Hi Everyone,
It’s that time of year again! It’s time for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! I love the Cookie Swap and look forward to it every year. I joined it the first couple months I was blogging and now this is my 3rd year participating in it. The swap is hosted by Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil and Julie from The Little Kitchen. I recently told the girls that I love being part of the The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap, not just because I get cookies from fellow bloggers, but it was the first time I ever felt part of the foodie community! Plus as a big bonus some of the proceeds goes to help COOKIES FOR KIDS’ CANCER. So what kind of cookies did I make this year?
I made an ohhhh soooo good Cranberry Orange Chocolate Pistachio Cookies! These cookies are amazing! They are fat, thick, crunchy on the outside, soft in the middle and loaded with chocolate chips, pistachios and cranberries. These cookies scream Christmas! And my belly screams for them too!!!
This first bite you get sweet chocolate, then a hint of orange flavor with a wonderful chew and tartness from the cranberries and your left with a slightly salty pistachio flavor. I am so glad I made a few more than 36 cookies because I ate 3 while photographing these cookies. It was hard not to eat them!!
How the swap works, is that you have to make 3 dozen cookies, the same cookies and send them to 3 fellow bloggers. You can’t tell the bloggers you are sending them cookies. It’s suppose to be a surprise. The 3 bloggers that I have are JJ from My Chicken Fried Life, Katie from Butterlust and Val from a scrumptious life. I sure hope they like my cookies. I hope they make them there in one piece!
- 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter (two sticks), at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar, unpacked
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp. orange extract
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup pistachios, chopped small
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl add butter and sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and orange extracts and mix until combined.
- Slowly add the flour mixture into the egg mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in dried cranberries, chocolate chips and pistachios. You need some strength for mixing.
- Scoop about a tablespoon of dough onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 9 - 11 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden brown on the bottom. Let the cookies cool for two minutes on the pan and place on a cookie rack to completely cool.
I have to tell you I didn’t skimp on the ingredients when making these cookies. I added a lot so I got a nice fatty cookie. Plus I also made them bigger than the average cookie. They are a gift and I tend to like to make my cookies bigger and better when gift giving, so I didn’t go low-calorie on them! 🙂 It’s the holidays after all!
I thought I would share with you the cookies that I got! First up is The Pastry Posts Double Chocolate Cookies with Cherries. Oh my gosh! My Husband and I chowed down on these cookies. They are almost a brownie type cookie. Super chocolaty and I love the addition of the cherries that added a little chew. Thank you so much Christina for sending me these most delicious cookies! We so love them and I can’t wait to get your recipe! You can check out the recipe at The Pastry Posts.
The second set of cookies I got was from Amanda of Our Italian Kitchen. Amanda sent me Spiced Brown Sugar Cookies. These cookies are so good. They have the perfect amount of spice and sweetness and I love how crisp they are. These cookies were gone the second day! They were the perfect for having as my afternoon snack! I dipped them in my chai tea. I really loved these cookies!!! Thank you so much Amanda! They were simply out of this world!!! I also can’t wait to get the recipe for these cookies. You can check out Our Italian Kitchen for the recipe here!
The last set of cookies I got was from Emily of Totes Delishy. She sent me Rugelach cookies. She said these cookies have been in her family for 30 years and I can see why. They are so unique and remind me of something my grandmother would have made. They are so good and we ate these as we set up the Christmas tree. The cookies are soft and have a flavor of cinnamon and sugar with raisins,but I’m not sure if that is what are in them. These cookies look old fashion and are just amazing. I can’t wait to try this recipe and share it with my friend sand family. I don’t think I will be able to re-create the beauty of the cookies Emily sent me, but I am going to try. You can get the recipe for the Rueglach Cookies here.
I want to thank you ladies for sending me these wonderful, delicious cookies! I loved them all and yes they are all gone! ALl of them didn’t last more then 2 days in our house. They were just sooooooo good!!
Next week the gang at the Food Bloggers Cookie Swap is going to be posting all of the cookie posts, so I will be sure to share it with you! I can’t wait! I can always use more ideas for cookies
Have a fabulous day!
Toodles,
Jennifer
Orange Cranberry Bread
Red Velvet Cookies
Brookies (brownie + cookie)
Pumpkin Apple Bread
We are totally on the same wavelength here Jennifer! I LOVE cranberries and pistachios and I am gonna add some to my cookies too! Yummmm! I love em! Have you tried cutting the fat on these? It is sooooo hard with cookies!
Oh my gosh I can’t get enough cranberries! they are my favorite!! I probably could cut the fat a bit. It’s just hard because most of the fat is from butter! I’ll work on it and see what I can do. You could cut back on the chocolate and nuts, and maybe even the sugar or use sugar substitute and that will really cut back on calories, sugar and some fat.
I was one of the lucky recipients of these cookies- and yes they arrived intact!
I’ve been trying to figure out what all was in them. I was missng the orange – what a great combination! Thanks and Happy Holidays!
I know I was in such a rush to get them out, I forgot to put the name of the cookies on the card! I am glad you liked them! Happy Holidays!!
Can’t wait to see assortment of new cookie recipes!! Yum!!
I know, me too!!!
Yum, these would be so great to get in the mail! I didn’t the swap this year because I was worried about the timing, but I can’t wait till next year! (PS. We’ve been blogging about the same amount of time…isn’t is SO weird how long it’s been, that this is the 3rd cookie swap?! It’s so fun and time flies by!)
I know it’s crazy how fast time goes! I am amazed to how many bloggers started when we did and I am glad we are still doing it!! Love your blog and look forward to reading it every time you Guys post!! Next year you will have to do the swap!! It’s so wonderful getting cookies in the mail!!
It was so much fun participating this year! Your cookies look amazing 😀
Thank you Kristi!! I already look forward to next years swap!
Hi Jennifer! I had such fun participating the cookie swap for the first time this year.
I’m so glad the cookies arrived intact! Happy to hear you enjoyed them! Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas! Can’t wait til next year!