Eat: 2016 Cookie Swap

I thought really hard about hosting a cookie swap this year as I've been extremely swamped with so much going on at work, with the wedding, I am back in school etc. I decided not to forego it this year because I really do love doing it and so do all of my friends. Compared to last year, this one was pretty small but I am quite happy with the results - especially because it did not take me as much work as it has in the past.

Generally, I send an email out (with a fancy graphic/digital card) to a select group of friends to ask who wants to participate, what dates work etc. After this, I share a google doc with a form for everyone to fill in what they will be making so that we don't have duplicate. I also have them email me their recipes so I can create a book for them to go home with. This year I did none of that, save for the email to ask who would be able to make it. The best way to organize a cookie swap usually involves all these steps but it had to be quick this time! I did not even email everyone until really late in the month and asked if they could attend within two given dates. Although not everyone could make it because of this, I had a great time, ate lots of sweets and still got plenty of cookies to share.

I took lots of photos for some great Cookie Swap inspiration. This year, I got the tags and labels from Confetti Sunshine's  printable and customized them to work with what I needed.

Let me know what you think!

Second Annual Cookie Swap - an Entire Season Later.

I can't even start with my list of excuses reasons why this was not up in late December. I just thought to share a few photos from my second cookie swap. This one had more attendees, which meant more cookies. It also meant more recipe books to put together. I never actually ended up giving these out and they are still sitting on my desk - halfway done. I plan to get to these soon, but well see!

I used a beautiful wrapping paper I got from Target (don't even get me started on how upset I am about that...) as a table runner. I also used plain white dishes to hold the cookies as well as a cute tiered tray that I've had for some time now which coincidentally matched the themed signage. I actually printed these from the Creative Bag blog. Creative Bag in Toronto is a wonderful store to find great supplies for parties and gift-wrapping. I love putting together fun tablescapes and having it all tie into a single theme. 

I also prepared a very rich sipping chocolate and made a whipped topping in little mini cups for those who wanted to top off their drink. The whipped topping was quite easy - vanilla and whipping cream in your stand mixer with whisk attachment on high for a few minutes and that's it!  To balance all that sweet, I put together a cheeseboard with some spicy goat cheese, brie and of course - cheddar and mozzarella. 

The colours I worked with this time around were light blue, red, gold and white. Recipe for a quick and easy sipping chocolate is at the end of the post.

Enjoy! 

Sipping Chocolate

Ingredients

1.5 cups whipping cream

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

6 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups of chocolate chips (milk chocolate OR semi-sweet depending on how sweet you like it. I have a heck of a sweet tooth, and I love the milk chocolate, but others prefer the semi-sweet)

Instructions

Stir together the whipping cream, milk, vanilla, and chocolate chips in a tall and deep pot.

Cook on low for 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until mixture is hot and chocolate chips are melted. Stir again before serving. Garnish as desired.