2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap - My Matches!

I had some DELICIOUS cookies from my three matches; so much so that I had to make a separate post about how awesome they were! I even took some beautiful pictures of my three packages and their contents, so that I could share their goodness with everyone (as well as the bloggers doing that themselves!)

First up: some delicious Lavender Shortbread from food blogger Food Mamma: her cookies were that gorgeous pale beige colour that denotes a perfectly-baked shortbread cookie.

The packaging itself was adorably hilarious; these cookies were so small, they fit into a business card box(!), which was then covered in brown paper and shipped off. In fact, the package was so tiny, if it weren't for the "2013 Food Blogger" stamp on the address label, I wouldn't have been sure if they were cookies!  I'm happy to report that they arrived in near-perfect condition, as you can see from the picture!

Second up: some of the most delicious Chai Shortbread Rounds I've ever eaten in my life, from food and lifestyle blogger Baking, Butter, and Happiness. The tea was actually *in* the shortbread itself, but ground so finely that there was little discernable grittiness, and definitely no overt tannin bitterness that comes from a strong black tea.

They were the smallest cookies I had received, each being the size of a twonie (that's a Canadian two dollar coin for all you non-Canuck readers!), but the packaging was sufficient to keep them from being destroyed in transit (thank goodness!)

Last, but by no means least, were a vibrant and rich Triple Ginger Cookie from food blogger Noms For The Poor (what a GREAT name!) These soft and chewy cookies packed quite a punch, with their triple-threat ingredients of crystallized ginger, ground ginger, and grated fresh ginger!

They came packed in a little metal cookie tin, and were in perfect condition when they arrived at my door.  Good thing too, as they were G-O-N-E within a very few hours at my office, and so many colleagues came up to me to tell me how awesome tasting they were! I'll practically guarantee you can scare away ANY sore throat after eating one of these cookies.


All in all, I was so pleased with my haul at this year's Food Blogger Cookie Swap; I'll be sure to participate next year, too....is it too early to start researching the Next Great Cookie Recipe now?

Many thanks to all who participated this year, and Cheers from The Birdhouse!

The 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

Whew! It's finally time to unveil my cookies for the 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

One of my recipients self-identified as gluten-free, so I needed to find a recipe was either already gluten-free, or could be altered to accommodate this allergy. Happily, cookies are quite forgiving when using alternate baking flours, and there are some pretty good commercial GF flours on the market now, so it is no longer strictly necessary to spend an entire paycheque on buying various bags of GF flours and playing mix-and-match.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, not at all!  In fact, I'll be doing some more research on making my own GF flour for any future commissions.

However, I felt it was important that this cookie recipe be as accessible as possible for anyone who wanted to recreate it, and so I went with a well-trusted GF flour that seems to be available in at least the large grocery stores and health food stores in the mid-to-major cities across North America.

I looked through a LOT of cookie recipes, both mine and others', to research ideas and techniques for an awesome cookie that would fit the bill. In fact, I developed a couple of different recipes before I decided that the recipe below was my favourite. I've made changes so it can be either GF or not, depending on your preference/needs; just sub out the gluten free flour 1:1 with all-purpose flour.

Gluten Free White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Cookies

Yield: about 36 small cookie, 24 medium cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 8 minutes

Note: all ingredients are presumed to be at room temperature

• 1¼ cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour)
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (Tahitian vanilla is best if you have it)
• ½ cup white chocolate chips
• ½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
• ½ cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped

Assemble your ingredients mise en place style.
Prepare two baking pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk GF flour, baking soda, and salt. 

With mixer at medium speed, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. 

 Reduce speed to low and stir in flour mixture until just combined. 

 With a wooden spoon, stir in white chocolate baking chips, cranberries and macadamia nuts. 

Chill dough in fridge, covered, for a minimum of 20 minutes. 

At this time, start the preheat of your oven to 375˚F.

Scoop teaspoon-sized quantities of chilled dough and gently roll into balls; place on prepared baking pans about 2” apart. Lightly press each dough ball down with the smooth, flat bottom of a clean glass that has been dipped in white sugar.

 Bake until golden around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans and switching them between the upper and lower oven racks halfway through baking. 

Remove and let cool on pans for a few minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely; store tightly covered. Keeps for 5-7 days.

These cookies tend to taste better the next day after baking. Like they'll last that long!

Good luck, and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this recipe, or any cool tips for gluten free baking!

The 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!!

Yay! I'm so excited!  I've just received the email confirming my participation in this year's cookie swap!  I should receive the two names and addresses of the Canadian food bloggers to whom I'll be sending a dozen of my most favourite cookies by this coming Monday.

Now, to narrow down the choices for which cookie recipe I'll be making....

...

...

...

...durnit, this is harder than it sounds; I have literally THOUSANDS of cookie recipes, in books, in Word documents, and online. How do I choose?!?

Last year I made the Gingerbread Biscotti shown here, as mentioned before in this post; they are absolutely delicious and one of my favourite biscotti recipes. So, not those.

Should I do a Christmas-themed cookie recipe? Or stay away from them since everyone does those?

Should I develop a brand new recipe for the swap? That's always a cool idea.

So many choices! I am not allowed to post the recipe in advance of the cut-off date for baking off and sending out the cookies to my chosen bloggers, but I will definitely post as soon as I can!

Wish me luck!

Contests: It's That Time Again!

It's hard for me to believe it's been a whole year since the last/first time I participated in this, but it's time again for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, hosted by The Little Kitchen and Love and Olive Oil, two fantastic food blogs hosted by some amazing people!

Last year, I participated in this cookie swap while still part of the gruesome twosome fondly remembered as The Chronic Masterbakers (blog now defunct). While the two of us have since parted ways, I still remember the good times we had, making cookies and sending them off oh-so-carefully through the post to three other Canadian food bloggers, and excitedly waiting on the three packages we would receive in return!

The rules of the swap are simple; I cannot publish or even mention which recipe I will be sending out to the three food bloggers I'm sending to until after they have been mailed off in November; the cookie recipe has to be "new" to me, as in I've not posted about it in the past, and it needs to be the same recipe for each of the three bloggers.  However, after I've mailed out the goodies, I can (and am encouraged to) publish photos and the recipe on my own blog so everyone can enjoy making them themselves!  I will also be posting photos of the cookies I receive from my three bloggers.

Why all the fuss, you ask?

Well, it's a nifty little food blog "linking party", for one; it also helps get my blog out there to a few more interested (and interesting) readers, and best of all it's for a good cause!  In order to join the Cookie Swap, I donated the very reasonable sum of $4 bucks, 100% of which will be donated to Cookies for Kids' Cancer.

So, watch this space for interesting cookie-related posts and pics!  I'm really going to have to go through all of my recipes to find the perfect one for this year's swap (one of my favourite things to do, truth be told...)  Yaaay!