Holiday Cookie Swap
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. Now that Thanksgiving is over, it’s time to start thinking about the biggest holiday of the year. To me, Christmas is about sharing. I love to give gifts, create memories with family, and all the holiday meals that will be shared between now and the end of the year. One holiday tradition that I always try to participate in is the cookie swap. I’ve been to quite a few, ranging from casual affairs to more elaborate events where everyone brings 10 dozen cookies and the host created a cookbook with all the recipes for the cookies.
When Foodbuzz offered the opportunity to partner up with Glad to host a cookie swap, I volunteered immediately. Glad is currently running it’s Glad to Give campaign. This campaign is an effort that supports Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, a non-profit organization founded by parents inspired by their young son’s ongoing fight against cancer. Along with this campaign, Glad will donation $0.10 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each cookie sold, exchanged or given this November and December (up to $100,00)!
You can also send a virtual cookie if you aren’t a baker or don’t have a chance to participate in a cookie swap. If you’re going to have your own cookie swap (*ahem*Shannon*), be sure to go to register your cookie exchange at www.cookiesforkidscancer.org, and track how many cookies are exchanged. All of you fellow bloggers who are participating in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap should remember to track the cookies you’re exchanging.
Update: There has been some confusion about how to register your cookies. To register any cookies swapped, sold, or exchanged in November or December, simply email the number of cookies to gladcookies@
For my cookie swap, I took advantage of the fact that my sisters love to bake almost as much as I do. While visiting the Midwest last week, we had a cookie swap at Brooke’s house with a couple of her friends. We had the swap before Thanksgiving so that everyone could share their cookies with their families on Turkey Day. Glad sent me a package with some tools to help us with our baking adventure, including some Glad containers to hold all of our cookies! We spent most of the day in Brooke’s kitchen baking up a storm.
At our cookie swap, we exchanged a total of 12 dozen cookies! My sisters Brooke and Lindsey made their favorite holidays cookies – Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip Snowballs. I tried a new recipe – Triple Chocolate Salted Cookies. The other cookies present were some classic Shortbread Cookies and White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies. I’ll be posting recipes for those last three cookies throughout the rest of this week, so be sure to check back for those.
Full disclosure – I received the products shown and a stipend to cover the cost of ingredients as part of a Tastemaker program with Foodbuzz and Glad.
Two Years Ago: Banana Bread
Three Years Ago: Crispy Chicken
Four Years Ago: Cranberry Applesauce
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I’ve been brewing some vanilla extract since about August or September, and I can’t wait to give it to my friend who also loves to bake (and who, coincidentally, just pinned something on Pinterest about making her own vanilla – at least I know she’ll like it!). I need to find a nice bottle for it first though, and she’ll have to be OK that a label may be part 2 of her gift in January. I’m also going to make my sister some of the Fire Roasted Ketchup.
Last year I did the salted caramel sauce for the same friend, and it was amazing. It took me 3 tries to get the taste right (I kept overcooking it and it tasted a little burnt) but it was totally worth it!
beantownbaker — December 9th, 2013 @ 5:48 pm
Oh the homemade vanilla will be perfect for her! And, once you have one batch, you can just keep adding to it so you never run out of vanilla.
I’d love to be on the receiving end of these 😉 great ideas!
Oh! I love making homemade gifts too! This year i made a ton of stuff: orange ginger marmalade, blueberry jam, lemon curd, vanilla sugar, caramelised walnuts, spiced honey, cardamom coffee beans and orange&clove loose leaf tea. Im working on my mustard and your recipe sounds nice!
Love your blog, i always make your blueberry curd, yum!
beantownbaker — January 4th, 2014 @ 10:38 am
Wow – you made a LOT this year! I bet people loved all the homemade gifts. Thanks for reading (and commenting!)