What better way to celebrate the holidays than to gather your friends for a party? I’ve wanted to have a holiday cookie party for a while, so I’m glad we fit it into the schedule this year!
With kids running around and friends meeting our new puppy, our parties have evolved throughout the years into a more family-friendly and relaxed environment. Guests arrive early and leave by 10 pm. It’s not better or worse, just different. We still eat and laugh a lot, which I think is what matters most.
I admit I was not ready for this party! I did a bunch of mental pre-planning but with a training run that morning that I procrastinated for a few hours, we were running around cleaning and cooking until the last minute. Pro tip: clean and go grocery shopping in the days before a party! Nevertheless, guests trickled in later than expected, so it turned out all right.
For dinner, we made spinach artichoke dip, garlic bread, vegetable pasta casserole, and beef pasta casserole. Our friends brought creamed corn, beans, and pate chaud (Vietnamese pork puff pastry). For drinks, we had naughty (spiked) and nice Christmas punch (this recipe) and eggnog, a la Alton Brown’s eggnog recipe aged for three months! This eggnog was boozy and creamy. I think it’s good to sip on but typical of eggnog, it’s rich and thick.
But we were also here for holiday desserts. For the cookie contest, we had four competitors.
- Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Trash Cookies
- Cranberry Cookie Bars
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
The top two cookies ended up being the Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookie and the Trash Cookie with the Trash Cookie being the winner. When Cristina unwrapped her prize, she unknowingly found her award-winning cookie mix – Trader Joe’s It’s Sedimentary My Dear Cookie Mix! HA! That’s right, the winning cookie was a mix from Trader Joe’s! It was pretty good, so if you’re looking for a quick cookie mix, the jar is about $6. The cookie has sugar, brown sugar, peanut butter chips, candy-coated chocolate, oats, coffee grounds, and graham cracker crumbs.
Embarrassingly, I ran out of time to make cookies, but here are the two recipes I was considering: Lace Cookies and Butter Pecan Cookies. But I did make this Sweet Salty Santa Bark and it was so good!
One of my goals is to get more photos and more photos with people! We see each other fairly often but a photo lasts much longer.
I’m thankful for gatherings like these and hope you celebrate in your own way this season. It doesn’t have to be big, themed, or perfect. Happy Holidays!
Have a favorite cookie recipe? Share it below!
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