“so, you’re going to eat cookies made by strangers?”

“well, when you put it that way, yeah.”

that was the conversation between tom & the lady in front of him in line at the post office when he explained what he was there to pick up.  see, about a month ago, we signed up to be a part of

where we baked three dozen cookies to exchange with people we only know on the internets.

& in exchange, we received three dozen cookies {nutty buddy bars, pink peppercorn strawberry jam shortbread & mint chocolate crinkles} from all over the country.  thanks to the hard work of lindsay & julie, over 620 bloggers swapped more than 22,500 cookies all over the world.  not bad for a first try 🙂

actually, i’d say it was a pretty smashing success.  if you’d like to join in on the fun next year, sign up here to receive updates.  until then check out our recipe {that we shipped to virginia, florida & oregon!} for thick & chewy, holiday flavored oatmeal cookies & be sure to visit lindsay‘s & julie‘s blogs on thursday to see the full roundup of recipes from cookie swap participants!

OATMEAL, CRANBERRY, WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies

3 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup butter flavor crisco
1 cup brown sugar
3 large eggs
7 oz  dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

preheat the oven to 375°.  line a few baking sheets with parchment paper & set aside.

in a medium mixing bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda & salt.  mix well & set aside.

in the bowl of a stand mixer, or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer, beat together butter, crisco & sugar on medium until light & fluffy.  add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well between each addition.  with the motor still running, gradually add the oat/flour mixture until thoroughly combined.  the dough will be very, very thick.  fold in the dried cranberries & white chocolate chips.

drop rounded tablespoons of dough on the prepared baking sheets.  pat down the tops a little, to make more disc-like shapes.  bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown.  cool on a wire rack.

adapted from ocean spray