Madge Cleveland displays the mystery thong that showed up under the table at the cookie exchange yesterday.
It was almost time to exchange the cookies at the annual cookie swap and I had two important announcements to make.
1. We found a black thong beneath the dining room table. If you’d like to claim it, it will be hanging on the doorknob of the pantry in the kitchen.
2. Please do not eat the gingerbread dog house that Erin Donovan brought because she couldn’t get the icing to hold up its walls and she had to use a glue gun!
And, with that, a couple dozen ladies dove into the couple dozen or so types of cookies we had this year, our 17th straight holiday cookie exchange.
My friends and I love this way to kick-start the holiday season. Cookie exchanges are fun and easy. I will put the “rules” we use at the bottom of this post along with a link to the recipe for light Mediterranean orzo salad that I served at lunch and which several folks requested.
Madge and Kathy Darnell washing their hands after handling the mysterious black thong.
Every year we say we had the best cookies ever. But this year I REALLY think we did. This is just a portion of them.
Judith Foltz making an entrance with her lavender butter cookies.
From left, Tasha Blakney, Mintha Roach and Monique Anderson. They were probably discussing travel. Monique and Mintha just returned from a fabulous trip to Spain. Tasha is planning a trek to Rwanda. Hey, haven’t you folks heard of a place called “Florida?”
From left, Judith Foltz, Sara Pinnell and Gay Lyons mingling before lunch.
From left, Shaun Fulco, the CFO of Moxley Carmichael, with Erin Donovan and Susan Brown.
Jacque Hawks, left, and Dawn Ford.
Kathy Darnell, left, and Kristin Grove catching up.
Time for lunch. Gotta keep up our strength for the heavy lifting ahead! From left, Annette Winston, Margie Nichols, Lila Honaker and Jennifer Holder.
From left, Janet Testerman, Sheena McCall and Sara Rose.
From left, Katie Kline, Julia Bentley and Michelle Hardin.
From left, Tami Hartmann, Margaret Rodgers and Ranee Randby.
Our tree with all the cookie tins under it. They were about to be put to good use!
Lila and Tasha taking a quick couple of shots before the onslaught of cookie grabbing.
OK. Go!
Holy cow! These salted caramel chocolate chip cookies are probably illegal in some parts of the country! Shaun brought them.
Monique’s cookies. Yum.
Tasha and Shaun getting the job done.
Delicious sugar cookie truffles came from Lila.
Always popular peanut butter cookies with a little seasonal sparkle.
Sheena brought these Polish cookies made by a friend of hers from Poland. They had jam inside.
Ranee is doing the smart thing and sorting the cookies into separate Ziploc bags. We do this to keep the peppermint, cinnamon and peanut butter flavors from bleeding into the other cookies. And to keep the soft cookies from making the crispy cookies soft. We learned this from years of experience.
Dawn and Katie look very serious.
Wow. Look at these!
And these!
Tami brought chocolate mint thumbprints this year.
And these adorable candy mice — and little oreo penguins!
Mary Pat Tyree posing in front of the tree.
Lemon thyme shortbread from Jacque Hawks.
Tasha’s grandmother’s peanut butter fudge.
Love almonds in a cookie!
Kathy Darnell’s cranberry-orange butter cookies.
Michelle loading up.
Frosted peppermint brownie cookies, also from Lila. She brought two kinds of cookies!
Jennifer always brings cracker candy. And I always love it.
Dawn’s powdered-sugar covered sugar cookies stuffed with chocolate kisses. Yep. You read that right!
Mintha’s “ghost” cookies! They actually are delicious chocolate chip meringues.
Lemon ricotta cookies with lemon glaze. Thanks, Ranee!
Margie brought strawberry-chocolate cookies.
Erin’s gingerbread dog house — with assorted chocolate dog-related items. (Don’t eat the house!)
There were a few other cookies I didn’t get a good photo of. But, you get the idea!
Sadly, nobody ever claimed the black thong.
Here’s the invitation with the “rules.” Thanks to Katrina Roberts of Moxley Carmichael for the design.
Here’s the orzo salad. And the recipe: https://tastykitchen.com/recipes/salads/mediterranean-orzo-salad/
It’s not officially the holiday season until we kick things off with your cookie party. It was great fun as always: good friends, delicious brunch, and all those cookies. Thanks for hosting this fabulous gathering for 17 years & hopefully for many more years to come.
Surely not Alan’s. Maybe it was Santa’s thong?
This is always such a fun day! Thank you for including me. It’s the official kickoff to the holiday season!
Not sure how it got there, but I am pretty sure it belongs to Jerry Becker. He has been known to enter thong contests.
Glad that thong wasn’t my size! Hah! 17 cookie exchanges and each one had delicious memories.
Mox – Thanks for another wonderful cookie party – I am officially in the Christmas spirit! The food was awesome and I don’t know about the rest of you, but the cookies I planned to take to work are already quickly disappearing. Thanks to all of you great bakers!
Finding a thong under your dining room table could only happen at the cookie exchange!!!
It is always a blast and I learn things about KNOXVILLE I would never know otherwise!
Thanks Cynthia – lunch was yummy.
It sounds like so much fun! I always look forward to your article each year about the cookie exchange. Thanks!
The holidays are on their way no! Who made those almond cookies? I need that recipe. They are delicious!! Thanks again for a great party!
Hahaha, everybody. Especially you, Deborah and Courtney!!
Does anyone know who made those almond cookies? Several folks have asked for that recipe. Thanks.
Cynthia, you have my recipe for the almond cookies and they are so easy! Just requires a little time in the car and a wad of cash. You didn’t share my recipe!
Annette: Someone was helping me clean up and it was accidentally thrown away! Boo. Want to tell folks what it was?
Annette: In other words, what bakery they came from! (We decided years ago to operate with a “Don’t ask; don’t tell” policy when it comes to confessing if you bought your cookies!)
I called my cookies the “Life Happens Cookies”. The recipe went something like this: (Note the SANTA acrostic.)
1. Stop stressing because your kids left their kids with you all day Saturday when you were supposed to be baking cookies.
2. Admit there is no way you can roll out enough dough in the time left, and that you suck at recipes that require the rolling of dough anyway.
3. Nudge the hubs to stop at Whole Foods so you can buy some delicious cookies to share.
4. Tell the truth about what happened to your original plan for Chocolate Shortbread cookies.
5. Ask for forgiveness because it’s a festive time of year and they will freely give it. (Also, remind Katie Bell not to take any of these almond cookies from Whole Foods as they have coconut and she hates coconut.)
Annette: Hahaha! The important thing is they were great!!
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