Blogger Cookie Swap – Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tis’ the season for baking and giving 🙂

I’ve started my holiday baking early this year. I actually started baking a week before Thanksgiving.

We’ve been doing a local bake sale with friends and family to help raise money for Team For Life and reach our fundraising goals.

Not only am I baking for the bake sale, I’m also doing my usual holiday baking. I’m having a ton of fun. I love this time of the year.

I recently participated in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. It’s like a cookie exchange, but instead of having  a party in your house, it happened in the blogosphere with other bloggers.

I made my favorite chocolate chip cookies and dressed them up in Christmas colors.

Aren’t they festive? I dipped these chocolate chip cookies in melted chocolate. Double chocolate goodness.

I’ve made a few chocolate chip cookie recipes and I finally found one that I can call as one of my favorites. It’s classic, it’s simple and it’s delicious.

Anyone who likes cookies and chocolate will love them. My husband sure do love these cookies. They are crispy on the outside and chewy and moist in the center. They taste like the cookies from my childhood, the cookies I saved my allowance for so I can buy it at the mall.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

(recipe from All Recipes)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
3. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.

I sent a dozen of the chocolate chip cookies, along with a few other cookies to three recipients.

As part of the cookie exchange, I also received 3 cookie packages from other bloggers.

– Lavender Shortbread cookies (from Ellie at White and Dorky Chef) – I love the smell of lavender in the cookies. It’s light in texture and buttery in taste. I enjoyed the cookies with my cup of tea.

– Cardamom and Sesame seed cookies (from Joanna at Meatless Most Days) – I finished half the package the day I received it. I shared with my mom and we both loved it. It’s not too sweet and the toasted sesame flavor really stood out in the cookie flavor.

– Chewy Ginger cookies (from Sarah at Cooker Girl) – This cookie smells like Christmas. They are thin and chewy and heavy with ginger flavor. If you like ginger, like I do, then these cookies is for you. I believe the cookies even had chopped candied ginger in it.

The best part of the exchange is connecting with other bloggers and getting a taste of different cookies that are new to me. All the cookies I received were different, I liked them all and now I am inspired to make them in my own kitchen.

THANK YOU to all my fellow cookie swappers for sending me their delicious goodies.

If you would like to join in on the fun and participate in next year’s Cookie Exchange, you can sign up —> here.