12 Amazing Cookie Swap Recipes {with printable recipe cards}

As I've mentioned in the last few posts, our Hot Glue Hotties Craft Group had a super fun cookie swap on Monday night. To see the details of our actual swap, click here.

 Each and every recipe was fabulous. 

Below are all of the recipes from our DELICIOUS evening! 

Each recipe has a printable recipe card with it...in both 3x5 and 4x6 sizes.

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here}

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

 {To download this printable recipe card, click here}

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here}

{To download the printable recipe card, click here} 

{To download the printable recipe card, click here}

Annnnd....our winning recipe from the evening:

Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies.
To see this recipe and her baker, along with a printable recipe card, click here. 

{i linky-party here}

How to Host a Holiday Cookie Swap

Here's my guide to planning, preparing for and hosting your own cookie swap. 

Lots of great ideas, tips and tricks for a fabulous evening of YUM! 

We had a fun cookie swap over here with my craft group, The Hot Glue Hotties. 

There's lots and lots of ways to do a cookie swap...this is our version.

To begin, each participant was asked to bring THREE dozen cookies of one variety to the evening {we were all thrilled that Pinterest recently added the "secret boards" feature...this came in handy since we all follow each other on Pinterest and didn't want everyone seeing our cookie ideas}. One dozen of the cookies was for tasting, the other two were for "taking".  We had about a dozen participants, so this meant everyone would go home with two dozen cookies...two of each variety. 

A previous cookie swap I participated in involved bringing TWELVE dozen cookies...which was a bit of an undertaking. We did, however, take home a HUGE pile of cookies that I used for Christmas gifts that year. But, I truly spent two lonnnnng days in the kitchen preparing for that one...and I wasn't even the hostess that time!

To see all of the cookie recipes from our fun night {along with printable recipe cards}, click here.

This was our "taking" table, where everyone laid out the two dozen cookies that others would be pulling cookies out of to package up and take home with them. 

I purchased some holiday goodie buckets for each cookie baker. I laid out a bunch of wax paper sheets, too...to divide cookie layers {that's what's in the silver basket}. The markers were available to label our buckets with our names.

This was our tasting table. One thing I may have done differently here would have been to precut cookies in half...nobody could actually sit down and eat twelve entire cookies in one sitting {okay, maybe I could on a really bad day when I have my fat & fluffy jeans on...but certainly not at a party in front of other people. Our little secret, k?}.

We basically just took a little nibble of each cookie in order to judge it for our competition. After tasting all of the cookies, we wrote down our top three favorites and then tallied the votes...to name our cookie queen {her majesty is featured later in this post}.

I also served a tried & true Coffee Punch recipe that you see up there. The perfect dunking drink.

One major plateful of cookies to taste. Cutting them in half {or thirds or fourths} next year.
We have a member of our group who owns her own cupcake business, so she joked and said no way could a cupcake baker show up with a cookie! They were YUMMY, too!

I did separate the tasting and taking cookies for logistical reasons. It was easier to allow for plenty of room around the tables as gals wanted to fill their buckets or maybe go back for another taste test.

 We had a great time chatting and catching up.

Such a fun group!

Getting out of order a bit...
we did do our usual appetizer spread for a little savory meal before our cookie tasting.

We had a delicious homemade broccoli soup and this fabulous cream cheese dip...both of which I still need to track down the recipes for. {Coming soon}.

My very good friend, Danielle, always dazzles us with her yummy creations.
She brought these delicious Cranberry Feta Pinwheels.
The recipe can be found here.

I made what I commonly refer to as, the Weight-Watcher-diet-buster-fiasco-of-2009,
 {it was all downhill from there}...it's the best sandwich, ever, y'all.
You can find the recipe for these here. 

We also enjoyed this delightful Holiday Apple Drink,

{a glorified version of Martinelli's, if you ask me}.

You can find the recipe for this here.

One of my favorite aspects of our cookie swap was "crowning" the cookie winner with a bag chock-full of cookie cutters. Each cookie participant brought a new cutter and we all piled them into a bag.

Our winner, Suzanne, took home this bag of cookie-making loot!

And the winning cookie was....
Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies.
To see this recipe, along with a printable recipe card, click here. 

Again, to see all of the cookie recipes {along with printable recipe cards}, click here.

{i linky-party here}

{Naughty or Nice} Holiday Apple Drink

I served this drink the other night for my craft group girls! It was a winner. The best way to describe it is an amped up version of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. Cool & refreshing with a lovely flavor of apple.

Start by soaking thinly sliced apples in lemon to prevent browning
{I used one red and one green apple to give it some Christmas colors}.

Add your apple slices to your pitcher or other beverage dispenser.

On top of the apples, add two containers of frozen apple juice concentrate {thawed}, one bottle sparkling wine and half a bottle of club soda. If you'd like to make this kiddo-friendly, omit the wine and use the entire bottle of club soda. Chill for an hour.

Cheers!

{i linky-party here}

Winning Cookie Swap Recipe: Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies {with printable recipe card}

Last night we had our monthly Hot Glue Hotties get together {to find out more about my craft group, click here}. Instead of crafting, we did a super fun cookie swap. We each brought one type of cookie, but left with a bucket-full of 13 cookie varieties {and one cupcake, too}!

I'll be posting later this week with our cookie swap details, including recipes for all 13 cookies as well as our appetizers for that night.

But for now, I wanted to share with you the winning recipe of the night.
We each tasted all of the cookies and then voted on our favorite
{this is a tasting plate pictured above...wow, right? Diet=Blown}.

Our cookie winner was from Hot Glue Hottie Suzanne.
Suzanne brought Chocolate & Peanut Butter Chip Pretzel Cookies.
The combination of sweet and savory was remarkable. And the pretzel bits added such a fantastic texture to an already beautiful cookie. Suzanne will hold the Cookie Queen title and reserve all bragging rights for an entire year...until we battle in December 2013 with more cookie craziness.

 

One requirement for the evening was to {in addition to your cookies} bring a new cookie cutter. We placed all of the cutters in a bag and awarded our winner with it.
{For those of you non-Texans, that's a straight-up Longhorn cookie cutter...Hook 'Em Horns}.

 To download this printable recipe card {in both 4x6 and 3x5 sizes}, click on the above image.

Suzanne found the original recipe for this winning cookie over at
Sugar Cooking.

{i linky-party here}

Friday's Freebie: MORE Holiday Gift Tags

While I originally created my previous set of gift tags to use this year {for my own family' gift-giving}, once I was wrapping presents, they didn't coordinate with the crazy paper I purchased. 

Plus...my boys just need characters in their life this time of year. Damask just wasn't going to cut it. So I made these on a whim the other day in the midst of our wrapping frenzy. 

To download, please click on the image below:

{kindly give a blog follow before downloading any of my free printables...please and thank you}

To see all of my free printables, click here.

For information on getting the most out of a free printable, 

click here {includes extensive printing tips and ideas}.

{i linky-party here}

12 Days of Christmas Crafts {with kids}: DIY Snow Globes

Hi there, friends! So excited to be a part of a group of 11 other bloggers for the 12 Days of Christmas Crafts for Kids series. And thanks bunches to Claire form Polka Dot Pretties for organizing such a fantastic time!

The 12 Days of Christmas Crafts for Kids series is a blog hop. You can visit each blog on their special day to see a different holiday craft designed to create with your kiddos!

Our Schedule of FUN:

Dec 1st – Fancy Frugal Life
Dec 2nd – Alderberry Hill
Dec 3rd – House on the Way
Dec 4th – Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom
Dec 5th – I should be Mopping the Floor {woohoo!}
Dec 6th – Season Gredings
Dec 7th– A Night Owl Blog
Dec 8th – Mamma Marchand’s Nest
Dec 9th – Cherised Bliss
Dec 10th – Little Inspiration
Dec 11th – Aubrey Plays
Dec 12th - Polkadot pretties

Today, I'll be showing you how my boys and I put together these super easy {and very budget friendly} Snow Globes.

These were the basic supplies...a few jars, "friends" to fill the jars {purchased at the Dollar Tree}, bottle brush trees, glycerin, bleach and GLITTER {not pictured...how did I leave that one out?}!

After researching how other crafters had created their snowglobes, I noticed a lot of folks had trouble with their trees turning their water in their globe green after a few days. After seeing Amanda Jane Brown's Snow Globes {she linked them up to a Mop It Up Monday recently...and was a reader favorite}, I realized a great solution for this is to BLEACH the trees first!
Great idea, Amanda!

The bleaching process was very quick...we're talking ten minutes {don't blink}. I used a 5:1 water:bleach ratio and submerged my trees in a glass container in the sink. They literally changed colors before my eyes. I let them dry out for a few hours before starting the project.

Then I let my boys arrange the little people with a tree or two on the lid bottoms.
{Excuse our under-shirt and pajama-filled photos...that's how we get our craft on around here}.

I purchased a special water-proof adhesive.

Since the adhesive was a bit toxic, this was a mom job. After the boys arranged the figures, I glued them to the lids {the bottoms of them}.

To make sure the bushy trees didn't push each other away, I zip-tied them to keep them centered and "together" on the lids. My dad would be so proud of my use of zip ties. After the glue dried, I simply clipped the ties off.

You'll want to let your figures dry several hours before submerging into the globe.

Then we went glitter-crazy. I let the boys add the glitter to the bottoms of the jars.

The amount of glitter you use is totally your call...we went a bit, errr....overboard.

I added a splash of glycerin to each jar.
{Glycerin is inexpensive and can be found in the first aid section of any drug store}.

Fill to the top with water.

Add a bit of the adhesive to the top of the lid jar.
Invert the lid onto the jar. Try not to turn over for a few hours so your adhesive can cure.

Then....skakey-shakey!
The glycerin helps the glitter to stay suspended in the water longer...creating the "floating effect".

These can be dressed up and embellished even more. My boys are of the "as-is" sorts and didn't want mom to add her "fluff" to these babies.

Be sure to check out the other bloggers involved in this fun series! Yesterday, Jamie from Scattered Thoughts of a Crafty Mom, created the most adorable Paper Christmas Tree Ornaments. And tomorrow, be sure to pop by Gillian's place at Seasons Gredings to see the fun she has in store for us all!

{i linky-party here}

Christmas Card Gallery Wall

Wanted to share one of our favorite traditions/decorations around our home during the holiday season.

We've taken our family Christmas card every year {since the year we married} and have framed one as a keepsake. We display them all on a gallery wall this time of the year.

This was an easy project. I try to stick to just red & black frames to keep the look consistent. A couple of the frames were gifts {some of our friends know our tradition and like to look for frames with years on them to give to us}...but that just makes it all the more special. If the cards were an odd size, I added a piece of holiday scrapbook paper to fill the extra space in the frame. I also added in a few vintage holiday signs to add some extra interest.

LOVE looking through this wall of holiday memories. It seems like each card ended up having a story behind it...and it's so special to retell it every year.

This is actually my husband's project every year. He tackles this wall with his hammer, nails and level and has it done in less than an hour. He's a keeper.

{i linky-party here}