Forgive me readers, for I have sinned -- I threw a party today, and completely forgot to take a single photo. I'm going to blame it on having too much fun to take a break for photography. Nevertheless, I decided this year to turn the cookie exchange I hosted last year into a holiday tradition, and I invited my friends and their significant others (the better to gobble up cookies) over for a baking-themed fete.
I did try to scale back a bit from last year, when I was left with a daunting amount of leftovers, so I only baked two types of cookies, the chocolate thumbprint cookies I tried back in September, and the peppermint meringues I played with during last year's holiday season. I also scaled back my savory hors d'oeuvres to include frozen mini-quiche, a cheese plate, and my go-to homemade finger food -- a variation on pigs in a blanket consisting of andouille sausage with fig preserves, wrapped in puff pastry. To round out the offerings, I whipped up a batch of mulled apple cider, for which I never have a concrete recipe, but which always seems to turn out fine regardless. After all the baking I do, which requires a certain amount of precision, it is tremendously gratifying to make something that is both delicious and flexible.
My guests brought an equally impressive array of treats. Lauren brought her famous pfeffernüssen, Jane baked chocolate biscotti with Mexican spices, Taryn went for something a little different with peppermint brownies, Ashley made chocolate raspberry cookies, Mireya and her sister brought mint chocolate cookies, and Amanda created some very popular chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies rolled in crushed peppermint. Clearly, there was a bit of a chocolate peppermint zeitgeist, and a preponderance of chocolate cookies in general. This must be what happens when a group of women is asked to bake. Sometimes stereotypes are rooted in fact...
I was happy to convene my friends around my table to celebrate the holiday season with piles of delicious treats. After all, for me, the spirit of Christmas can be found in experiences shared with friend and family. Somehow, I managed to make it all the way to the end of 2010 before having a party, but I was reminded of how much I enjoy entertaining and playing hostess to my friends. Perhaps throwing more parties could be a New Year's resolution that I wouldn't mind keeping in 2011...
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