The only thing better than nibbling delicious holiday cookies is nibbling delicious holiday cookies that someone else has baked. How do you get your hands on other people’s baked goodies, you ask? Easy–participate in a cookie swap and you get access to your neighbor’s grandma’s famous divinity cookies, or your sister-in-law’s signature thumbprint jam jollies. All you have to do is whip up a big batch of your own favorites, and set up a cookie exchange where a few of your like-minded baker friends do the same. You all do a monster bake, and then a big swap where you all reap the rewards–enough cookies to last through the holidays, as well as a suite of new treats that may become holiday classics for your family as well.
To really get a good thing going, you should get a group of six to ten bakers together, and all agree to bake about six dozen cookies each. Then you can set a time to pick up and swap (a weekend afternoon cookie social is a sweet way to do it, with some festive drinks and plenty of bakery boxes for everyone to tote their treats home in). This is a genius solution to holiday baking because you only need to focus on one recipe–you can choose your favorite go-to cookie recipe, or try something new. Whichever you decide, it’s best to pick a sturdy cookie that will travel well and hold up for at least a few days in a tin or jar. It’s also nice to ask everyone to provide copies of their cookie recipes so you can add them to your own holiday recipe book, too.