In this month’s Saveur magazine, an article on holiday baking traditions in Sweden mentions a Christmas-related old wive’s tale. According to legend, if a visitor leaves your house during the holidays without enjoying some food or drink, the Christmas spirit will leave with them. To ward off the departure of holiday happiness and cheer, the Swedes have developed a litany of sweets and beverages (including a number that incorporate saffron, to represent the return of the sun after the long, dark, cold winters the country is known for), baked and brewed on a variety of days during December. Any wive’s tale that couples sugar and spice with everything nice is completely fine by me. [image sources, clockwise from top left: williams-sonoma, sunset magazine, pinch my salt, little birdie secrets, bhg, country living]

To that end, today’s Small Measure is about welcoming holiday cheer into our homes in a simple, easy, and delectable way-via the cookie exchange. When I first heard of cookie exchanges, just out of my teens, I was not impressed. It sounded a bit too frou-frou and dainty for this lady, who rode dirt bikes and climbed trees in elementary school, messed with skate boards in middle school, and has been enamored with all manner of dirt and ruggedness ever since. Well, hindsight is always 20-20. If only I’d begun my cookie exchange foray sooner, I could have been enjoying assorted and sundry morsels much earlier in life.

For those of you unacquainted with the concept, a cookie exchange is essentially a potluck based on trading cookies. Guests bring several dozen home-baked goodies, attempt to avoid overlaps by indicating what they’re bringing before the event, trade items, nibble on snacks, imbibe a cocktail (or two!) or some other beverage, catch up on each other’s lives, and go home with a wide selection of cookies to eat later, share with family and friends, surprise the office with, give to an elderly neighbor, etc. Cookie exchanges allow me to save money otherwise spent on baking so many varieties of cookies, have some relaxing time with friends in advance of the holiday madness, and come away with enough baked goods to get my house through the entire month without really needing to bake again.

CLICK HERE for the rest of ashley’s post and her tips for your holiday cookie exchange after the jump!

I send out Evites to cut down on paper use, but you could always send handmade invitations for a more personal touch. If you’re into protocol and rules, Robin Olson is your cookie exchange go-to girl. Having literally written the book on hosting a cookie exchange, she provides 10 rules for a successful soiree. Some of these I endorse, while others (wear festive holiday clothing? um, sorry) aren’t so much my thing. For what it’s worth, here’s Robin’s advice:

1. All cookies should be homemade, baked and the main ingredient must be flour (More than these ingredient/baking criteria, what I really love to see is use of organic and local ingredients, like free-range eggs, butter, cream, flour, etc.)
2. No plain chocolate chip cookies, cookie mixes, no-bakes, meringues, or bars (Which excludes things like Rice Crispy treats or meringues-I’m pretty loose with this rule; do what you will, personally, I’d never turn down a BAR!)
3. Please bring 6 dozen total cookies (I have always said 4; 6 will offer more to take away, but during the holidays, it can be a lot to ask of a baker, in my opinion).
4. The theme is “Christmas Cookies” (So, don’t bring any spiderwebs or egg-shaped cookies, then?)
5. Arrange cookies in a basket or platter and be creative. Bring a large container to carry away your cookies, or the host can provide a take-away container (The take-away container is really helpful for hauling away your loot, and that way no plastic wrap or aluminum foil has to be used)
6. Email a copy of your recipe before the party (or bring recipe to the party)-(I don’t usually encourage guests to do this, but I do connect guests with one another’s e-mails in the event that they really dug someone’s particular cookie and want the recipe to make more; e-mail prevents the need for unnecessary paper use).
7. Christmas attire is encouraged (…um…see above).
8. RSVP as soon as you can and let the host know what type of cookie you are planning on baking-no duplicate recipes are allowed (Or else! Heads will roll! Again, I’m a bit loose with this one; I’d rather have RSVP’s to let me know how many folks I need to provide food and drink for than cookie specifics; they’ll all get eaten, either way!)
9. There’s a prize for the best Christmas outfit (…see above).
10. If you don’t have time to bake, or have burnt your cookies, but still want to attend, you must go to a real bakery and buy 6 dozen yummy cookies (No one I know could afford to buy 6 dozen cookies from a real bakery where I live-if you burn your cookies or hate baking, come over anyway, I say!)

I’ll be hosting my 3rd annual cookie exchange this coming Saturday. There will around 20-25 ladies, some kids, and lots of cookies. I’ve got some pretty creative cooks in my bag of friends, including Jodi, who owns Short Street Cakes (and blogs about it over at My Life In Cake ) and Jael, co-owner, along with her husband Dan, of the absolutely decadent (and all-natural!) French Broad Chocolate Lounge (they have an online shop folks, and all I can say is order their salted chocolate caramels-made with honey instead of corn syrup-now! And then hide them from everyone, because fights could break out over these caramels). There will be assorted cheeses and ginger pecans and glögg . There will be, if history is any indication, raucous board game-playing. There will probably be bawdy talk. There will be laughter and warmth from the wood stove and love. Most importantly, no one will leave here with the Christmas spirit in tow, as their bellies will be full and their spirits high.

If you like the cookie swap idea and want to use it at another time during the year, check out Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year by Julia M Usher. For further tips on hosting a cookie exchange, check out this link from Planet Green or this one from Williams-Sonoma.

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