Christmas Cookie Exchange Party

We had our Christmas cookie exchange party yesterday!  We only had three guests come, but we had a great time tasting cookies, eating hors d'ouvres, and playing Apples to Apples and Cranium.  My favorite part was seeing all the little pieces come together, which is what I'm here to share with you!  I'm kicking myself a little for not taking more/better pictures, but here's what I've got!

For our appetizers, we served pear and brie slices wrapped in proscuitto (recipe idea from Better Homes & Gardens).  We got the serving plate at Target for $1.

We also had tortellini and meatball skewers with marinara sauce on the side to dip it in (recipe idea also compliments of Better Homes & Gardens).

To drink, we made festive Poinsettias (champagne and cranberry juice).  We labeled all the foods with these cool little chalkboard placecards ($9.99 for a set of four at World Market--still trying to figure out how I could make one myself).

And I tied little bows out of red and white polka dotted ribbon onto the stems of our wine glasses.  This was a last minute idea and I think it was a very cute touch if I do say so myself!

We also had roasted almonds, chips and salsa, and a hot chocolate bar with crushed Andes Mints, graham cracker crumbles, marshmallows  and whipped cream (which was in the fridge at the point  this photo was taken).

And of course there were the cookies!  We made caramel filled chocolate cookies drizzled with a chewy caramel sauce and sprinkled with sea salt.

We had everyone label their cookies on these little cardstock place cards when they came in.  It said the name of the cookie and who they were made by.

My friend, Allison, made Ande's Mint chocolate cookies.

Another friend made Butter Rum Wafers, and a third friend who came made Molasses Cookies, which I forgot to take a picture of (rats!).

And you can't have cookies without milk, of course!

We ordered these red and white paper straws off Amazon.com, and we tied red ribbon around a canning jar to display them in.  I also tied a red ribbon around a carafe for the milk.

We sent everyone home with one of these red and white snowflake tins filled with assorted cookies.  I got the tins at Dollar General for $2 each.

We even decked out Monica in this red and white candy cane slide on dog bandanna.

We spent the evening chowing down on good food, chatting, and playing board games with good friends.  We had such a good time, and we're already planning our next get together!

I hope your holiday season is going well and that you're crafting up a storm!  Thanks for reading.

--CC

Friday Night Chocolate Chip Cookies

Friday night I decided I really wanted some warm, homemade chocolate chip cookies.  I had a specific type of cookie in mind.  I wanted those tall, plump chocolate chip cookies with just a hint of salt.  You know...the ones that look like these:

Photo from Sing for Your Supper

I didn't have a recipe for said cookies, so I googled "tall, plump cookies," clicked on images and came up with this recipe from a blog called Sing for Your Supper.  I looked around and it's a fun little blog!  I especially want to dig deeper into some of the For Dogs Only recipes. :)

Anyway, at 10:30pm I got baking! (P.S. These pictures are terrible because they were taken at 10:30 at night in my poorly lit kitchen.  My apologies!)

The recipe called for melted butter (as opposed to softened), an extra egg yolk and a full tablespoon of vanilla to make the cookies bake tall and plump instead of spreading out.  Once your ingredients are all mixed up, you put a full 1/4 cup of dough per cookie onto your baking sheet.  Since my 1/4 measuring cup is permanently located in the cat food to make sure my fat cat doesn't get any fatter, I decided to use an ice cream scoop.  It worked great!

What didn't work so well?  The cookies didn't stay plump.  They spread out.

Way out.

I don't quite know what went wrong.  I don't think I can really blame it on the recipe since theirs turned out just beautifully.  I think it may be one of two things.

1. I added an extra little bit of salty to get that salty-sweet taste I was dreaming of.  
2. I didn't have any pure vanilla extract on hand and, since it was 10:30 at night, I had to use the imitation vanilla I found in the cabinet.  

Or I guess it could have been any number of things that I didn't think of!  Lol.  Any of you have an opinion?  I'd love to try the recipe again and see if I can get them to stay plump if you have any ideas!

Nonetheless, the cookies were delicious.  Chewy in the middle, crispy around the edges.  Warm and melty.  Mmmm.

So I enjoyed one (okay, five) with a glass of milk as a delicious midnight snack.

Hope your weekend was splendid and you've enjoyed some lovely craft time!

--CC