Cookie exchange recipes and ideas for the holiday season. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #NestleHolidayBaking #CollectiveBias

Hosting a Christmas Cookie Exchange party is a fun way to get your family and friends together to celebrate the holiday season. I love our annual Christmas cookie party and I’ve learned a few tricks over the years to make it easy to pull together and fun for all. I’ll share with you my tips and tricks and show you how to recreate this lovely Christmas Cookie party yourself.

How To Host a Cookie Exchange + Easy Christmas Cookies Nestle Tollhouse Free Printables

First, you need to send out an invitation inviting people to come to your Christmas Cookie Exchange. Be sure to note the date, time, rsvp by, contact info, how many cookies to bring and to bring printed copies of the cookie recipe to share. The number, by dozen, you’ll decide by number of guests you expect. Allow for each person to take 3 cookies. So if you expect 10 guests, thats 30 cookies, so you’ll want to note on the invitation to bring 3 dozen cookies.

Now, you’ll need to do some shopping. I love shopping at Walmart, they have everything I need from groceries to gifts and party decorations. I grabbed some of the items on my list from the baking aisle, cookie dough from the refrigerator aisle, a few Christmas decorations, some clear treat bags, festive red and green ribbon and some mason jars. Seriously, how convenient to find ALL those things in one place. Here’s my Walmart shopping list for the party in case you want a cheat sheet to go off 🙂

  •  NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
  • NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Red and Green Morsels
  • NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk, 1 can
  • Christmas cookie sprinkles
  • Red and green ribbon
  • Clear treat bags
  • Mason jars
  • All purpose flour
  • Baking Powder
  • Unsalted Butter, sticks
  • Sugar
  • Eggs
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Powdered Sugar
  • Christmas wrapping paper

Time to bake up a few batches of my favorite cookie to share. Here’s a recipe for some OMG! amazing Sugar Cookie Bars you’ll die over, they are that good! Seriously though, you might want to make extra, taking into account how many of these you may eat yourself before the Cookie Exchange even kicks off.

How To Host a Cookie Exchange + Easy Christmas Cookies Nestle Tollhouse Free Printables

The Best Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars Ever

Here’s my list in case you want to go off that:

Ingredients 

For the bars:

  • 2½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. baking powder
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • ½ cup or 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the frosting:

  • ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 cups powdered sugar
  • 4 tbsp. NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Red and Green Morsels
  • Add in food coloring if you want
To Make Sugar Cookie Bars
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease a 9×13 baking dish
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
3. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla and then gradually add in the flour. Continue to mix until smooth.
4. Remove Mixer and use a spoon to mix in NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Red and Green Morsels.
5. Pour batter into greased baking dish and press to even out. Bake 18-21 minutes. Remove when edges begin to brown and let cool completely before serving.
To Make Frosting
Add all ingredients to a large bowl and use mixer to mix on low till smooth and creamy.
Spread frosting over cooled bars and sprinkle with sprinkles.
My cookies are all done and now I’m ready to decorate for the party. For me, every party always starts with a table scheme. For this one I wanted to go classic and traditional, all Christmas red, green and white. I laid out a red tablecloth and added some Christmas decorations to make it look extra festive. Some things you could use to dress up your table: wrap up empty boxes and stack for a backdrop or centerpiece, ornaments in candy jars are pretty and fun, a few tinsel trees or hanging wreaths will make your party merry and bright. Get creative, it doesn’t have to be expensive but it should follow the same theme and have a cohesive feel so be sure to consider heights of decorations and colors.
 How To Host a Cookie Exchange + Easy Christmas Cookies Nestle Tollhouse Free Printables

For more awesome recipes and ideas for holiday baking check out these sites:

An easy way to dress up your table is with some cute printables. I found these fun ones from  NESTLÉ® that work perfectly for my party. Just print and cut them out, attach to gifts or decorations and you’re all set. Couldn’t be any simpler than that.
How To Host a Cookie Exchange + Easy Christmas Cookies Nestle Tollhouse Free Printables
How To Host a Cookie Exchange + Easy Christmas Cookies Nestle Tollhouse Free Printables
I set up platters and trays to hold cookies for my Cookie Exchange and added a few special touches. Glass milk bottles with striped straws always look great and go perfectly with my cookie theme.
I’ve created a little decorating station so my guests can make some sweet treats to give for the holidays. I put out treat bags, printed tags, ribbon and some fun containers. Now everyone can get crafty and go home with some sweet gifts for others.
How To Host a Cookie Exchange + Easy Christmas Cookies Nestle Tollhouse Free Printables
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I’ve shared my tips and tricks for how to host a cookie exchange this holiday season. What easy cookie recipes do you like to make and share? I’d love to hear your favorites in the comments below, or better yet, share them on our Facebook page or tag me on Instagram. I’m always looking for fun new recipes to share.
Happy Holidays!
Printable Recipe for Sugar Cookie Bars
Printable Sugar Cookie Bars RecipeFree Printable Letter from Santa Editable Santa Letters frostedevents.com