Thursday, November 29, 2012

Cookies & My Girls~Cookie Exchange 2012

Last night 12 of my closest girlfriends (friends & family) came knocking on my door with plates or bowls full of yummy, sweet treats for my annual Christmas Cookie Exchange.  
Invitation courtesy of Etsy
It seems that each year, while the guest list stays mainly the same, the girls who are able to attend always changes just a bit. I truly love having these girls over to my house & it's such a great way to start the season of holiday parties!  

We filled our bellies with yummy potato soup & chili & then it was on to the most important part of the night...the sweets!  This year we had lots & lots of yummy things...spice cookies, chocolate mint bars, turtle bars, cashew nougat balls, candied Bugles, Rocky Road pizza bars, Nutter Butters dressed like Santas, Grinch cookies, pumpkin snickerdooles, monster cookies, and a couple cookies using the Candy Cane Hershey's Kisses!  There were honestly all incredibly delicious!  

This year I went with a festive cookie that I'm sure many of you have seen on Pinterest.  They turned out delicious and I think they will be something I'll make each Christmas just because they're so fun & Christmasy!
All ready for the oven!

& the finished product!
 Candy Cane Blossoms

1 bag Hershey's Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons milk
Red and Green colored sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields approximately 35 cookies.

These girls are all priceless to me & while I wish that every single girl I invited could have come, this was a fabulous group & I already can't wait to do it again next year!  

8 comments:

Megan said...

What a great tradition! Yeah for cookies and girlfriends! :)

Jennifer Coffer said...

So sorry to miss this great time...hopefully I can make it next year. It looks like you all have fun.

Jennifer Owens said...

What a fun party! It's on my list to do one of these years! Your cookies look sparkly and delicious too! (o:

Kate @ Daffodils said...

What a fun event!

Danavee said...

FUN!!!!!!!!! I love a good cookie exchange!!! And I love a few of those ladies I see!!!

*~~Nancy~~* said...

I had so much fun!! Thanks for inviting me! I can't wait until next year!

Jess at Just Rainbows and Butterflies said...

YUM! I love love love cookie exchanges! Looks like I'll have to try the recipe above! xo

Allison said...

So fun! I wish I did something like this too!