holiday cookie swaps and bacon chocolate chunk biscotti

There are no elaborate rules to the holiday cookie swap that I host with my best friend. While we together take baking very seriously, an affair that is themed around a sugary spread of everyone's favorite cookies should never be a tense event.

So, if you're a cookie party virgin, do not skip asking for an invitation to our next sweet treat gathering. Whether you're an experienced kitchen crusader or you briefly dabble in dessert-making, no one acts as critics in this get-together, but instead, attendees appreciate each and every contribution, requesting recipes for this and that, aiming to simplify their holiday baking by providing having a fine, diverse take-home sampling for their upcoming parties–or simply, to steal bites from throughout the Christmas season.

For this year's holiday cookie party, I opted to whip up two brand-new recipes for our guests' pleasure. Sometimes, I have lofty baking ideas, and with slim time to actually concoct fine jewels of desserts, they typically end in disasters.

But, I promise you, the following two recipes are crowd-pleasers, perfect to take to any cookie share—even one of those that all bakers spend entire afternoons prepping for, designing their cookies and their plates, stressing over if their hard-worked contributions will be a raging success.

give the gift of foodie prints

Food is permanently on my brain, which creates me to forever eat, drink, speak, squeal and gush over anything that's relatable to edibles. And, while some people wear their beaten hearts on their sleeves, I suggest it being better to wear the print of your last night's dinner proud-and-true on the outside of you.

Below, for the holiday season, I've compiled a handful of top-notch foodie pleasures, made locally and not so locally, to promote your adoration to eats, aplenty.

Dressing on the Side crafts cutesy limited-and-exclusive pen and ink designs from Arizona that, just like the one shown above, are ideal for those who are truly a foodie at heart. Being burger-obsessed, I gush at the above print, and could also sport any of her other designs, including the "Cupcakes are Cool" t-shirt and the "You Are What You Eat" with a pie slice symbolic of an "A".

Girlscantell is Philly-based and beautiful, inking attractive sketches on totes, coasters, oven mits, and much more. My favorite of her designs is her Kitchenaid mixer print, fully equipped with all the necessary attachments. Coming from a girl who welled up at the sight of her own icy blue Kitchenaid, it is a must-have for any baking space, and also, any item promoting it's fancy-schmancy machinery, is also a pleasured treasure to own.

Let's Get Healthy, a Josh Reames project, has sculpted screenprints that revolve around food, and furthermore, encourage the slow food movement. The Dinner Party t-shirt is a chaotic swirl of our kitchen's favorite cutlery, and comes printed on varying colors and sizes of v-necks. Also appealing is the store's "Ugly Organs" messenger bag that's durable and screams of good health. All funds raised from the shop's sales go to help to provide food, medical attention and education to children in the Philippines at the Gugma Child Development Center.

Mike Geno, another Philly-based artist, makes me proud by promoting his love for meat at large, especially his fascination with bacon. His bacon cards, which remind me of a statement a dear friend said to me recently ("you are the bacon to my cupcake"), are adorable and smile-creating, as are his various other meat paintings and pieces, such as other favorite, the heart-shaped "Bacon Love" print.

Sara Smedley is from PA Dutch Country and crafts textile prints on sturdy tableware and aprons. Her line of "butcher’s aprons" are partially inspired by what her grandfather wore when he cooked. Her modernized-looking kitchen companion is also sourced from a style similar to what Julia Child wore and quotes the French Chef saying, “It's a working apron, not a dainty thing. ‘Dainty’ doesn’t look professional in the kitchen.”

ChezSucreChez may not follow the print-based formality of this post, but it doesn't matter, because her monogrammed and cross-stitched pieces are excitingly adorable. Her Strawberry Sachet, popped with six lavender sewn berries inside, not only looks cutesy, but smells mighty fine, too. Also, she lives around my neck of the woods (Berks County, Pa), and I am quite pleased to have such a handsewn artist, locally.

maple-sugar bacon cakes topped with candied bacon

Consider me jumping on the bandwagon.

I love cake. I love bacon. I love people combining both for the love of cupcakes. And now, I am one of those people. The satisfaction of merging some of best options from your breakfast platter into a mouthwatering sweet treat is quite possibly, one of the best dessert options currently on the market. Or, maybe one of the most creative to enter the baking world in the last decade.

Either way, be sure to sink your grubbing, grease-loving snaggles into these spongy bites.

Maple Sugar Bacon Cupcakes

4 1/2 tablespoons of butter, room temperature
6 strips of bacon (later minced into 1/4 cup), plus 1/2 tablespoon of bacon drippings
1 egg
5 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/4 cup of self rising flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
tiny tiny pinch of kosher salt
1/4 cup of milk


Preheat over to 350 degrees.
Cook about 6 strips of bacon, reserving the drippings to be later used. Place in the fridge to solidify. Dice the cooked bacon into tiny bacon bits, about a 1/4 cup. Beat the butter and solidified bacon fat until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and maple syrup and beat until combined. Add egg, continue beating. Sift the flour, salt, baking soda and powder together. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, alternating between some of the milk, and ending with the dry. Combine thoroughly. Fold in the bacon bits. Splash in more maple syrup if needed for taste. Fill cupcake papers 2/3's full and bake for 18-22 minutes.

Maple Sugar Frosting

4 tablespoons of butter
2 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 cup of powdered sugar

Combine the syrup and butter until fluffy. Slowly add sugar until light and well-combined.

Candied Bacon Topping

2 tablespoons of maple syrup
2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Take two strips of cooked bacon. Coat slices with maple sugar and then, rub brown sugar over the entire surface. Bake for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees until bacon is shiny, crunchy and resembles hard candy. Remove from oven and wait until pieces are cool. Break into small slices for some adorable cake decor!