Dessert Club - "Cookies"

Naturally, the Dessert Club theme this month was "cookies." The competition is heating up so everyone likes the theme to be well-defined. It was determined that for our purposes a cookie is dropped, sliced or cut out prior to baking. Several of us couldn't choose just one so we brought two kinds. Which brought the total to thirteen kinds of cookies.

Now, keep in mind. This isn't a thing where everyone brings cookies, you pick one that looks good, then sit down to chat. We vote. There is a prize*. So everyone must taste everything. It is a burden borne by all. To ease the weight of this task, cold milk and a bowl of pretzels was provided. I couldn't have made it through such a sugarfest without them. In no particular order, we had:

• Chocolate Mint Marvels
• Almond-Orange Bars
• Pink Grapefruit Sandwich Cookies (one of my favorites; it was my second cookie because I didn't know how my first would turn out)
• Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
• Homemade Samoas
• Apricot Almond Cookies
• Pecan Praline Cookies
• "The Bomb" Cookies (since you are wondering it's the one with M&M's on top - in the center is a Milky Way candy)
• Cardamom Cream-Filled Snaps (my first cookie, which did turn out well once I got the hang of it on the last batch - everyone really liked them)
• Surprise Cookies (with a marshmallow inside)
• Peppermint Bark Fudge Chewies (hello)
• Double Chocolate Mint Brownie Cookies
• Mr. Grinch's Chocolate Chip Cookies (which arrived after I'd taken the pictures...but trust me, they were BRIGHT green!)

I'm not posting the individual pictures here because I will be posting several of the recipes throughout the month. When it came time to vote, everyone complained they could not choose just one. So we each voted for two. Which resulted in a FIVE-way tie. Last time we had a three-way tie. Something must be done, but when people go all out like they do for Dessert Club, ties are what you get.

I can't even remember what I voted for because I had three favorites: Chocolate Mint Marvels, Almond-Orange Bars, and Chewy Chocolate-Gingerbread Cookies (I need to look closer at the recipe and see if they are the same Chocolate Ginger Cookies I posted a few years ago.) But there was not a bad cookie in the spread. Which came as no surprise.

This was the first time my Mom came to Dessert Club. She lives about 30 minutes away so she may not come every time but is an honorary member whenever she wants to. She made the Almond-Orange Bars which were YUMMY. She also made a custom Christmas ornament for everyone in attendance - an adorable, glittery, cherry-topped cupcake on which she had painted "DC 2010." Now that we all have the same ornament, we are really, really in a club. So I gotta get my game on for January.

*The prize this month was some cute cookie things including a cookie scoop and my new favorite, edible glitter!