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Another year, another Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!
Holiday baking is a must for every food blogger — and when it comes to cookies, we don’t mess around. This is my fourth year participating in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. As always, I was teamed up with food bloggers from all over the county and received three batches of deeeelicious cookies — incredibly addicting Cardamom Snickerdoodles from Aileen (Morsels and Moonshine), Peppermint Dark Chocolate Cookies from Megan (The Emotional Baker), and Flourless White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies from Holly (Happy Food Healthy Life).
What’s the story behind the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap? Each of us sends a dozen cookies to three other bloggers, all while raising money for Cookies for Kids Cancer, a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. To sign up, each blogger makes a donation, which not only supports our growing food blogger community, but supports a really awesome cause. This year, we are joined by OXO, Dixie Crystals, and Land O Lakes, who will all generously match our final donation amount, dollar for dollar! We’ve raised an amazing amount of money in the past. I love being part of this event — cookies can save the world!
It’s always such a task to decide what kind of cookies to make for the swap. I settled on a classic holiday cookie, the snowball, but turned up the flavor a bit with dark chocolate and espresso beans. Snowball cookies are known for practically melting in your mouth without too much else going on (except being wildly delicious), but the dark chocolate espresso beans give these a little more texture and crunch than your average snowball. I really hope the ladies on the receiving end of these cookies enjoyed!
If you want to be part of this great effort to find a cure for children’s cancer, sign up to get involved in next year’s cookie swap!
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup dark chocolate espresso beans
- Additional powdered sugar for rolling
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and set aside.
- Combine butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix well.
- Add flour and salt, and continue to mix until well combined.
- Fold in the espresso beans with a silicone spatula.
- Use your hands to form small balls of dough and arrange on the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes.
- Fill a large zip-lock bag with powdered sugar and add the cookies.
- Shake until cookies are coated with the sugar.
