2nd Annual Virtual Cookie Exchange - The Round-up!

Well, it's safe to say that I didn't realize just how crazy life was going to be the past couple weeks.  I figured it might take me a week to get the round-up done for our Virtual Cookie Exchange, but instead it's closer to two.  The good thing about the delay is that it allowed others (whose lives are also crazy, so I feel a little better) to get their posts done, even if it wasn't for the 4th.  So without further ado, here are all the tasty contributions.  I'm excited to be on vacation now until the 27th, so I'll actually have time to try some of these!

I think Phyl's Scottish Shortbread may have been the last cookies I read about, but they're one of the first on my list to try.  I love shortbread--mmm, buttery. =)  I often make shortbread into round cookies, but I think I need to invest in some pretty scalloped cutters. 

Jessica was also a bit delayed--hopefully her technical difficulties have finally been resolved.  She recently renamed her blog to What Happens After Singleton, since she got married a couple months ago.  She's having fun figuring out how to blend holiday traditions to come up with something that works for her new family.  Personally, I think her husband is crazy not to like these English Gingersnaps. =)

Julie is a new member of our merry band of seasonal bakers.  I hope she brings lots of yummy things like these Nutella No-Bake Cookies!  No-bake cookies are a favorite of mine, but I never would have thought to make them with Nutella instead of peanut butter.  Considering how much my girls love chocolate hazelnut spread, I will definitely be making these soon.

Chaya made cookies with one of my favorite things, butterscotch chips.  I ate them by the handful when I was pregnant with Brianna.  I don't eat them quite so often these days, but I always have a bag or two stashed away in my pantry.  So I'll be able to make these yummy Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies.  

Nancy got to break out her German cookie molds for these gorgeous Soft Gingerbread Cookies from Tartine.  I don't have the book, but I think it's going on my wishlist.  And these cookies will be a perfect way to use some of the blackstrap molasses that I bought by accident...

Kayte brought us these adorable Orange Creme Roll cookies.  I admit, my first thought was that they look like cannoli. =)  I need to get my hands on some of her clothespins first, though.  I have some, but not the right kind.  I suspect I can improvise something, though.

Once again, I think Marthe is the participant from farthest away.  (She lives in The Netherlands.)  That's one of the things I love about our virtual exchange--we don't have to worry that distance will keep people away.  I definitely wouldn't want to miss out on these Chocolate Munchies that Marthe made!

I'm pretty sure that Mike has the same cookie press that my mom had.  I love his addition of salt on top of his Caramel Spritz Cookies.  I still prefer the butter ones, but I'll have to try substituting some brown sugar in my recipe, or putting butter in Mike's. Either way, I have to try these.

I have a copy of Alice Medrich's recent cookie book, but haven't baked nearly enough from it.  Fortunately, Leslie brought these fantastic Chocolate Espresso Cookies to my attention.  I'm sure B&G will be thrilled when I make them--they think I don't make nearly enough chocolate cookies. 

You can't go wrong with a classic combination like chocolate and peanut butter.  That probably explains why these Peanut Butter Blossoms are always so popular.  I'm really glad that Kayte convinced Katie to join us this year so she could share these.

At first glance, you might think that Jessica brought us more chocolate cookies.  And she did, sort of.  But she went one better, and combined chocolate with ginger for these yummy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies.  Don't ask me why, but even though I don't care for cinnamon with chocolate, ginger with chocolate is just fine.

Dorie is always suggesting that we play around with her recipes, and Spike did just that.  She took the already awesome World Peace Cookies and added candy canes to make them World Peace & Peppermint Cookies.  Maybe if I have some of these in the house, I won't be as tempted by the Starbucks Peppermint Hot Chocolate. Right? 

Another great pairing with chocolate is caramel.  These Heartland Turtle Bars that Mary brought look like a great way to combine the two.  I have to admit, sometimes I really love making bar cookies so I don't have to mess with baking multiple pans of cookies.

Next up is our over-achiever, Margaret. =)  When I sent out the email about this year's cookie exchange, I was teasing Margaret about making two cookies last year instead of just one.  Well, this year, she made three!  All look wonderful--Angel Wings, Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies, and Eggnog Thumbprints.

If you need a whole bunch of cookies but don't want to make several kinds, then Abby's Peppernuts (from her mother-in-law) might be the cookies for you.  She mentions that the yield from the recipe is about 560 cookies.  No, that's not a typo.  Fortunately, she also mentions that they keep well and you can freeze them. =)

Next up is a good example of why I love these cookie exchanges.  My other friend Margaret shared a very special cookie with us.  She received the recipe for these Candy Cane Cookies from her sister-in-law shortly after she married into the family.  I bet they would be lots of fun to make with my girls.  And she gives a handy tip for crushing the candy canes, too!

Elaine was worried about running late, but I think I've got her beat. =)  Besides, if you show up with cookies, who cares if you're late?  These Pecan Crunch Cookies have an unusual ingredient, but you'll have to head over to Elaine's blog to see what it is.

I was really excited to see Tracey's contribution to the cookie exchange.  Every year I make goodie bags for the girls' teachers.  This year, I really wanted to make biscotti for some of them, but I also wanted something without nuts.  These Candy Cane Biscotti are perfect!  They'll be the first cookie exchange recipe that I make, but I'm sure they won't be the last.

Last but not least, we have my Spritz Cookies.  This is another recipe that makes a lot of cookies--they're small, so you can eat several without feeling too guilty.

I really hope that you've enjoyed this year's Virtual Cookie Exchange.  If this isn't enough cookie recipes for you, you can always go back and look at last year's roundup, too.  If you'd like to join us for future blog events, email me at diskitchennotebook at gmail dot com, and I'll add you to my list.  Look for the Winter event sometime in February!

A baker's dozen - the Virtual Cookie Exchange round-up

I think it's safe to say that the Virtual Cookie Exchange was a success!  We had participants from all over the country--California, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island, Texas and Washington.  We even had a couple of international bakers, from Germany and the Netherlands!  And as I hoped, we now have a whole bunch of cookie recipes that have been tested and approved.  So if you have cookie baking on the agenda for this weekend, here are some great ideas...

Abby of Stir it! Scrape it! Mix it! Bake it! starts us off.  Being snowed in gave her the perfect excuse to stay home and bake, and she had fun baking along via Twitter with some of our other bakers.  I bet her  Chocolate Peppermint Sandwiches are very kid-friendly, and I can't wait to try them with my girls.

Andrea of Family & Food & Other Things decided to try her hand at something new, Biscotti.  You can't go wrong adding chocolate chips, and I'm looking forward to using up some of my large stash of cranberries in this recipe!

Caitlin of Engineer Baker reminds us what the holiday season is all about.  It means making cookies that a loved one really enjoys, even when you don't particularly like them yourself.  In this case, it was these yummy Chewy Sugar Cookies.  And I don't know about you, but sometimes it's nice to bake something that I won't really be tempted to eat...

Jessica of A Singleton in the Kitchen was kind enough to share a treasured family recipe with us.  As she puts it, "favorites are favorites for a reason" and I can definitely see these Swedish Vanilla Cookies, (aka Thumbprints) becoming a favorite in my house.

Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table shares another minty cookie with us.  Her recipe for Candy Cane Peppermint Cookies started as a recipe from a friend, but Kayte made it her own.  And just think, if the stress of the holidays is getting to you, you can vent your frustrations by crushing candy canes!

Leslie of Lethally Delicious came up with a fabulous recipe that pairs cinnamon chips with browned butter.  I can't wait to make her Cinnamon Cookies for Grownups!

Margaret of Tea and Scones started baking cookies and just couldn't stop!  She shares three wonderful recipes with us: Nutmeg Meltaways, Graham Cracker Pralines & "S"anta Cookies.  I love nutmeg, so those meltaways are first on my list to make, though I'm thinking of trying them with pecans.

Marthe of Culinary Delights was the first one I talked to about this virtual cookie exchange.  She jumped on board immediately, and before I knew it, we had a whole list of participants. She picked a cookie that is very popular with her family & friends, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.

Mike of Good Things About Living Out West brings us another minty treat. It's part shortbread cookie, part peppermint bark, and looks totally delicious.  I can't wait to try this Virtual Bark. No Bite.

Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs was a huge help in getting this cookie exchange off the ground. I really wanted a badge for the event, but didn't know where to start, and she offered to ask her daughter to design one!  And then she baked one of my favorite types of cookies, Triple Ginger Cookies.  I can't wait to try baking them.

Phyl from Of Cabbages and King Cakes had trouble getting into the holiday spirit this year.  Once he did, though, he baked not one but two cookies for us--Cranberry Pumpkin Biscotti & Gingerbread Biscotti.  One he had made before, and one he came up with this year.  Both look fantastic, but I think I want to sample the gingerbread ones first.

Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures combined two of my favorite flavors, chocolate and caramel, for her Chocolate Turtle Cookies.  She assures us that they're good without the pecans, too, if you don't like nuts.

Last but not least, we have my contribution.  Like many others, I did a minty cookie, combining peppermint crunch chips with some amazingly chocolatey cookie dough.  I also made some festive lemon wreaths (not pictured here).  You can find both in my post All's well that ends well.




So there you have it, a baker's dozen (plus a few extras) worth of wonderful cookie recipes.  The only question now is, where do I start, and when can I find time to make all of these? =)  Thanks so much to everyone who participated, and I look forward to making this an annual event!

Oh, and one more thank you to Nancy's daughter Allison for making our beautiful logo.  I hope she'll do another one for me next year!

2008: The year in review

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here's hoping that 2009 will be a happy and healthy year for all of you.  I've been fortunate enough to "meet" and become friends with some really wonderful people during this past year.  I really appreciate all of you who read and comment on my blog.  

In my Blogiversary post, I mentioned that I wanted to highlight some of my favorite posts from the past year.  Since I started my blog a week before the start of 2008, it works out for me to do a year-in-review post for the calendar year.  I had fun looking back, seeing how much I've progressed in the past year.  My photography has gotten much better--finding the macro button and indoor light setting on my camera helped a lot!  I realized that this was going to be a baking blog, rather than a general cooking blog.  I didn't really plan it that way, but baked goods are what I really enjoy writing about.  I also defined my writing style somewhat.  I tried some posts with process pictures, but I prefer to photograph the finished products.  And I've had fun figuring out how to plate and garnish things.

Some months I only picked one recipes, others I picked two or three.  I wanted to get some of my favorite pictures in, as well as the recipes.  So here goes...

January marked the first appearance of my kiddos on my young blog.  Brianna, in particular, likes to help me with things like cracking eggs and drizzling icing.  And sampling the finished products, of course. =)  Here we made her favorite Coffeecake Muffins.  

February is when I joined Tuesdays with Dorie, after seeing one of the great recipes from Baking From My Home to Yours on Peabody's blog.  To date, one of my favorite recipes that we've made is the Almost Fudge Gateau.  

February is also when I stumbled across the Daring Bakers.  I sent in my request to join, but my first recipe wouldn't be until March.  But I did try my hand at an earlier challenge, Bagels.  

March included some great new accomplishments.  I had my first experience with butter-laden yeast dough and flaming fruit with alcohol in the Brioche Raisin Snails.  

And my first Daring Bakers challenge was also a Dorie recipe--the Perfect Party Cake.

More Tuesdays with Dorie baking for April.  I started to play around with the recipes more.  A good example is when I made mini Lemon Cream Tarts.  I love the way the filling looks, swirled into the mini tart shells.

And I had a lot of fun decorating Bill's Big (or Small) Carrot Cake.  The cream cheese frosting worked well for the decorations.

May gave me an excuse to buy new bakeware.  Who could pass up an adorable mini madeleine pan? =)  I got to play around with the flavoring on these, adding some spices.  

And I picked up a new 7-inch springform pan to make a smaller version of the Peanut Butter Torte.  More fun with piping, too!

In June, I got to pick a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie!  French Chocolate Brownies seemed like a great idea, since we hadn't had many chocolate recipes.  And it gave me another chance to make rum raisins. =)

I also started following the blog from King Arthur Flour, which is where I found the recipe for this wonderful Stuffed Cheese Bread.  Yes, it tasted as good as it looks. 

And I can't forget about my favorite Daring Bakers challenge of the year, Danish Braids.  It's probably a good thing I haven't made one since--I'd be tempted to eat the whole thing.  

For July, I want to highlight another Daring Bakers challenge, the Filbert Gateau.  I got to try several new things this month.  Like figuring out how the heck to get the skins off hazelnuts.  =)  I played with dry caramel (I'm used to starting with water and sugar, not just sugar) to make praline, which was used to make some of the best buttercream I've ever tasted.  Wow.

August was a month for ice cream, including this delicious Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream.  

I love reading other food blogs to find new inspiration.  In September, Mary the Food Librarian blogged about these amazing Breakfast Buns, and I immediately decided I had to make them too.

And I got to make my first Tuesdays with Dorie post away from home.  I made these decadent Chocolate Chunkers while we were in Pennsylvania for my sister's wedding.

I made my biggest mess in October, while making caramel for the Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake.  The cake itself was so-so, but the caramel is a keeper.

And we celebrated Gillian's birthday with Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes.

November brought pumpkin.  (Okay, actually it started in October.)  And my favorite pumpkin recipe this year was this Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Which brings us to December.  I actually made Dorie's All Occasion Sugar Cookies a couple of times.  They were a big hit with Brianna's kindergarten class.

Well, if you've made it this far, thanks for reviewing 2008 with me.  I can't wait to see what 2009 brings.  More bread, for sure.  And hopefully croissants.  And macarons.  And who knows what other delicious baked goods.  Happy New Year!