The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2015 - Hot Chocolate & Marshmallow Cookies

My favorite time of the year is upon us and one of my favorite activities has come to an end... 


*sigh*

For the second year in a row, I participated in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2015, which is just about the coolest thing ever! If you aren't familiar with the swap, here's how it works: "The GREAT FOOD BLOGGER COOKIE SWAP brings together food bloggers from around the world in celebration of all things scrumptious. The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Salivate. Get lots of great ideas for next year’s cookie swap. Rinse and repeat."

Super fun, right?! In addition to receiving 3 separate boxes of homemade cookies in the mail, you are also benefiting Cookies' for Kids Cancer, which funds new therapies for children with cancer. 

Since I was crunched on time with all of our recent travels, I decided to make these Hot Cocoa Cookies with Marshmallows that I found on Pinterest. Best. Decision. Ever. 

Dianna from The Kitchen Prep, who received a shipment of my cookies, took this picture and I absolutely love it!

Since I wasn't the mastermind behind this recipe, I won't be taking credit and will forward you along to where I found it :)

As I mentioned before, we not only mailed cookies, but received some fabulous ones as well, including: 

Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels and Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies from Stark Raving Delicious.

Double Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies from Chew Nibble Nosh. 

Chocolate Ganache Filled Gingerbread Cups from the Suburban Soapbox

Mystery cookies from a mystery baker :(

If you think this sounds fun (trust me, it is), be sure to get yourself signed up for next year!! As always, thank you to Lindsay and Julie for organizing this highly anticipated event <3 

Rudolph's Nose Christmas Cookies

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen,
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen;
But do you recall?
The most famous cookie of all?

Or something like that.

I had such a blast participating in this year's Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! It was my first year and it was a blast thinking up creative cookies, packaging, and of course eating lots of delicious cookies from fabulous food bloggers across the world. 

If you're unfamiliar with the FB Cookie Swap, here's the gist (via their website): The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap brings together food bloggers from around the world in celebration of all things scrumptious. The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Salivate. Get lots of great ideas for next year’s cookie swap. Rinse and repeat.

Fun, right?!

Anyway, I wanted to do something fun for my cookie and perused Pinterest and kicked around several ideas until it finally came to me (while introducing Jackson to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"): Rudolph's Nose Cookies! 

These cookies are ridiculously simple to make, taste amazing, and look extremely festive! It's definitely a recipe I'll make again in the future (in fact, I'm already planning to make them to eat during "Rudolph" next year. #newtraditions). 

I didn't have reindeer ears so I edited them in..

Anngredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 3 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• Red sprinkles

1. Stir together sugar, butter, milk, vanilla, and egg in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours. 
2. Shape chilled dough into a rounded tablespoon and evenly coat in red sprinkles. Place balls, 1 inch apart, on ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 375ºF for 9 to 12 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!

Tip: These do not ship well--I learned that the hard way (sorry Nancy!)!