COOKIE SWAP!

With recipes and our "test kitchen" winners!

Dec 24, 2024

I knew I didn’t have it in me to host another Mrs. Claus costume party evening this year (which inevitably drifts into the early morning hours with white elephant shenanigans, confections upon confections, caviar and crinkle chips, champagne and glühwein), but I did have it in me to do something. So this was my something. 9:30 AM cookie swap!!! Let’s get crazy!!

I remember so well doing a cookie swap at my girlfriend Liza’s house in Miami…I’d like to think it was the warm feeling of gathering with friends over the holidays and my nostalgia for the bygone era of romanticised female domesticity (I could not LOVE Lessons in Chemistry more) that imprinted this party so concretely into my memory. But I do believe it was taking home the gold with my winning cookie recipe that I really liked. I live to win, and I’m so embarrassed to say, but I usually also love to beat other people. I know this is like word salad, but I’m trying to massage the fact that I’m a closet psychopath for first place.

As the golden child of 7th grade Home Economics (I still skim the pages of my cookbook “thesis” project and adore the hand drawn recipes I created with my gel pens), I was born for a cookie swap. So a cookie swap we had. With winners, of course. Ollie even set up the sushi train up around the table so the winning cookies could take a victory lap. You have to watch the video below. The squeaky train wheels and the build up to the winning cookie reveal as the train comes around the corner is riveting!

Since it was a no-fuss kind of event, I asked all my girlfriends to arrive in holiday pajamas or festive holiday wear. Not to gussy up, as our party was at 9:30 AM. It was to be an hour or two for the girls to kick off the holiday sprint. Casual, cookies, coffee, tea, savory bites. A moment of pause to be together before we do everything moms do on the holidays. Like get sick and parent through sore throats and viral infections. Thank goodness for cookies, I tell ya.

These recipes I’m sharing are a gift from my girlfriends to you all! I have linked them all at the bottom of the batch of cookie photos for you! I hope it’s not too late to make a batch before your holiday party, but if it is, there’s always Christmas in July. (And the winning cookie can be made any time of year.)

Not to spoil the sushi train victory lap video below, but this cookie, the “Pistazien Busserl” (Salted pistachio kiss cookies with brown butter frosting), was the winner! Holy wow!!!!!! BRING THE HOUSE DOWN GOOD. It’s from my Austrian bestie, Julia Dagher-Engel. It happens to be gluten-free, egg-free, and milk free! It’s so very unAmerican in taste. Crumbly when eaten in the most delicate way, perfectly proportioned, not overly sweet, includes different textures, and actual flavor with depth, unlike traditional chocolate chip cookies, etc…which are still good, but they do lack the flavor and texture sophistication of this cookie.

The ladies were grabbing this cookie out of the tin so fast I had to snap a picture before we filled our boxes up with them. Julia is sweet enough to share her recipe with us:

Pistazien Busserl

(Salted Pistachio “kiss” cookies with brown butter icing)

Busserl/Bussi = Kiss (in German)

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature!)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp almond extract & 1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups gluten- free flour (Bob’s Red Mill 1-1 GF flour)

1 cup salted pistachios finely ground (in a food processor)

For the icing:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

5 tablespoons coconut cream/milk (the canned one)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups powder sugar

Step 1: Cream butter with mixer, then add extracts, and then add powdered sugar.

Step 2: Mix in flour and pistachios. (Leave some pistachios to sprinkle on the tops)

Step 3: Chill the dough in refrigerator for 45 minutes.

Step 4: Preheat oven to 180 celsius (that would be 356 Fahrenheit, it worked with the 350 setting on my American oven).

Step 5: Roll the cookies into balls - you decide the size, we like them smaller (because that means it has more icing on them).

Step 6: Bake the cookies until the bottom is slightly browned. It really depends on the size of our cookie. I start checking at 12 minutes, but generally they need longer — up to 17 min depending on size.

Step 7: Make the icing while the cookies cool. Brown the butter in a pan and then mix with coconut cream and extract. Then mix it with powdered sugar.

Step 8: Dip the cookies in the icing and immediately sprinkle with pistachios.

And the runner up was…

#2 Christmas Crack Cookies - these were gone in an instant! They’re beautiful, chunky, and the toffee zazzes up the traditional chocolate chip vibe and gives this cookie some fancy party pants.

And in third place…

#3 Church Windows - This “cookie” is BEAUTIFUL. I could not, should not, eat it…but I did. It was my son and husband’s favorite. And visually, blew all the cookies out of the water. A show-stopper recipe and easy to make with a little overnight planning.

Honorable mentions:

Chewy Brownie Cookies - Brownies, but cookies. Double yum. A million 5 star reviews on NYT Cooking app. My gf had it in the bag with this cookie.

Chocolate Chewy Gingerbread Cookies - See recipe above! Holy yes! This is Martha Stewart’s fave Christmas cookie. I can see, and taste, why. I even hid the broken bits from my son and husband so I could nibble (nibble, who am I kidding? I don’t think I’ve ever nibbled on a cookie) on them with my afternoon tea. This cookie packs a flavor punch! (And I expected it to, since it was brought to the swap by my gf Shea, who doesn’t mess around in the kitchen!)

Sugar Cookie Bars - I was not expecting the soft, pillowy bottom of this cookie bar to be my soft landing and safe place over the holidays. I can still feel my teeth sinking beyond the frosting layer, into the sugar cookie bar, expecting crunch and getting a soft cookie with tight edges. Looks can be deceiving. My gf Grace zazzed this one up with red frosting and Christmas sprinkles. It drew our eye to the table (something about color and a cookie I can’t resist…and I made the boring ginger molasses cookies!) and had that holiday sweetness that everyone craves.

Peppermint Brownie Cookies - Smoke show beautiful. Total gift material.

Ginger Molasses Cookie - I could not for the life of me find the old recipe I used to make for my ginger molasses cookies. They were smack the table good, and big, and all the memorable things you crave in a holiday cookie. I thought I had this cookie swap contest in the bag, since I’d won before with a similar recipe. Alas, I followed this new recipe on a blog (not NYT cooking) and this cookie was mediocre at best (though my gf Stephanie emphatically loved it!). I am on the hunt to find my old recipe—I’m determined. It is a recipe that must not be forgotten because my soul still remembers it.

Okay, now for my girlfriends’ pajama wear, holiday attire, and baby spam cuteness. All very important things!

Thank you to my girlfriends for always entertaining my ideas and jumping in with both feet, and saying, “Yes! I’ll be there!” when I send out a siren to gather. This year has been the best year of my life, despite the stress of losing four hotels in 24 hours. Even with the devastation and loss, it has brought my heart to life! I’ve really found my stride in motherhood, and I can’t enjoy having a girl—and a wild, energetic boy—more. Everyday is a washing machine of life. Everything is fluid. I’ve been down many of these paths before, the ones that used to leave me in a tizzy. The ebbs and flows of life are softer, more gentle now, almost as if I could ride them like a wave. We bump up against each other, and against life, but it doesn’t hurt so much when we have each other. Family and friendship.

Thank you all for bringing me so much joy and reading, subscribing, commenting, contributing, and sharing my words and projects this year! My heart has expanded a gajillion times in size with all our your generosities and kindnesses. And to think you trust me to jump on board with my little heart projects always leaved me in awe and flabbergasted.

As for my 2024 letter “farewell,” I haven’t made time to think about what next year holds for me, or what my vision for this platform is. I suppose every end-of-year letter sign off should include something like that in it. Maybe mine is to keep on keepin’ on. That’s worked for me so far.

May blessings abundantly cover you all! Sending my love! Happy holidays and Happy New Year!