Jennifer Holder at the cookie exchange last Sunday.
For 21 years, a group of friends — many of them original members — have been participating in a December cookie exchange. Every year we say the cookies are the best ones ever. But — I swear! — this year they really were!
The exchange, held at our condo in the J.C. Penney Building on Gay Street in downtown Knoxville, has found its groove. It’s efficient and fun. It’s a great gathering time, but it also doesn’t occupy the entire day in an extremely busy time of year.
We start at noon and mingle for an hour as folks bring in their platters of cookies and find a place for them on the dining room table. Lunch, normally a selection of salads, is served at 1 p.m. And then the cookies are swapped. The whole thing is over by 2:30. And everyone has cookies to serve at home or take to other holiday gatherings. A win on all fronts.
We recommend that everyone start this festive little tradition. Because, as my favorite cookbook author Ina Garten says, “You can be miserable before you have a cookie and you can be miserable after you have a cookie. But you can never be miserable while you are eating a cookie!”
Gathering time! From left, Sheena McCall, Katie Kline, Sara Rose, Margie Nichols, and Dawn Ford.
These two were life savers for me! Susan Brown, left, staffed the wine and mimosa station. Madge Cleveland made Bloody Marys. Thanks, friends!
Janet Testerman Crossley showing off her “Team Naughty” cocktail napkin!
My napkin. Ha!
Erin Donovan, left, was on Team Nice! Ranee Randby, not so much!
Mintha Roach, left, and Monique Anderson.
From left, Maria McHale, Kathy Darnell, Madge Cleveland, and Kathy Hamilton.
Margaret Rodgers, left, and Judith Foltz.
From left, Margie Nichols, Lauren Miller, and Susan Brown.
From left, Julia Bentley, Annette Winston, and Cathy Briscoe-Graves.
Appetizers were a new kind of sausage balls (an upgrade of the one on the back of the Bisquick box) and so-called “Crack Dip!” (Don’t ask!) Everyone asked for that sausage ball recipe because it’s everywhere on the Internet right now. Will put a link to it at the end of this post.
Christi Branscom, left, and Lynne Fugate.
Janet Testerman Crossley, left, with Gay Lyons.
I always try to serve four different kinds of salads and warm bread. Clockwise from top left, macerated berries; green salad with apples, walnuts, blue cheese, and dried Michigan cherries (courtesy of Sara Rose!); Mediterranean pasta salad; and lemony white bean salad.
Lunch time!
You must keep your strength up for what is to come!
We had the TV on without the volume to catch the reveal of the teams in the College Football Playoffs!
Tasha Blakney, left, and Judith Foltz.
I like this picture of Lynne Fugate, seated, and Jennifer Holder.
Katie Kline, left, and Cheryl Bartley. Wonder what they’re talking about!
A picture of the cookie table before the attack starts!
Another view.
OK, go!
Mary Pat Tyree at the ready!
Mintha Roach, left, and Dawn Ford applying themselves to the task at hand. (Dawn’s doing a little quality control work!)
It doesn’t take long! These ladies are experienced at this!
Don’t Janet Testerman, right, and her mother, Janet Testerman Crossley, look serious?
I wanted to give a special shout-out to the sweet guy in this picture: my husband, Alan Carmichael. He stood downstairs and helped everyone — and their cookies — get into the building and the elevator. This was taken at the start of the party — just before he made himself scarce for the afternoon! Thanks, honey! With him from left, Cheryl Bartley, Katie Kline, Madge Cleveland, Mintha Roach, Monique Anderson, and Lauren Miller.
Here’s recipe for those kicked-up sausage balls: https://www.plainchicken.com/rotel-cream-cheese-sausage-balls/
Tasha brought some candied cranberries with her cookies. She said they are all the rage on Tik-Tok at the moment. Here’s one recipe with several adaptations. I believe Tasha said she used orange juice in hers: https://www.allrecipes.com/how-to-make-viral-candied-cranberries-8757656
Thanks for sharing good times and great cookies. We all need a tradition like this one! Thanks, too, for the sausage balls recipe — I’m on it!!
Rusha: You will love the “new” balls! Happy, happy!
Each year as I read about the current year’s cookie exchange, I marvel at what a wonderful holiday tradition you have established — a gathering of good friends and delicious cookies. Happy Holidays!
Thanks, Bill! Happy holidays to you, too! You know, cookie exchanges don’t just have to be for women! You should start one! They are so much fun!
The cookies are fantastic, but the real star of the day is your food, Cynthia! Your salads were next level and you always manage to come up with a yummy brunch for a big crowd! I don’t know how you do it! Thanks for 21 years of helping us all ring in the holiday season!
Ranee: Awww, thanks so much. I appreciate everyone coming together and bringing those amazing cookies – and so many of them! – for 21 years! Also, all the help everyone gives me – and each other! It’s a fun tradition.
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