Cookie Exchange from Hell

[Lynn Allgood]

Hi,
Was happy to find your site!

Years ago, the first Cookie Exchange I ever atended went this way:

Each person was told they could bring as many dozen cookies as they wanted to and would be assured of taking home the same amount they brought.

I came home from work and beautifully hand decorated 8 dozen Cut Out Cookies. They were to be packaged on paper plates of 1 doz. ea. and slipped into sealable bags. Plus one dozen for tasting. So I wanted to at least have nice cookies to share.

One woman brought 8 dozen BURNED cookies (talk about coincidence, every last ONE BURNED?). And was allowed to put them on the table. We drew names. I was last. All the was left on the table were the burned cookies. These women had taken all the good cookies. EVEN the woman that brought the burned cookies. She did not take even one dozen of her own burned cookies, she left them for someone else! I was furious, but was nice and waited to talk to my friend later. And of course, my beautiful cookies flew off the table.

The next year, she invited me again and I refused, but she persuaded me to go anyway, since the "rules" had be changed and each person took a TURN at the tabel instead of grabbing all the "best ones" first.....No burned allowed..... I had told her that if that same woman was there, who forgets THAT face, I would knock her flat....

From that exchange I found a recipe I have used for over 20 years? Later, I will locate it and add it to your site, if you like. They are called "Cocunut Chews". It is a bar cookie, but an awesome one. Maybe awesome bar cookies should be allowed?

Biggest problem with bar cookies is slicing them to look nice. No one likes raggedy looking bar cookies at an exchange. I usually let them cool completely. Remove them from the pan to a cutting board and cut them with my chef knife, Sometimes wiping it clean after each cut. Do you have a better method?

Thank you for the opportunity to write. Love your site.


Lynn Allgood
email: [e-mail]

[Robin]

Hey Lynn,
Thanks for posting your "war story". Your experience is exactly why over the years my rules became "tighter".... Early on, I lost some of my best bakers because others insisted on bring yukky cookies. See my webpage for Rules of the Cookie Page --EXPLAINED (go down the page a bit.)

www.robinsweb.com/cookies/cookie-invite.html

[Debbie]

Hello,
I have found that if you are slicing bar cookies or brownies, cool and then cut them with a plastic knife. Works fantastic! Good luck.

[Brenda from TX]

I so love this board. I have learned one very important thing - be a good hostess and make sure there are extra take home containers and make an extra batch of cookies to make up for the ones that may not be so acceptable. So, you bring 6 doz, maybe you take home 7 doz so you can throw out the icky ones.

[laurenmilan]

I hosted my 1st cookie exchange last year, and well... it seemed like I was the only one that acknoledged any of the rules... I had to be lax on the # of cookies, what was allowed, etc, etc, just to get people interested and get a feel for how the exchange works.

I'd brought sodas, treats, and containers of hot mulled cider and hot chocolate. But when everything was set up, a co-host pulled out 4 1-gallon jugs of milk and proceeded to invite all 15 guests to dig in to the swapping table as well.

Well, I blanched as they stormed towards the table, they apparently hadn't read the rules on the invite, or posted on the table, as they dug in. I didn't want to yell out "hold on here!" so I just let them go at it... there were SO many cookies on the table, I would say 35-40 dozen (we all made a LOT!), that even with people taking a plate each, there was stilll plenty to take home.

The cookies were also generally non-holiday themed, and most were simple classics. Not a whole lotta competitive baking going on here!

So all in all, even though the rules got scrapped immediately, we had a TERRIFIC time goofing off and eating some good cookies (even if they weren't the most decorative ones!) I think it was worth it.

This year, I'm doing a full luncheon buffet and putting some limits on how much of the yield we can eat (I think they'd revolt if I told them to completely lay off!) But in the end, I hope that we have 1/2 as much fun as we did last year!

[Robin]

Lauren,
I'm sorry your first exchange turned into a free for all...
I suppose if you're co-hosting the swap you need to discuss the protocol with your co-host, before the party.

I've said this many times, I have never had anyone so much as even nibble on a cookie on the swap table. No one has ever even asked to sample a cookie, --truly!!!

But....that's because everyone knows I will be serving lots of good party food. I highly recommend not serving sweet items at the exchange. Too many sweets or only sweets make one feel slightly sick... Also, I always serve alcohol... wine, beer, spiked cider... If serving alcohol, you have to have heavy, non sugar items (starches, meats, veggies) to help absorb or else you'll have a house full of drunk women! LOL

[Suzanne]

In the cookie exchange that I attend, each person makes 1 dozen cookies per each attendee.

If 6 people attend ( including myself) then I make 6 dozen. (One dozen is to eat at the party.) We package our cookies in advance to give each other at the end of the party. Everyone gets one dozen of each others cookies. There is no picking or grabbing or fighting for cookies. Also, it makes for a fun "contest" every year because we each want to out-do the last year's packages. We keep our exchange small as we are all very close friends. Noone has to worry about some strangers bad cookies. Also, you never know how clean someone's house is. I don't like to eat someone's cookies unless I have seen their kitchen!

[Bonnie]

I like that idea. I would like to find a group that I could count on each year to do the exchange. Usually I send out 20 plus invites and get 12-14 guests. That's fun as well but it would just be nice to have a solid group to count on.

Everyone likes an exchange though. I have had two ladies tell me that I was the only person they knew that did a cookie exchange and last year I had three ladies (new) tell me that they had never been to a cookie exchange.