The Diva That Attended CookieFest10!

Peppermint Crusted Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies                     Photo credit: Margaret C. Doughney

How do you exercise self-control? I’m asking because when it comes to baking and cooking I suck at it! I rarely cook a simple meal, especially if I’m entertaining. I’m an excess-is-best type of gal as you can see from this past Thanksgiving or the cookies and chocolates I whipped up last year: Jackie’s gone Christmas cookie crazy 2009!!!

When I was invited to CookieFest10, a New York City and environs food blogger’s holiday cookie swap organized by some friends I “met” via Twitter, @thepeche (Chris), @thetoughcookie (Gail), @abbydodge (Abby) and @threemanycooks (Maggie), I was thrilled. What kind of cookies would/could/should I MAKE?! I was on the road to more! More! MORE!

Then I found out we were to bake only three dozen of just one kind of cookie. DRATS! I got a wee bit deflated. I was going to be seeing some old friends and meeting some people I’d been dying to meet, it was going to be awesome! I wanted to cook up a storm! One cookie does not a storm make… Plus, I had to decide what cookie I’d be making in advance. YIKES! I had to commit! There was no room for whim. No room for a last-minute-moment-of-inspiration. Gulp…

Luckily, I decided to follow the instructions and exercise some self-control for a change! I committed to the Peppermint Crusted Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies two weeks before the event. I’d made them last year so there was little margin for error. Plus they are delish, a little complex to make and pinchably cute, so I was happy with my choice. I bent the rules slightly by making both a chocolate and a vanilla shortbread cookie as the base and I made three dozen of each. Hey! They are very small cookies!!!

The benefits were HUGE! Less work for me and we had a cookie storm after all! When twenty-four people make at least three dozen cookies (and yes, some of them made several kinds — Yeah for excess!) you wind up with an insane amount of cookies. I came with 2 boxes of cookies and left with five boxes. It was MUCHO fun! I shot a quick video of the spread.

Photo credit: Margaret C. Doughney | Savory Sweet Living

Here’s a few pics of food bloggers at eat-swap