Christmas Cookie Exchange; Chocolate Dipped-Death by Chocolate Cookie
I started hearing about cookie exchanges when I was in high school. My father had remarried, and my new step mom was all about baking dozens of cookies for the holiday exchanges. The few times we were over there for Christmas she would spend hours baking all types of cookies; every flavor imaginable. She was an awesome baker of all things. I wish I had taken the opportunity to spend time with her and learn from her, but I was young, distracted, and boy-crazed. My favorite cookie that she used to make were the Snikerdoodles. They were amazing, and I totally could’ve eaten a dozen on my own, easy. My brother and I loved them! Now that I have a family of my own, I’ve come to realize how important all the holiday traditions are, and how creating your own special little ones can be so important for your kids. From getting matching pj’s, baking Santa cookies, or planning a day to watch all your favorite holiday movies. It is something that I have found out about the holidays that people enjoy most, knowing that they could always rely on the simple traditions that bond their families and loved ones.
This is our first Christmas with our baby girl and I can’t wait for all the little surprises and traditions that we have in store for her and our family. From comfy jammies, to a picnic breakfast by the tree before we open gifts, to some yummy Bloody Mary’s for my husband and I. I also get to see the excitement in my daughters face when she, for the first time, gets to tear into her gifts on her very first Christmas Day! The kid loves to tear paper, and loves to sit in empty boxes so we just can’t lose this year. I am just so fired up about it all! Just one more week! Along with those traditions we’ll also be starting by trying a new cookie recipe every year to have on Christmas day. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to be invited to my very first Christmas Cookie Exchange this past weekend. I was able to try out a new recipe of my own to kick off the season. I typically don’t bake cookies, so I was looking forward to the challenge and getting a head start on figuring out what cookie we’d be making this year as a family.
Lately, I’ve been craving chocolate, and I knew I wanted to start with a chocolate cookie base. I just needed to figure out how I wanted to jazz them up! This just seemed to be the perfect excuse to have some warm, soft, chocolatey goodness in my life. So, I searched for some “Death by Chocolate” cookie recipes, and kind of tweaked it a little bit to make it my own. I then dipped the cookies in chocolate and decorated them to spruce them up a bit. These were very easy to make and they were husband approved. Which counts for everything in my book. For this exchange we had to make six dozen to share, so I had to triple this recipe and I ended up with exactly seventy-six cookies. I had seventy-two for the exchange, my husband had three to “taste test,” and I dropped one. Being somewhat of a cookie virgin, and it being my first Cookie Exchange I was pleased to receive a lot of positive responses from the fellow bakers. So, I think this recipe is a keeper! I was also able to try some pretty amazing cookies from the other women, and got some ideas on what I’ll be adding to this recipe for our own Christmas Day Cookies! Either way, you can’t go wrong with a bunch of chocolate and some holiday fun. Hope everyone enjoys all their little Christmas traditions this year and has a wonderful holiday season!
[gmc_recipe 137]
