Holiday Cookie Baking Party

Yesterday I hosted my second annual Holiday Cookie Baking Party. Last year's party was so much fun, I decided to invite family and friends together again for holiday baking, girl talk and Christmas music.

This party differs from traditional cookie exchanges as guests bake their cookies at the party and then fill up our cookie tins with all the homemade treats. Andi's office serves as the perfect location for the party because there's a large industrial-size kitchen with 4 convection ovens, 2 microwaves, 2 stoves, lots of counter space and more utensils and cookie sheets than you'd ever need. Andi's office partner, a photography company, uses the kitchen to prepare and shoot food photography and one day a year they're gracious enough to turn it over to me for my Cookie Baking Party. (That is on one condition, we must leave a plate of cookies for the office to enjoy. No problem!)

This year, I had 16 people RSVP to the party (up from last year's 7 people) so I was a little nervous we wouldn't have enough work space for everyone. I organized 3 workspace tables and set up a separate "socializing space" to the side of the kitchen to be sure we had enough room to bake. It all worked out perfectly and we had so much fun!

Here's a list of all the goodies:

Cardamom Cookies
Rice Krispie Date Balls
Russian Teacakes
English Toffee
Cranberry and Orange Cookies
Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Cake Balls
Oreo Truffles
Candy's Sugar Cookies
Peanut Brittle
Peppermint Bark
Minnesota Munchers
Linzer Cookies
Lincoln Logs
Caramels
Lime Cookies
Chocolate Snowballs
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ginger Cookies
Almost Candy Bars

The Kitchen

Jenna and Kristin
Russian Tea Cakes

Jess and Jessie
Jess - Almost Candy Bars
Jessie - Cake Balls and Oreo Truffles

Kristin and Karen
Linzer Cookies

Melissa
Peppermint Bark and Minnesota Munchers

Lindsay
Cardamon Cookies and Date Rice Krispie Cookies

Julie
Peanut Butter Blossoms

I made my mom's Sugar Cookies dipped in chocolate and Peanut Brittle

Just look at all those cookies!



Thanks to everyone who came to the party. See you next year!