The Great Blogger Cookie Swap

• Butter, sugar, flour,
• crumbling between my fingers.
• Add a little spice.
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• God, I'm so deep, yo. I can't even stand it:) No really, I'm just writing cookie haiku because last year (year one of the most epic cookie swap of all time) a participant of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap wrote an entire cookie themed version of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. It was adorable. And I can't find it. So if you remember who wrote that post, please hit me up and I'll link it here! Meanwhile, little ol me, former Spoken Word poet and current cookie lover, can only come up with a haiku. Maybe that's because my son has finally fallen asleep for his morning nap and it's 4:00 in the afternoon. FML. So many things on today's to do list, and this post may be the only one I check off.
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• For this year's cookie swap (which  happens to be for charity this year, by the way. Each blogger made a donation to Cookies for Kids Cancer and you can plan your own cookie swap at home to do the same!), I made one of my favorites, Vanilla Chai Spiced Crackle cookies. This is a recipe I developed while I was living in Ann Arbor, back when I had no kid and thus ample time for developing recipes that weren't pureed. I brought the first ever batch in to share with the English department at school, and they were gone in a blink. Just FYI, teacher's break rooms are a great place for recipe testing. 
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• These are a crunchy cookie with a bit of bite and they are best dipped in coffee or tea. I sometimes drizzle them with chocolate, if I'm feeling super ambitious, and I actually prefer them with an extra 1/2 tsp, of kosher salt. It gives it a tiny salty bite that is so yummy. They pack and ship well, so they are perfect if you have anyone to whom you would like to mail something sweet. You know you do.
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• Vanilla Chai Spiced Crackle Cookies
• Ingredients:
• 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 c. sugar, plus 1/4 c. for rolling
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Tbls. chai spice mix, plus 1/4 tsp. for rolling
• 4 oz. white chocolate (if desired)
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• Preparation:
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend 1/4 tsp. chai spice mix and 1/4 c. sugar, set aside.
  Cream butter, shortening, and sugars.Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift remaining ingredients and add to butter mixture, blending until combined. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar/chai blend. 
  Place at least 1 inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets and flatten with the bottom of a glass or your palm. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until just golden. (Keep an eye on them as they will turn from perfectly golden to crunchy brown very quickly!) If you wish, melt the white chocolate in a double boiler and drizzle over the tops of cooled cookies. Store in an air tight container for 2-3 days.
  Print this recipe
  
  
  A big thank you to the lovely blogging ladies who send me scrumptious treats in the mail! I love mail of any kind, but cookie mail? That's the bestest!
  
  
  I scored a box of melt in your mouth buttery white chocolate cookies drizzled in milk chocolate from Mari, gone before E even made it home from Cali. Too bad so sad. 
  
  
  Kara of Kara in the Kitchen sent me some fudgy peppermint brownie bars that disappeared in mere hours. I think I blacked out somewhere in that time, because suddenly I looked down and they were gone. I can't be held responsible when chocolate is involved. 
  
  
  Jennifer of Bake or Break sent these gorgeous brown butter snickerdoodles, which I'm kind of obsessed with. I actually just ate one of them while typing this. These are going on my to-bake list stat. 
  
  
  And another big thank you to the ladies who posted photos of the cookies I sent to them via Twitter and Facebook. It's nice to see they all made it in one piece:)
  
  
  And the last big thank you is for Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen. You guys are amazing for doing all of the work required to make this cookie swap of epic proportions work. You're also crazy. Like the crazy fabulous kind of crazy.