Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes and Taste of Home partnered in early December for the most festive holiday cookie exchange event in Cleveland! The perfect amount of snow was falling outside as 300 avid bakers & cookie lovers brought a total of 21,600 of their favorite homemade cookies to share and swap with friends old and new during an evening filled with festive cheer, delicious treats, and the joy of community making this holiday season sweeter together!
Meet Kelsey! Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes is a boutique bakery, serving up the prettiest sweets in Cleveland since 2014. Kelsey's mom, Liz, taught Kelsey young, that creativity can go a long way, that everything can be beautifully made, and most importantly, that it is okay to eat cake for breakfast.
When Kelsey was just 24, she decided to take these principals into her career and with the help of Liz and her dad, Joe, they began to build the Avon Lake location. After months of late nights, kitchen naps, and Taco Bell dinners, Kelsey and Liz saw the business blossoming into the success it is today. With Liz's expert recipe making, Kelsey's artful eye, and Joe's business expertise, Kelsey Elizabeth Cakes was born.
Thursday, December 5TH
Cleveland, OHIO
SPONSORED BY
Get inspired this holiday season with a special Brown Butter Eggnog Kiss Cookie
Our Favorite Recipes
An Ode to Lekko Shortbread Cookies
Iced Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Texas Sheet
Cake Cookies
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Decorated Sugar
Cookie Cutouts
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RECIPE
Check out the 2024 cookie exchange
Sweet Holiday Inspiration:
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How to Plan a Stress-Free Christmas Cookie Exchange, Straight from a Pro
Today’s Home Bakers Share Secrets for the Best Cookie Platters Ever
60 Cookie Exchange Recipes Your Friends
Will Love
10 Christmas Cookie Packaging Ideas You Haven’t Thought of Yet
This Is How Long Your Christmas Cookies Will Stay Fresh
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Get ready to fill your home with the sweet scents of the season! Whether you're baking up a storm for your loved ones or planning a fun and festive cookie exchange, Taste of Home has everything you need to make your holiday celebrations extra special. So, grab your apron, invite your friends, and let the holiday baking fun begin!
Ingredients:
Cookie Dough:
½ cup salted Plugrà butter, browned & cooled to room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons eggnog
1 ¾ cups flour (do not pack the flour!)
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
Instructions:
1. Preheat the Oven:
Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Prepare the Cookie Dough:
Cream together the browned butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the egg, vanilla extract, and eggnog, and mix until fully combined.
Gradually add the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder).
Mix until just combined—avoid overmixing!
3. Form the Cookies:
Roll the dough into approximately 25-gram balls.
Coat each ball in the cinnamon-sugar mixture (½ cup sugar + 2 tablespoons cinnamon).
Place the coated dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake the Cookies:
Bake in the preheated oven for 8–9 minutes.
5. Create Indents:
Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven, use the larger side of a melon baller to press a small indent into the center of each cookie.
6. Prepare the Eggnog Filling:
Combine the eggnog and white chocolate wafers in a saucepan. Whisk continuously over low heat until the mixture forms a thick sauce.
Stir in the rum extract (or dark rum) to combine.
7. Fill and Finish the Cookies:
Fill each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the eggnog filling.
Sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg over the top of the filled cookies.
Allow the cookies to cool before serving.
For Rolling Dough Balls:
½ cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
Eggnog Filling:
6 ounces white chocolate wafers
¼ cup eggnog (e.g., Hartzler’s)
¼ teaspoon rum extract
For Topping:
Freshly grated nutmeg
Browned Butter Eggnog Kiss Cookies
By Kelsey Elizabeth | Sponsored By Plugrà
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3 tsp. fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Buttercream:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 Tbsp. strong brewed coffee
1 tsp. Nescafe Gold Espresso Intense powder
An Ode to Lekko Shortbread Cookies
Alex Welch from Euclid, Ohio
Instructions:
Cream the softened butter, maple syrup & confectioners’ sugar.
Sift the flour in a separate bowl. Add in the salt and fresh rosemary. Stir dry ingredients to combine & slowly add to wet ingredients until a dough forms.
Arrange the dough into a log in plastic wrap & refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Remove the dough log from the refrigerator & cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices.
Arrange the cookie slices 1 to 1-1/2 inches apart on baking sheets. If the dough softened too much, refrigerate again for 10 to 15 minutes. You want a nice, chilled dough so they don’t spread too much.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the baking sheets halfway through if baking multiple at once. The cookies will be a somewhat pale color with the bottom starting to turn golden brown.
Cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
To make the frosting, cream butter until smooth and fluffy. Gradually add confectioners’ sugar about a half cup at a time, waiting to add more until it is fully incorporated. As the frosting gets thicker, add a tablespoon at a time of the strong brewed coffee. Add espresso powder and any remaining confectioners’ sugar. You may need to add more confectioners’ sugar or coffee depending on the consistency you’re looking for.
Scoop frosting into a piping bag. Frost the cooled cookies as desired.
For this year's cookie exchange, Alex was inspired by a maple-rosemary latte at Lekko, her favorite local coffee shop (and "happy place"). She recommends using butter with a high fat content to get melt-in-your-mouth cookies. If you don’t like a strong coffee flavor, swap in milk for the brewed coffee when you make the buttercream.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1-1/4 cups (280g) unsalted butter (2-1/2 sticks)
2 cups (190g) old-fashioned oats, pulsed in food processor to be a mix of fine & large crumbs
2 cups plus
2 Tbsp. (280g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 cup (200g) light brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 Tbsp. honey
2 tsp. vanilla extract
Icing:
2 cups (240g) confectioners’ sugar
4 to 6 Tbsp. whole milk
1 vanilla bean pod, or 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
Iced Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Elizabeth Tittle from Cleveland, Ohio
Instructions:
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Brown butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir often as it foams and crackles, making sure to scrape the bits off the bottom. Cook until golden in color and slightly fragrant. Do not burn!
Pour brown butter in a large heat-proof bowl, scraping all remaining bits from the pan into the bowl. Set aside to cool for 20 minutes.
Whisk together dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pulsed oats and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
Wisk the sugars into the cooled brown butter until smooth.
Add eggs, honey and vanilla to the wet mix, whisking until well combined.
Add dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and fold in with a large spatula. Don’t over mix!
Use a medium cookie scoop to evenly divide the dough. Place on prepared cookie sheets. Cover and chill overnight (minimum of 3 hours).
When the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F and line additional cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Remove dough balls from the fridge and transfer to the lined baking sheet, about 2 to 3 inches apart (about six cookies per sheet as they will spread a little while baking). Bake one sheet at a time in the center of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until set on the edges and golden brown. Do not over bake if you’re looking for a softer, chewy cookie.
Remove from the oven. Use a large circle cookie cutter slightly bigger than the cookie, or spatula, to scoot the edges of the cookie towards the center to make a more uniform, round shape (it also helps create more nooks and crannies for the icing). Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 min. then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
For the icing, mix confectioners’ sugar and milk (starting with the lesser amount) into a medium shallow bowl. Adjust consistency with additional milk, it should be smooth & thick so it can stick to the cookie when dipped in.
Scrape the vanilla bean seeds from the pod & add to the icing (or add vanilla bean paste); whisk until combined.
Dip the top of the cookie into the icing, then flip upright and place on a wire rack to allow the icing to set.
Elizabeth elevated a classic oatmeal cookie recipe by browning the butter. The result: a rich, nutty flavor.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. almond extract
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Royal Icing:
2 lbs. (1 bag) confectioners’ sugar
4 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. water
Decorated Sugar Cookie Cutouts
Melissa Falk from Avon, Ohio
Melissa scattered edible beads and icing swirls across her Christmas trees for a polished design. She suggests filling each baking sheet with the same shape of cookie so they bake evenly.
Instructions:
To make the dough, use a mixer to cream butter and sugar together for 2 min. Add eggs. Beat until just incorporated. Add almond extract, salt and baking powder; mix until incorporated, but don’t overmix. Add a cup of flour at a time, just until incorporated; again, don’t overmix. The mixture will be very soft & sticky.
Place two large pieces of parchment paper on counter, and split dough in half. Place another piece of parchment paper on top of each piece of dough. Roll out the cookie dough between the parchment sheets until they’re 1/4- to 1/2-inch thick. Place the dough sheets in the fridge for up to a day.
Preheat the oven to 365°F. Remove the chilled dough sheets from the fridge & place them on a floured surface. Cut your desired shapes with cookie cutters.
To bake, place cutouts on a parchment-lined baking sheet. The bake time depends on the size of the cookie. For a cookie that is approximately 3 inches in diameter, bake the cookies for 3 min. on the bottom rack, then rotate and place on the top rack. Bake for another 3 min. Don’t let them overbake.
Remove the baked cookies from the baking sheet and transfer to a cooling rack immediately. Store the cooled cookies in airtight containers lined with parchment paper until you’re ready to frost.
To make the royal icing, use a hand mixer to whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually sift confectioners’ sugar into egg whites, 1 cup at a time, until incorporated. (This takes a long time; be patient.) When all the confectioners’ sugar has been added, add the almond extract. Icing will be on the thick side.
Fill a piping bag & pipe the edges of the cookie shapes. (You want a thicker frosting to pipe the edges & a thinner one for the fill.)
Stir 1 teaspoon of water into the remaining icing. Put it in a piping back & fill the cookie designs. Decorate as desired.
Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 eggs
1 box chocolate cake mix
1/3 cup oil
Frosting:
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp. cocoa
3 Tbsp. milk
2-1/2 cups powdered sugar
Sea salt, optional
Texas Sheet Cake Cookies
Tracy Pesho from North Royalton, Ohio
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Add eggs to a large bowl; whisk until yolks and whites are combined. Stir in the cake mix and oil until the mixture is thick and sticky.
Using a tablespoon or medium-sized cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
Bake for seven to eight minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet for four to five minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.
To make the frosting, combine butter, cocoa and milk in a saucepan over medium heat; whisk until the mixture has melted together. Remove from heat, add powdered sugar, and whisk until smooth.
Pour the frosting over the cookies. Sprinkle with sea salt, if you like.
Let frosting set before serving.
Tracy’s dark chocolate cookies were based on a family recipe for Texas sheet cake. Just like their full-size namesake, the moist and chewy cookies were slathered with crackly chocolate icing. Be sure to let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for four to five minutes before you move them to a cooling rack. Tracy says this step is critical to keeping the cookies soft for days. Store in an air-tight container.