Cookie Swap!

I hosted my first cookie swap last weekend.  I invited all my women neighbors, and I'm hoping it continues to be an annual tradition.

I had a few snacks available when they first arrived.  I made butternut squash soup - this may be my new squash soup recipe - and served with a baguette and wine.  We sat around the table and got to know each other a little better.  It was very fun.  Then after a couple hours, everybody went home with 6 dozen cookies!  Awesome.

We got a nice variety, too, although mental note to ensure chocolate is more represented next year.  I made Chocolate-Walnut Cookies, shown above.  They were good, but I think everybody agreed that they'd be better if the walnuts were replaced with chocolate chunks.  I also made Ginger & Spice cookies, and they are absolutely my favorite of all the cookies represented.  I used a recipe from Fine Cooking, which isn't online, but it's very close to this one.  Best of all, they were very easy to make.

So I survived the crazy weekend.  It started with Kevin's company holiday party on Thursday night and ended on Sunday night with the cookie swap.  We had a birthday, gingerbread houses, a birthday party, and a family visit in-between.  Whew!