Monday, December 12, 2011

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011 Recap

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011


The official end of the 2011 cookie swap has come but I am still up to my ears in cookies and loving every second of it.  This past week I received three separate packages containing three very different kinds of cookies (1 dozen each).  A very special THANK YOU to Damn Delicious, Patricia's PattiCakes, and The Cooking Vent. They were wonderful!


As for my recipe, I had some trouble deciding which to choose.  I have tons of traditions when it comes to holiday cookies but they are all with my mom.  My making them at my house by myself seemed a bit wrong. I decided that I needed a clean slate.  Then I saw this recipe in the December Real Simple magazine and I was drooling so bad the page got wet.


Toffee-Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies
From Real Simple

Ingredients

2 C creamy peanut butter
1 C packed light brown sugar
1 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 C broken salted pretzels
1 C chopped  toffee pieces (Heath Bars)

Directions

  1. Heat oven to 350° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, sugars, eggs, baking soda, and salt until smooth. Fold in the pretzels and chopped toffee bar. 
  2. Shape the dough into balls (about 1 heaping tablespoon each) and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Using the tines of a fork, flatten each ball, creating a crisscross pattern. 
  3. Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until puffed and golden, 10 to 12 minutes (the cookies will deflate as they cool). Let cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The recipe said it made 42 cookies but my first attempt only yielded about 34.  I think because I used natural peanut butter it wasn't as moist.  Mr. J was happy that I had to make another batch because then he scored some of the cookies which I had originally forbid him to touch till I was all done baking, cooling, and packaging.  Did I mention how over the course of the last two weeks we have not had less than 24 cookies at any given time?  Mr. J seems to think that whenever a new one comes out of the oven he must be the first sampler.  I guess I cannot blame him too much.


I hope Famous Michele's Food Librarian Place for Stuff, Kokocooks, and The Caramel Cookie enjoyed my cookies.  This was loads of fun and I truly hope Love and Olive Oil sponsor another one next year.

17 comments:

  1. Bravo to the foodies that coordinated the cookie swap! I am now seeing the results and everyone so far is ready to put there name in for next year!
    Your cookies do look so hearty and delicious-great flavors packed in there. I am sure the recipients enjoyed every one. Have a great day!

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  2. I love all of these cookie recipes that are coming about from the cookie swap. Yours sound absolutely fantastic and definitely one I must try! Yum!!

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  3. w00t! Another person who did the cookie swap. This was my first time doing anything like this and my family was very negative about it until they got to share the cookies from others and eat the ones I made as well.

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  4. Wow, how interesting! I can't imagine the pretzel in there, other than the crunch, but I bet they are delicious! They look amazing :)
    I had such a great time with the swap!

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  5. Looks delicious! How fun was the cookie swap too!?!

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  6. These sound completely awesome and I just love the idea of a cookie swap!

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  7. That certainly sounded one amazing swap! Love the look of these cookies - that photo with the broken one has my fingers twitching, as I want to just grab the end of it. They look and sound delicious!

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  8. I love seeing all these delicious cookie recipes today! Yours sound fantastic and I am sucker for anything toffee!

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  9. Sounds like so much fun! These cookies look incredible, what a great flavor combination!

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  10. Those cookies look delicious! I'm hoping to be able to participate in the Cookie Swap next year :) I just wanted to drop you a comment thanking you for your FoodBuzz friend request and I also just wanted you to know I really enjoy your blog and am looking forward to following it!

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  11. These cookies sound like they have verything in them that I love! I would eat the whole box in one sitting!!

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  12. I was just telling someone how badly I wanted toffee! How did you know?? What fabulous holiday sweets! Don't you know I should be reading this AFTER dinner. Now all I want is dessert. Thank you for sharing them with me. I hope you have a wonderful week!

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  13. These were awesome! I'm a peanut butter fiend, and I ate four as soon as I opened the box. Thank you so much for the delicious cookies.

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  14. They were so tasty! Thank you!! This swap was so much fun to participate in!

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  15. I would have been very happy receiving these! YUM

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