Thank you for all your cookie suggestions. I was tempted to try all of them, but eventually settled on making Boot Tracks because I got to use my waffle iron. I love kitchen gadgets, and the waffle iron is rarely used for anything other than waffles, so I thought I’d give it some quality time.
The Boot Tracks came out well, but I wouldn’t call them cookies. They were essentially brownies cooked in a waffle iron. I felt like I got snookered. However, if in the future you are ever making brownies and simply cannot wait 20 minutes for them to bake in the oven, let it be known that you can pull out your waffle iron or George Foreman grill and cook them in two minutes or less. If any of you think of trying this recipe, please, please, please remember to grease the waffle iron before cooking. Otherwise you’ll be scraping boot tracks off your waffle iron like mud off of a boot.
There were lots of lovely cookies at the exchange. One of the cutest treats were the reindeer cookies, a ginger spice cookie decorated with broken pretzels and some dollops of frosting.
At the end of the party, we divided up the cookies among us, but only one person was smart enough to bring a tin with her for this purpose. The rest of us were shoving cookies into the hostess’s ziplock bags and hoping the peppermint cream cheese frosting didn’t smear over everything. I gave my cookies away, knowing I could not be trusted to have them in my apartment. I hope I get through the rest of the holidays so successfully!