This is an east coast thing or something because I'm from the west coast and have never heard of a cookie exchange until I moved here

Anonymous wrote:Someone made Ina gardens jam thumbprints at mine and they were sooooo good!

I love cookie exchanges! (Agree with PPs who say boo to store-bought cookies.). Last year I did Garten's jam thumbprints and they were fantastic! I love her recipes.

One word...Silpat!

It always amazes me how many people can't follow a recipe! They either try to be "creative" or can't measure properly. Baking is like chemistry - you need the correct ratios! And I always try out recipes at least once before making it to give away.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. I love them. We do one at work (optional) and it grows every year. I must work with some awesome bakers--I always get some amazing stuff. And I'm pretty proud of my effort this year as well.

To each their own.

+1 The cookie exchange in my neighborhood is a lot of fun and is part of the special time that is Christmas. Whether or not the cookies would meet the "taste and texture" expectations of some of the posters here, I don't know. We enjoy baking for the holidays and getting together in someone's home that's been decorated for the season, and most of the cookies are delicious!

Tough crowd. I think they are fun.

It only works if people can bake properly. You'd be surprised just how common flat choc chip cookies are in most people's kitchens or tasteless cutout cookies turn out.

Unless you have 3+ martha stewarts in your circle I would not participate if I didn't have to. It's a waste of time and ingredients otherwise.

OP here. This exchange specified no store bought cookies, they must be homemade. It's the third time I've been to this particular one, and almost all of the cookies sucked. I really enjoy the concept, but it's sad to have to dump a bunch of awful cookies. I may have to be out of town at the last minute next year.

We had ours today. Way, way too many crappy shortbread cookies. I may just opt out next year.