Host a Christmas Cookie Exchange Party

Stir up your favorite recipes and invite your friends to do the same. The following slides offer great tips to plan, host, and enjoy your holiday cookie swap.

Send invitations three to four weeks in advance, before friends' schedules fill up. On the invitations, be sure to include how many cookies to bring (ask for homemade), specifics on packaging the cookies, and any other special features you plan for the event.

Ask each attendee to bring at least three dozen cookies to make sure everyone has plenty of cookies to take home. If you plan to serve some at the party, ask guests to bring an extra dozen or two for a sampling buffet.

Make the cookie exchange the entertainment at your gathering, or plan the exchange as a bonus to a caroling, tree-trimming, or sledding party.

Serve an assortment of holiday foods and beverages appropriate to the time of day and level of formality you desire. Suggestions: a holiday tea party, an appetizer and drinks soiree, a casual open house, a festive salad luncheon, or a lazy weekend brunch.

If kids are invited, plan an activity such as a cookie-decorating contest or story hour, or make sure games are available. Be ready to serve child-friendly foods and beverages.

Highlight the stars of the party (the cookies) with pretty serving plates and dishes. Provide cake stands, large parfait glasses, clear-glass bowls, and baskets lined with holiday linens.

Send your guests -- and their cookies -- home in fine style by supplying pretty packages for the cookies. Hand-stamped bags, clear holiday boxes decorated with decals, Chinese-food takeout containers, or inexpensive plastic carryalls garnished with ribbons and bows all make pretty carrying cases.

Here's just one great recipe to get your cookie share started: Patchwork Mitten Cookies, formed by crisscrossed colored pieces of dough. Tie a pair together with a satin ribbon for a charming display. See the next two slides for how-to details.

For the individual patches, use a fluted pastry wheel to cut squares, diamonds, and triangles from four colors of cookie dough that you have tinted with paste food coloring (see recipe).

Arrange about 10 pieces to overlap slightly, and cut the group with a mitten-shape cookie cutter.

This cookie, which combines chocolate and peanut butter, will likely prove to be a favorite. Refrigerated cookie dough serves as a shortcut for making these rich nibbles.

These late bloomers start with your favorite sugar cookie dough rolled into balls. Cut down on prep time by using store-bought refrigerated dough. Next, you simply snip and fold to form lovely flowers (see the next slide for how-to details). Colored sugar and a candy center add pizzazz.

Roll a dough ball in colored sugar. Snip it in half with scissors, then snip each half into three petals. Gently spread the petals apart and lay flat.

These cutout stars shine in pretty pastels with dots and swirls of icing. Start with your favorite sugar cookie and icing recipes, or follow the links below for ours. For customary holiday flair, change the color scheme to reds and greens. See the next two slides for how-to details.

To glaze your cookies, hold a baked cutout over a bowl of tinted glaze after it has cooled completely. Use a small metal spatula to cover the cutout evenly with glaze; remove excess. Use your favorite cookie glaze, or try our Royal Icing recipe.

Before the glaze sets, dot icing in a contrasting color on each cookie. Leave icing as dots or pull a toothpick through them to form swirls.