This past weekend, I hosted my third annual cookie exchange party. Cookie party, for me, is quite simply an excuse to have a bunch of my friends over to my festively adorned house, so we can indulge in afternoon cocktails and eat cookies.
We eat cheese. We drink holiday sangria, pomegranate champagne cocktails, and cocoa. We trade cookies. The kids make holiday crafts. Everyone has grand time.
This year’s party was apparently so grand and inviting, that perfect strangers decided to join us.
No joke.
My cookie party got crashed by three women wearing Santa hats.
They walked up our driveway, let themselves in through the front door, sat on our stairs to remove their winter boots, coats, and hats, then proceeded to walk through the house in search of someone they knew.
One of my friends alerted me to the presence of my new guests, who were wandering my house at that very moment. I ran to my husband to find out what to do.
We were just about to greet our new guests as they walked into the living room and realized their mistake.
One woman, who appeared to be the mother of the other two, mumbled an embarrassed apology, then made a hasty exit. The other two women sat on the stairs while they laced up what seemed like the tallest winter boots in creation. They then chased after their mom, who was already in her car driving down the road in search of their intended party.
Had it been me, standing there, eating a piece of cheese in the living room of a complete stranger, surrounded by that stranger’s family and friends, I would have run out of that house barefoot, into the foot and a half of snow on the ground.
Had they brought cookies to share, I would have eagerly encouraged them to stay. But, as I always say, every time someone crashes my cookie party… No cookies? No cocktails!
Next year, I’m hiring a cookie bouncer for my party.
These spicy, triple-ginger cookies were my contribution to the cookie buffet. They’re sweet and chewy and oozing with gingery flavor. The holiday sangria, which follows, is accented with festive flavors of orange, ginger, cinnamon, and pomegranate.
You’d have crashed my cookie party too, if you knew these cookies and sangria were waiting inside.
Triple Ginger Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
- 1 2-ounce bottle crystallized ginger, chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 4 cups flour
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, eggs, and oil. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Roll into 1″ balls. Arrange the balls about 1 1/2″ apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until crackles form on the top. Remove the cookies from the oven, then give the baking sheet a little whack on the counter to flatten the cookies.
Holiday Sangria
Ingredients
- 1.5 liter bottle of sweet red wine (I used Sutter Home’s Sweet Red Wine)
- 1/2 cup triple sec
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 cup ginger ale
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 pear, chopped
- 1 pomegrante
- 1 orange
Directions
Combine the wine, triple sec, orange juice, and ginger ale. Add the cinnamon stick and the chopped pear. Remove the arils from the pomegranate and add to the mixture. Remove the orange segments from the orange, chop into small pieces and add to the mixture. Remove the white pith from the orange peel, then slice the peel into small slivers. Add to the sangria. Chill and enjoy.
The Gourmand Mom 