Christmas Cookie Exchanges

An exchange of cookies among friends or family is another way of sharing our baking.

Did the Trails End Quilters have cookie exchanges as a way to share cookies for the holidays? Or did they simply take gifts of cookies when they visited one another? I guess you might say they did because I've been involved in a few and consider myself one of a long line of Trails End Quilters.

Cookie exchanges can be organized in several ways. Keep the number to about 6, with each person bringing a dozen cookies. Then the hostess will divide them up, so each person receives an equal number of each type.

If you have the group much larger, the distribution can become rather unwieldy. However, there are many variations on this. Also, if you’re meeting at the friend’s home for refreshments, as well as exchanging, bring some extra cookies to share with tea, coffee, or holiday punch.

When a friend organized a cookie exchange, she had 12 people participating. We all dropped our cookies at her home at a specified time. She then made the exchange and packaged each on a party plate, and we picked our goodies up later in the day. It had proved difficult to get all the participants together in an evening as it approached Christmas, so this way worked well.

(c)2005 Mary Emma Allen

(If you'd like to share stories about your cookie exchanges, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Type "Trails End Quilters blog" in the subject line.)

Quilting Bees & Teas

My grandfather, Burton Barker Coon, writer and farmer, mentioned in his memories his mother’s quilting, the fact that the ladies might together for afternoon tea and cut out pieces for quilt blocks. “They would take their sewing along and have a very pleasant time. All the girls were brought up to piece quilts, bake bread and do all kinds of housework….,” he related.

I wondered what they served with their afternoon tea. Then I browsed through my aunt’s cooking notebook, in which she jotted down favorite family recipes. There were several for cookies and cakes. Perhaps the ladies in the neighborhood enjoyed these as they chatted, cut pieces, and quilted.

(c)2005

(If you have questions about quilts and quiltmaking, e-mail me: me.allen@juno.com. Type the words "quilt blog" in the subject line.)