Bakers Mary Whinery, Cindi Miller, Pat Morgan, Mary Benitz, Carol Miller and Sandi Till survey the other marvelous cookie selections.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

“Healthy” oatmeal cookies join about two dozen other varieties, from thumbprints to tiny pecan tarts, on the laden table.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

Georgia Queen, in center, talks with guests after they’ve picked up plates of cookies. Queen and Jean Lierman, longtime friends and business partners, hosted the cookie exchange at Lierman’s house.
Marcus Larson/News-Register

Prev Next Enlarge

The cookies began to pile up as guests arrived at Jean Lierman and Georgia Queen’s cookie exchange party.

Chocolate-drizzled macaroons. Biscotti flavored with anise. Thumbprints filled with a cheery red jam. Date nut bars. Winter hats, a shortbread filled with meringue. Haystacks with coconut and oatmeal. Mexican wedding cookies. Russian tea cakes.

Just arrived, Pat Morgan set down her plate of lebkuchen, a traditional German Christmas cookie that’s more spicy than sweet. “My favorite, favorite cookie,” she said. “I tried them when my kids were little and they loved them, so I’ve made them every year.”

Morgan was one of many party guests who chose a tried-and-true recipe for the cookie exchange. Several said they had been making their entry for 40 years or more. Others said they had loved the recipe long ago and decided to revive it for the party.

Carol McClure mentioned to Morgan that her cookies, Thumbprints, were straight out of the cookbook Morgan had given her as a wedding gift.

“That’s an old cookbook!” said Morgan, who happens to be McClure’s sister.

Like many of the guests, the sisters had never been to a cookie exchange before. Some of the others said they had participated in exchanges when they had small children, but that was years ago.

It had been years since Lierman and Queen had hosted such a party, as well.

The friends and business partners — they specialize in creating miniatures, especially miniature Christmas trees for highly detailed dollhouses — once made an annual tradition of hosting cookie exchanges when they lived in California. But it had been a decade or more since they had done so. They moved to McMinnville several years ago, and had never put together a party in their new hometown.

“We’ve met a lot of really interesting people here, so we’ve been talking about doing this again,” Lierman said.

They decorated Lierman’s house to the nines in preparation for their party on Dec. 17. As party time approached, They donned their snowman vests, laid out cheese and crackers and warmed up mulled wine and cider.

They had set a few ground rules, but just a few: Bring three dozen of your favorite homemade cookie. Remember to bring a container, as well, in which to take home 2 1/2 dozen you’ve selected from all those at the party. And, of course, be prepared to have a good time.

“If you want to eat a dozen, you may eat a dozen, by all means,” Georgia assured the guests as they sampled and socialized.

The cookies that weren’t eaten or taken home would be donated to the McMinnville Fire Department, she and Lierman said.

Initially, they asked each guest to let them know what she would be bringing, so they could avoid duplicate recipes — 25 plates of chocolate chip cookies wouldn’t make a very interesting exchange. But a computer glitch devoured their list. And things turned out fine: Every single plate of cookies was as unique as the woman who brought it.

Take Cindi Miller’s Mexican Wedding Cookies and Patty Sorensen’s Russian Tea Cakes.

Both were small ball-shaped cookies. But Miller’s feature ground nuts and a dusting of powdered sugar. Sorensen used dark chocolate in her tea cakes and rolled them in cocoa.

The two cookies did have one major thing in common, though: Both drew raves from the partygoers.

In fact, most of the cookies drew appreciative comments and recipe requests.

Surveying the table loaded with about two dozen types of cookies, Sandi shook her head. “There’s no way you could sample all these cookies,” she said sadly.

“Oh, really?” Beverly Mulkey said, laughing. “I will before I leave!”

Mulkey bit into a chocolate meringue. “Oh, my,” she swooned.

Ann Silverthorn, who is British, was particularly taken with Susan Ruggles’ Winter Hats, shortbread cookies filled with almond meringue. Silverthorn said they remind her of the Congress Tarts she ate in England.

Her own contribution to the cookie table was a box of large shortbread hearts that had been dipped in Belgian chocolate. She had never tried the recipe before, she said.

“I don’t make cookies,” Silverthorn said — although her claim didn’t ring true with partygoers who exclaimed over the taste and beauty of her hearts.

As Mary Whinery chose cookies to take home to share with her husband, she said she was having a hard time deciding which to take. “They all look so wonderful!” she said.

Jacci Reed tried a date nut bar. “These are delicious! Not too sweet; really good and chewy,” Reed said to the woman next to her, Rosalee Hayes.

“Thank you. I made them,” Hayes said, explaining that the cookies were from a favorite recipe she hadn’t baked for several decades.

Several women were especially impressed with Sandi Till’s crumb cookies. Sorensen noted that you’d never know they were made from bread crumbs. “And three ingredients! That’s my kind of recipe,” she said.

In the sea of rich cookies, only one cookie was occasionally overlooked: The humble Time for Breakfast oatmeal cookie baked by Mary Martin. “I brought something healthy,” she said. “They’re also good, but they don’t look like Christmas cookies. They won’t really be noticed until people get them home.”

Ruggles added a couple of Martin’s cookies to her take-home container, but joked that it wasn’t because they would be good for her.

“Healthy? Who wants healthy!” Ruggles said with a laugh “It’s Christmas. I won’t worry about healthy until January.”

Georgia Queen and Jean Lierman usually make several kinds of cookies for their cookie exchanges. Sometimes they try new recipes, but they’re always sure to make some favorites. For Queen, Chocolate Meringue Cookies are a must; she uses a recipe passed down from her grandmother. Lierman must make her Pecan Tassies, using a recipe adapted from a cookbook she received as a wedding gift.

Gramma Mills’
Chocolate Meringue Cookies

1 8-ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
3/4 cup chopped nuts
Pre-heat oven to 350.
In double boiler, melt chocolate chips.

In separate bowl, beat two egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/2 cup of sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Add the 1/2 teaspoons vanilla and vinegar. Fold in the melted chocolate chips and the nuts.
Bake for 10 minutes. Take out immediately.
This recipe does not double well.
— Georgia Queen

Pecan Tassies

For pastry:
1 3-ounce bar cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sifted all purpose flour

For filling:
1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon soft butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
2/3 cup coarsely broken pecans

Cheese pastry: Let cream cheese and 1/2 cup butter soften to room temperature; blend. Stir in flour. Chill slightly, about one hour. Shape into two dozen 1-inch balls. Place balls in tiny ungreased 1-3/4 inch muffin cups, pressing dough against bottom and sides of cups.

Pecan filling: Beat together egg, sugar, 1 tablespoon butter, vanilla and salt just until smooth. Divide half of pecans among pastry-lined cups; add egg mixture; then top with remaining pecans. Bake in slow oven (325 degrees) for 25 minutes or until filling is set. Cool; remove from pans.
— Jean Lierman

Adapted from a 1957 Better Homes and Gardens Holiday Cookbook she received as a wedding gift; her pans also were wedding gifts.

Starla Pointer, who is convinced everyone has an interesting story to tell, has been writing the weekly “Stopping By” column since 1996. She’s always looking for suggestions. Contact her at 503-883-6263 or spointer@newsregister.com.