This past Saturday, I attended my very first “Cookie Exchange Party”, hosted by my friend Tiffany. The Evite stated to bring two dozen cookies that you’ve baked from your favorite recipe, plus bring samples for tasting. If you don’t have a favorite recipe to make cookies from, bring a baked good to share. Prizes were given out for best recipe and best presentation. I guess I still didn’t understand just to what extent the guests would go to make their cookie presentations, as you can see from the pictures below. I baked the Eggnog Cookies (recipe here) and brought them in a regular “bake and carry” tin, nothing fancy (see picture above). Big mistake!
Along with the fantastic display of cookies for the exchange, we had a couple of wonderful presentations. One was from Lisa ONeill, a consultant for “The Pampered Chef“. The company is a “premier direct seller of high quality kitchen tools” and we were introduced to a few of their products. I ordered a few things, and pictured here is one of my favorite products, called a Scoop Clip. It’s a clip for your coffee bag that is also a dual measuring scoop. To me, that’s one of the most perfect “all-in-one” gadgets I’ve seen in a while. Also presented at the party were a few appetizers from the recipe books available from their catalogs, which were all so good.
The second presentation was from Lucinda Villanueva, a sales representative for Megawine. She brought a few wines from their catalog, all of which they sell by the case at a great price. I got a chance to chat with her about Port wines because I have not had one yet, and I heard they are great dessert wines. The Port I tried was one she suggested I taste with chocolate and to let her know what I thought of it.
Alone, I could taste the fruit in the Port and she also mentioned it was a bit nutty. I could also taste a bit of a bite at the end. But after I tried it with a Chocolate Espresso cookie (made by my friend Erika), the wine enhanced the chocolate, and the chocolate enhanced the wine. The Port made the chocolate more defined and in turn, the wine became more sweet. It was fantastic!
All in all, it was a great experience. Not only because it was food and wine with good friends, but because it shows the creative side of everyone at the party. The cookies were all tasty and the presentations were beautiful, which means I have to step it up a notch when I make my presentation at next year’s cookie exchange. I consider myself to be very creative, and the little pan I brought my cookies in this year was put to shame by every single tray of cookies in the room that night. Lessons learned from my very first cookie exchange. To host your own “Cookie Exchange”, you can follow Tiffany’s lead as outlined in this post, or you can also follow this great Better Homes and Gardens article here. Finally, here are a few more pictures of the delicious cookies from the evening.
(The following photos were all taken by Tiffany Kaechele)
To get in touch with Lisa ONeill from The Pampered Chef and Lucinda Villanueva of Megawine, please contact me through my “Contact” page.