Holiday Exchange

i rarely rarely bake at home (the exact science of measuring out ingredients bums me out), but when the manager of one of the newer teams i support at work asked me if i wanted to participate in their annual holiday cookie exchange, I thought why not.  it would give me a chance to interact and get to know these new guys better.  heck, it might even be fun!

it did turn out to be loads of fun…on the day of the exchange.  every day prior to that day was absolutely full of anxiety and despair. 

i should have read the small print before committing, but oh wells.  live and learn.  you see, we had two weeks to make a dozen homemade (key word) cookies for every person who signed up on the exchange list.  we were to not buy cookies straight off the grocery store/bakery shelf and present them as such.  there needed to be a personal touch made to the batches (ie oreos dunked in milk chocolate).  there ended up being 12 names by the end.  i am poor at mathematics, but I did at that point realize i would need to make 144 homemade cookies.

12 x 12 = 144

shoot me.

what the heck was i going to make that did not require complex mixing and numerous ingredients??!!  the idea of baking alone stressed me out, but to multiply that by the 144 i needed to produce…oye ve. 

what did i end up doing you ask?

Pinterest to the rescue!! 

i love the site. i came across this recipe for pretzel turtle bites during my multi-day, multi-hour research and readers…this recipe suited my non-baker self perfectly.  it is easier than easy, YUMMY, and ingredient wise, all ya need is a bag of mini pretzels, a few bags of rolos and a bag of pecans.  presto … homemade cookies (i suppose it is most like “cookies” but they still count!)

softening of the caramel chocolates so they become mush-able

chilling out on the cookie sheet to cool

the hardest part of the entire ordeal…unwrapping three bags of rolos!

did i mention they were yumz?  :o)

however….the best (or worst depending on how you look at it) thing about this…

THE COOKIE LOOT I RECEIVED IN RETURN!  144 of em’!!

i shared them with my office desk mate and bossman and then with guys who work the security desk in my condo building.  the rest i kept for myself to eat.  which i did.  it was the holidays afterall!

umm... i am still eating cookies to this day even though i know i should probably not.  how long am i allowed to use the holidays as an excuse?  i will take your silence as a sign that there is no end date.  yay!

* i know the holidays are over and all, but had to share this last set of pics i had laying around.

a