Dear Robin,

I was one of the local cookie swappers that was interviewed by the Intelligencer and I want to thank you so much for the information. I had a great time during the photo shoot.

Well, I did it again. I just hosted my 4th Annual Cookie Exchange. This year's theme was 1950s in honor of my 50th birthday. My guests rocked this year. I could not believe all the awesome 1950s attire. Once again they all surprised me with their enthusiasm and desire to embrace this years' theme. The exchange was held on Saturday, December 11th from 3 to 7 pm. I sent the "Save the Date" cards in the middle of September. On November 1st I sent the invitations, in the shape of a 45 record, as I wanted my guests to get excited about the theme, and they sure did! There were 14 of us in attendance this year.

We sang karaoke to the oldies and my cousins, Annette, Sabrina and Alexandria surprised me with a performance of "You're The One That I Want." We gathered around an authentic 1950s aluminum Christmas tree and played the "steal the gift" game. The hot items were a snowman, a green scarf with matching gloves and a Target gift card. As favors this year I gave each guest a goody bag filled with 1950s penny candy. They will also get a recipe book with all of the recipes and pictures from this year's exchange.

The food spread this year consisted of spinach dip and sour dough bread, buffalo chicken dip, a party cheese ball, assorted crackers and bread sticks, cocktail meatballs, chili dip and tortillas, shrimp cocktail, crab cakes, and stuffed mushrooms. Dessert was a Canoli Cake and a 1950s Chocolate Cake with vanilla buttercream frosting. For cocktails I had wine and coquito (Hispanic eggnog).

Everyone was asked to bake 8 dozen cookies and pre package them in sets of 6. They were also asked to be very creative with their cookie presentation.

This years' cookies were Chippers, Chocolate Chip Holiday Tea Cakes, Chocolate Thumbprint, Blondie, Double Chocolate Chunky-Banana, Cran-Crazy, Fruit Cake, Caramel Apple, White Chocolate Thumbprint, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Holiday White Chocolate Macaroons, Mint Chocolate Chip, and Lemon.

I gave prizes for 1st person to RSVP, 1st person to email me their cookie recipe, 1st person to arrive at the party and best cookie presentation. Prizes consisted of a cookie spatula, bowl scraper, measuring cups and spoons, and small grater and zester.

Attached are some pictures. The cookie exchange was so much fun; everyone said they had a blast!

Sincerely,

Lysette Toro-Mays