A cookie party story

I know that I have mentioned that I host a cookie party each year.. but how did I start it? .....

Many years ago I worked with a girl who was  close in age to me,Cheri. Although close in age we could not have lived more different lives...... I was married with 2 (maybe 3 children, I forget what year this happened).. she was a bar-hopping local -band loving diva...  Don't get me wrong,.... there is nothing wrong with that....

Anyway, she was also a bargain shopper (something that we both had in common); one day while combing the shelves for a deal she came across 'cookie exchange ' invitations. ... I had never heard of such a thing (I had previously baked for  entire months in order to have a variety of cookies...) but .. how cool did it sound???

She decided to have a cookie exchange;  Another  that we both worked with,  Cheryl, decided to host it at her house. In addition to the three of us, Cheri invited all of her night-club friends.

The night of the party (a Friday night in mid-December)... we three were the only ones who showed.   I t never occurred to Cheri that her bar-hopping friends might not exactly be the cookie-baking kind of crowd, especially on a Friday night.

Since we worked together, we had talked prior to the exchange about what kind of cookies we were making.... I was making pecan balls, Cheryl was making Mexican wedding cookies, and Cheri was making snoballs.

This is interesting only because well, they are actually all the same cookie.  (we obviously didn't figure this on until the exchange ).

So we all came home with the same cookies that we brought with us. That night we decided that I would host the next one ; I would have the quests tell me which kind of cookie that they were bringing when they RSVP'd.

Now that I just went on way too long about this, I can tell you that pecan balls.. are quite possibly my favorite cookie.... and I think of this story each time that I make them ;)
And now....

The recipe...

If you notice in the picture, I had to go way back into my files, to  before computers, to get the old beat up index card that I wrote the recipe on so many years ago...I will always keep that recipe card.. it's the nostalgic side of me... somehow even typing it here seems wrong..

1) 1 stick of butter, softened
2) 2 TBSP granulated sugar
3) 1 tsp. vanilla
4) 1 cup finely ground pecans
5) 1 cup flour
 powdered sugar


*** preheat oven to 300 degrees. Beat butter until soft ~add sugar and blend until creamy. Add vanilla, pecans & flour. Roll into small balls.

Bake on a greased ( I use either a silpat or  parchment paper, neither of which I had or knew about back then)... for 30 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar while hot.**

ok... this picture is just horrible.. please don't supersize it. I put the picture in to actually show my mistake. The reason that they look like this is that after I rolled them in sugar, I just put them in a pile, so the coating came off of some of them  & I 'tried' to fix it.

In the future, after I roll each one, I would let them cool INDIVIDUALLY on a cooling rack. Rest assured... these cookies were just as awesome as I remember them. .. I almost didn't get any of them to the freezer because my family was all over them.

I created a diversion in the other room & snuck in to save some for them freezer *grin*
I'm good like that!

oxox