I had been making sweets since September for World Food Champ. Another batch was the last thing on my mind that mid-autumn day. When Lindsay Landis of Love and Olive Oil asked if I would like to participate in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014, my mind started racing. Over 500 food blogger participants from around the world conjured up memories of an old pen pal from Brussels. A compelling, intercontinental discussion about “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” was replaced with sharing recipes and getting to know other bloggers. Make no mistake, just making sweet nothings this swap was not. The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap benefited Cookies for Kids’ Cancer .
Anyone can “Be a Good Cookie.” Click here to learn how you can get involved.
I sent my Tahini Nutterbutters “Secret Santa” style to three #fbcookieswap assigned bloggers:
Guyla Mayo Clemantines and Cocktails from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Dre Syswerda Delicious by Dre from Trophy City, Texas
Betsy Pollack A Plateful of Happiness from Lexington, Massachusetts
Meanwhile, Pank started noticing the frequency of US Postal boxes being delivered. “You always are getting cool stuff in the mail,” he laughed. We munched on the first secret batch of Ginger Molasses Cookies from Kelsey McGinley –Little Bits Of. Kelsey and I share the love of a good snort of bourbon. A Bourbon Trail road trip may be in order soon. Then came Amy Oraftick’s Maple Oat Cookies from The Starving Artist. Turns out, this sweet little opera singer met her feller right here in Nashville and visits the Music City regularly. Have a huge pin board of recipes you peruse often, but never actually make? Allison Boyer tests those pins along with her Sis and Mamma over at The Pinterest Kitchen to see if they’re worth making. Pank and I give her “Gingerbread People” pin a major heart and “re-pin.”
In a world of SEO, ROI and ROR, folks may prefer to say WTF! The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap was more than a few tasty cookies. It was about engagement. It was about sharing a little piece of our lives. This time of year always tends to sneak up on me. Just about the time all four wheels are spinning in the same direction, everyone wants to stop and reflect. “Reflection? I don’t have time to reflect. I have way too much on my to-do list to reflect,” I think to myself. Last year I shared a version of this cookie recipe upon reflecting why Christmas reaches beyond a tree and a few damn presents. Click here to read those “reflections.” People need one another. It’s that simple.
Now, get in the kitchen and bake some cookies!
Tahini Nutterbutters
adapted from “The Christmas Treasury”
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup tahini
1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar plus 1/2 cup for rolling
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups oats ground
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sesame seeds
beat together butter, nut butters and sugars. mix eggs and vanilla. process oats into a medium fine flour with salt. combine all ingredients to form a dough. chill for one hour. roll dough into 1-inch balls and then roll in sugar. place on parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. flatten each with the tines of a fork to make a criss-cross pattern. sprinkle sesame seeds on cookies. bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. cool slightly on baking sheet before placing on wire rack for final cooling.