Christmas is a week away (great googlymoogly - we still have some last minute gifting to get) and if you had planned to have lots of different cookies on hand, or made up to take to your rotten coworkers, and haven't quite managed to bake, a lot. This is a super simple, very fun way to host a gathering, have a good excuse to get your nog on, and have a respectable assortment of goodies. First you plan a very simple, stress-free menu and drinks - anything from chicken n' dumplin's with a nice chilled white wine or some mulled wine/cider, to charcuterie and cheeses with luscious egg nog. You bake one batch of cookies and ask all of your guests to do the same. Everyone lays out their cookies on platters, and each guest can get a paper box with waxed paper, or even some cute brown paper bags with "zip top" plastic bags and share.
The only things you need to remember when hosting or going to a cookie swap are to bring homemade cookies (we had a nightmare in which we dreamt we brought a plastic tub of generic store cookies w/ colored sugar - mortification, sheer mortification) and to be sure not to swipe a bunch of one kind so everyone gets a nice variety. If making all of the food is overwhelming, ask your guests to bring the goodies and an dip or snack to share. There's no shame in having a pot luck (unless you have trash can punch - but, that's just us). You can even make it a "wrapping" party, if you want to all get lots done. We find that we gift wrap quite well after a few nips of nog. That does involve guests toting more stuff, however, so, perhaps you keep it simple and focused on nibbling, nipping and cookies.
Here are some recipe links for you to consider:
Egg Nog
Hot Chocolate
Lemon Bars
Chicken & Dumplins
Irish Stew
Grits & Grillades (Ya'll)
Peanut Butter Kisses
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate Bark
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