Cookie Swap Goes Trend
Cookie Love. For a girl who doesn’t love sweets, I do LOVE cookies. Turns out I’m also the last to know about cookie swaps/ cookie exchanges~that traditional party where guests bring a dozen or so cookies and trade their cookies for their favorites from the table. Tradition goes trend and even the Jack Daniel’s ad references ” This isn’t your Momma’s Cookie Swap”.
How do I know that I’m the last to know about this grand tradition? A quick trip over to Amazon reveals a stack of titles starting with “Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year”, “The Cookie Party Cookbook: The Ultimate Guide to Hosting a Cookie Exchange” and “Cookie Swap” by Lauren Chattman while a quick internet search leads here. I discover that cookie exchanges run the style gamut from cozy annual neighborhood block gatherings to blogger events where swappers are not even in the same room.
Of course all of this festivity leads me to think about a Cookie Exchange, Entertaining Company Style. I can easily imagine a party menu of Lobster Bisque shooters, silver espresso cups filled to the brim with Butternut Squash and Ginger Apple Soup leading to carved holiday ham with cranberry quince chutney, elegant eclectic tea sandwiches and cheeses with honey roasted pears slathered onto housebaked breads. Sweet endings might include rum raisin cannollis, hazelnut chocolate pot de cremes, and Peppermint White Hot Chocolate.
To notify guests, hand delivered red lacquered chargers with party invites would be distributed, and we’d provide personally branded coasters, party naps, paper napkin rings, and color coordinated see through boxes for taking cookies home. Potential names for this annual event: Sweet Soiree, Cookie Fest, Sugar Swap, Sweet Surrender and the Ultimate Cookie Exchange race through my sugar-addled brain. Saffron cardamom macaroons from Monica Bhide, Rosquettes Egyptiennes from Joan Nathan, Old Fashion Molasses Cookies from the Mennonite Community Cookbook, Lady Locks from my own cousin Rosie..all of these and more would find a place on our Cookie Exchange Table.
Holiday, sharing, party, cookies, I’m there!