Anonymous wrote:I think 2-3 dozen is the standard

I do a lot of Christmas rolled cookies and you'd be surprised by how many dozens you can get out of one batch. Four logs, approximately 8-9 inches long, can easily yield five dozen sliced and baked cookies. Look at the cookie quantities in Joy of Cooking. Many are 4, 5, 6 and even 8 dozen. Cookies are very easy to make and bake so a few more dozen isn't difficult.

For a church swap, 5 dozen is not a lot. As the PP said, the expectation is that you will bring just one kind of cookie, and leave with a bunch of other cookies that you did not bake.

For the uninitiated, it's super easy to make cookie dough ahead of time and freeze. Stays in the freezer for a good 6 months if you package it properly. So, you don't have to be in a tizzy trying to bake right before the event. Make whenever you have time, freeze in layers, pull out and bake before the event, and you're good to go.

There are people out there that bake 1000s of Christmas cookies, and they usually freeze the baked cookies, thaw them overnight, and bring to the event. I have personally not tried this, as I'm always concerned that the cookie will taste stale/freezer burned. But, I discovered a batch of biscotti I had stuck in the refrigerator and forgotten about, and it was as good as new. I had made them for Christmas of 2022.

The Facebook group 'Holiday Bakers' is excellent. Lots of people with decades of experience, and lots of tried and true recipes (as well as people attempting to divert traffic to their baking websites).

Anonymous wrote:5 dozen is nothing. The minimum for a swap should be 6 dozen so you go home with 12 cookies of 6 varieties - or 6 cookies each of 12 varieties!

I have seen 3 doz swaps and it’s just sad, but I was raised in the NE Ohio / Western PA tradition of “cookie tables.” And if you entertain at all over the holidays it’s expected that you present a large platter with an aesthetically arranged selection of cookies of various flavors, shapes, and colors.

The point of a cookie swap is that you make 6 -12 dozen of a single recipe. Ideally your signature recipe that you are known for and is easy for you. That is way faster and easier than making 6-12 varieties at once.

I make sugar cookie cutouts with royal icing designs. People regularly ask if I sell them professionally. I promise my cookies are the most labor intensive at the swap unless you make lady fingers/clothespin cookies. I do not complain about the volume because the whole point is that I don’t want to make snowballs, pecan tarts, peanut butter blossoms, grasshopper brownies, gingerbread men, etc.

This is the point I haven’t seen addressed yet. All of the cookie swaps I’ve ever participated in follow this basic rule. Whatever the quantity is supposed to be, each participant brings one kind of cookie.

I think 2-3 dozen is the standard