I am so excited to be participating in this year’s cookie swap!  The bloggers over at Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen have started a great thing and are raising money in the process for a very good cause.

Raising money for Cookies for Kid’s Cancer!

With over 500 food bloggers taking part, each participant was paired with 3 bloggers to exchange cookies.  Could you imagine making over 500 dozen and, in turn, receiving that many cookies?  Don’t get me wrong, I could have eaten that many, and I would have loved to taste every singe recipe out there.

I was lucky enough to be paired with three outstanding bloggers!  I anxiously awaited my cookies and, lucky for me, they didn’t all come on the same day.  I got to enjoy mine over a week’s time to prolong the enjoyment!  I even shared with some of my friends!

Lauren’s Latest Lemon Crinkle Cookies[/caption]

I received some lemon crinkle cookies from Kristie at Creative Touch!  They were so creamy and the brightness of the lemon really came through.  CLICK HERE for the recipe and to visit her blog! I ate them before I took a picture so I borrowed the picture from the original source at Lauren’s Latest. Thanks Lauren!

Chunky Chocolate Cranberry Pistachio Cookies from More Savory Less Sweet![/caption]

The next dozen cookies I received were from Laura over at More Savory Less Sweet. Catchy name and even better recipes!  These chocolate chunk cranberry pistachio cookies were a hit with my husband.  

Crispy and filled with yummy fruit and nuts, these didn’t last the afternoon in my house.  If you want the recipe, click on the name above to get to Laura’s awesome blog.

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Salted Dulce de Leche Ginger Alfajores from La Cooquette

My last shipment, which made me teary-eyed because that meant the swap was over so soon, were the Salted Dulce de Leche Ginger Alfajores from Maria at LA Cooquette!  

These were so creamy and the perfect amount of sweetness!  I ate the majority of these and even hid the container so I could keep more of them for myself.  CLICK HERE for the recipe and to visit Maria’s blog!

I can’t wait  for next year already!

 Being that it is my first year, I racked my brain to come up with a great recipe for this year’s swap and thought I would hold true to my style of making that which was once big, smaller.

I like biscotti, even though I don’t drink coffee, I still drink it with my tea.  Sometimes, not often mind you, I just want two bites worth instead of a whole piece.  I always end up eating the whole biscotti because I don’t want to waste food or I don’t have something to wrap up the leftover piece in to save for later.  

So in true small bites form, I am making my biscotti smaller!  These cookies are made just like traditional biscotti, just cut into smaller sticks instead of the longer cookies.

Next to think of were the flavors.  I poured over pages of biscotti pinterest pins to see what everyone else is coming up with.  Then I figured out I was going about this all wrong.  I stopped, took a deep breath, closed my eyes and tried to imagine what flavor I was in the mood for.  I am always in the mood for salted caramel.  

For a little crunch, I always grab a handful of almonds.  They are my new accessory, like a tea-cup poodle, or a celebrity baby named after some inanimate object, fruit, or direction, these last longer than a trend.  I carry a 2 lb bag of almonds like a second purse.  Once I empty enough of the bag,  I can start carrying my wallet and phone in with the almonds and get rid of my purse all together.

So how about some almond biscotti with some salted caramel thrown in there.  Capped off with some dark chocolate and dusted in sea salt?  Sounds good right?!?!

Here are some pics of the process and the recipe is listed below!

Mixing the dough

The dough gets sticky so I coat my hands in a little olive oil to help with the shaping process.

Shaping the biscotti logs pre-baking.

Cut in 8 pieces, then in half again!

You can dip or drizzle the dark chocolate on just be sure to sprinkle with salt before it hardens!

I used this great cookie decorating kit that OXO sent me!  I just filled with melted chocolate and it made the job of drizzling less messy and I threw the whole thing in the dishwasher when I was done!  Thanks OXO!

I decided to drizzle some and dip the others.  I like to eat mine while I’m out and about for a snack.  My friend, Dana, likes to dunk hers in her coffee or tea.  She was the one who suggested that the dipped ones might melt into the hot beverage, so I thought the drizzle would be better.  You can always dunk your dipped ones in a tall glass of ice cold milk!  NO MELTING!

Here’s the recipe!

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