Cookie Extravaganza

Some friends of mine get together the first weekend in December every year for what they call 'cookie baking weekend'. There are three bakers and they each make 10 different kinds of cookies and a minimum of 6 dozen of each type of cookie! Yes, it's a boatload of baked goods. What do they do with all their sweet confections? Give them as gifts, of course. They package all the goodies in pretty boxes with coordinating cellophane wrap and ribbon. There are around fifty-five lucky recipients of these Christmas cookie boxes, with a few more select people added each year.

A lot of time, effort and thought goes into these treat boxes and the end result is well worth it!

Here's what sweets were baked up this year:

Baklava Tassies

Cherry Toffee Oatmeal Cookies

Orange Florentines

Rosemary Parmesan Crackers

Hazelnut Chunk Cookies

Seven Layer Bars

Salted Peanut Fudge Brownies

Razzleberry Linzer Trees

Rum Balls

Chocolate Biscotti

Rocky Road Bars

Almond Apricot Bars

Sugar Cookie Snowmen

Lemon Coconut Chews

Java Acorns

Maple Stars

Aunt Fannies Toffee Chews

Spiced Nuts

Assorted Caramels

Madeleines

Rugelach

Chocolate Peppermint Kisses

All day Friday and Saturday the cookies and treats are baked and assembled. Once they're finished, the treats get stored on cookie sheets for packaging the next day.

Sunday is when the assembly line forms and the gift boxes are put together.

First, all the many, many trays of treats are set around on tables and chairs. The "pickers" take an empty cookie sheet and go around and grab a designated number of each cookie/treat. Once the trays are loaded, they're taken to the "packers" who layer and assemble all the cookies and treats into the cookie boxes.

 Here are a few of the trays laid out.

 And here's a loaded cookie sheet with all the tasty treats ready to be packed in a festive box.

 "The packers"

They each have their own method of getting all the confections to fit in the boxes. It was really a tight squeeze.

Sarah, who heads the operation, is also in charge of selecting all the packaging materials. She chooses a theme and buys coordinating cookie boxes, cellophane wrap and ribbon for each lovely package.

A cookie guide with photos and names of each treat is included with the box. And to finish off the package, a personalized seal of approval is attached.

Here's my pretty cookie box that was delivered to my door the evening after they were assembled. So fun!

Inside the top box:

Individually wrapped Parmesan crackers, homemade caramels, spiced pecans and chocolate peppermint kisses.

Underneath the bags of goodies, more yummy treats.

 The large box had three layers of baked goods.

 It's a good things there's a guide!

 Everything was really tasty! It was fun to root around the box and pick out different treats to try.

Thanks again to Sarah, Kent and Barb for all their hard work on these neat boxes and including me on their gift list. I am now three pounds heavier. Happy Holidays to me!