Make, bake, exchange!

The Creative Kitchen team kicked off our holiday celebrations with a full-blown cookie making day. Nine hours, 22 sticks of butter and 40 dozen cookies later, we could now use a little help digging out of all of these calories! Any takers?

One thing is for sure, we would NEVER have pulled this off without our seriously amazing, can’t live without, God-send Kitchen Aid 5-Quart Stand Mixer. Its monster–sized bowl makes making nine dozen cookies at a time a breeze!

So, nine hours of cookie making is not your thing? We TOTALLY understand!! I am not quite sure if I will ever do it again either, but there are other ways you can still get the variety of holiday cookies you want, for example, host a cookie exchange!

Here are some tips for a successful swap:

1. Invite girlfriends, neighbors, families and co-workers, but be sure to give plenty of notice–we all know how busy the holidays can get!

2. Each guest should bring five dozen* homemade cookies** and storage containers for safe handling.

3. As guests arrive arrange the cookies on a designated table or counter.

4. Encourage your guests to share stories of how they found their recipe, why they chose their recipe, how the baking experience went, etc. You will be surprised to hear some of the funny stories of burnt batches or astounded by some of the accidental masterpieces.

5. Line up around your table, counter, etc. with your empty containers in hand. Each person takes 3 or 4 cookies from each tray and returns to the end of the line. Continue the process until all of the cookies are gone.

*You can change this number to your liking.
**Suggest to your guests that they make the cookies three days prior. Fresh cookies may taste WONDERFUL, but they do not travel so well.