmas cookies.  Basic cookies and bars are just not up to snuff as far as I know.

 

Personally I hate cookie exchanges, the kids and I have a list of 12 specific kinds of cookies that are our favorites so we make them throughout December.  It's much easier than worrying about impressing anyone or getting something my son is allergic to or the kids don't like.  I used to give out tins of cookies and fudge to the neighbors but lately we just eat them ourselves and freeze what we can't eat to enjoy later on.

 

Anyway, if you want to impress at the exchange, make something fancy.  A test run will be necessary.  If you don't care that much, or your hostess is quite casual, maybe simple cookies or bars are ok, but personally I would ask first if you want to go this route.

[Liz CA]

Go buy some cookies at the bakery.

 

That way, if no one wants them, you won't take it as a personal insult to your baking.

 

Also, there's no pesky clean-up like there is when you actually bake something.

 

Don't you know this is a cookie recipe thread in disguise? :lol:  You simply CANNOT recommend the bakery.

[Catwoman]

Don't you know this is a cookie recipe thread in disguise? :lol: You simply CANNOT recommend the bakery.

Shhh... Don't tell anyone, but just between you and me, I don't have any super-secret amazing cookie recipes to share, so I'm trying to derail the thread!

[fdrinca]

I always like to bring lemon cookies or shortbreads to cookie exchanges. It's a nice taste break from the chocolate (that I love and love!) that seems to dominate the flavor palate. The shortbreads I make are almost savory. (No. Not savory, except for those with a minor sugar addiction.)

[Seasider]

Wow, Ellie, those recipes look terrific! Definitely going to try the orange cranberry cookies.

 

Agreeing that something lemony is a nice alternative to the other items. Might try a simple cake batter cookie (1 box lemon cake mix, 1 stick butter, 2 eggs) and drizzle with a glaze of powdered sugar and lemon juice. I make chocolate cookies this way all the time, and sprinkle them with powdered sugar. It's the "cheater" way to make the chocolate crinkle cookies linked above.

[Incognito]

I've been a part of a few cookie exchanges in my day.  I've noticed that cookies that are decorated go well (they have a drizzle of something on top or they are festive), as do things with chocolate in them.  Don't be chintzy and make tiny cookies.

 

Personally, I have really enjoyed biscotti that I got at an exchange.  Dipped in chocolate, IIRC.

 

My peanut butter ball truffles went well one year, but they did invite scorn by many parents who informed me that the world of small children is to be peanut free (I don't think I had kids at the time and just had no idea).