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@cookiesforkidscancer.org

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