Holiday Cookie Party!

Christmas is really coming together this year. Already, I've got presents under the tree and holiday baking in the books.  On Sunday, I hosted a holiday cookie baking extravanga at Andi's new office. Andi's mom, Janie, sister Lindsay, aunt Barb, and my girlfriends Val and Danielle got together with our favorite holiday recipes to bake, bake, bake!

We made:

• Christmas Haystacks
• Cardamom Cookies
• Eskimo Snowballs
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Christmas Crinkles
• Biscotti
• Simple Additions
• Kroomkaka (pronounced croom-ca-ca - it's a Norwegian cookie)
• Date Rice Krispie Cookies
• Peppermint Candy Cookies
• Traditional Sugar Cookies
• Pumpkin Roll

.... and took home a large variety of goodies as you can see!

To get ready for the party, I asked everyone to submit two recipe ideas to me about 10 days in advance. Then, I reviewed the recipes and created shopping lists for everyone who attended, splitting up the common ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs and butter. Each person was responsible for buying their own specialty ingredients such as nuts, coconut, chocolate chips, etc. We also tripled all cookie recipes so each person would average a dozen of each cookies to take home.
For the party, each person brought along an appetizer to snack on (so we wouldn't eat too many of the cookies!). I provided beverages, as well as Ziploc bags and cooking basics such as aluminum foil, wax paper, plastic wrap. I also brought along wine, hot cocoa and soda (although truthfully, we were all so busy with our recipes that we barely took any time to to sit down and dine).

The best part of the day was looking around to see everyone working on their cookies, talking and singing to the Christmans music. I loved having all the girls together in one space, laughing and having fun. I asked everyone what they would change if we did this again and no one had anything they'd change. (which is a good sign I'd say!).

I would totally host another holiday baking party again. It's a great feeling to have all my cookies made for Christmas ... and it was fun to spend some time with the girls before all the holiday craziness begins.

Check out a few more photos from our party:

Val starting off with her Mom's famous Pumpkin Roll

Teamwork's the best way to go
Andi's mom, Janie, and Val working on the first of many Pumpkin Rolls that day

Lindsay's first recipe: Date Rice Krispie Bars
(these were by far the prettiest cookie we made!)

Danielle and I at the other table starting our cookies
The best thing about this space was all the counter room to work

My Peanut Butter Blossoms
(Andi's favorite)

Look how pretty Lindsay's Date Rice Krispie Bars turned out!

Janie's Biscotti recipe

Barb's Kroomkaka's

Janie's keeping up on dishes
(we all had to laugh - both Janie and Barb were able to complete all their recipes, keep up on dishes, take breaks for snacks and help all of us girls with our recipes. There's something great about being a mom -- how do they do it??)

Janie assisting Val with the Pumpkin Rolls

The kitchen - just look at all those cookies!

Happy Eating!