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Ship Christmas Cookies & Virtual Cookie Swap!

Not Your Average Cookie-Cutter Celebration –
Personal Chefs Offer Resources for Your Holiday Celebrations

It seems every aspect of our lives has been affected this year, including the way people are celebrating the 2020 holiday season. Bay Area Personal Chefs are mindful of the challenges and changes this year as we recall our own celebration traditions.  Here we offer some helpful tips on celebrating with food…in this case, the menu is all about cookies and bars!

We gathered our favorite holiday cookie and bar recipes, creative ideas, and resources for do-it-yourself-ers. Reach out to us if you need assistance! Find a chef here on our About page.

“When my grandparents flew across country to visit it was such a huge treat but I must admit, we all couldn’t wait for Grandma to unpack another treat – those decorative cookie tins filled to bursting with her homemade Christmas cookies!  There were snowballs (rum balls for the adults), walnut fudge, and my favorite Spritz!  The  first time I helped make them, I was fascinated with the cool contraption that pressed out the dough in such perfect cute shapes.”

Home-baked goodies are a wonderful gift

We all have memories of past holiday celebrations around baking sweet treats like cookies, bars, brownies, and yummy loaves of goodness.  A home-baked gift is always appreciated, whether you make them yourself or enlist help from a skilled professional like one of our great USPCA Personal Chefs.

Ship Your Christmas Cookies & then have a Virtual Cookie Swap

Even though you’ll be staying home, your cookies don’t have to. Choose cookies that travel well, and pack them with care. Follow Martha’s strategy for sending your cookies and how to host a virtual cookie swap with your loved ones.

Tap here to skip down to our tips on how to pack and ship your cookies.

Need inspiration? Here is a gallery of delightful cookie images from our own Chef Garbo.

Personal chefs can help with recipes, baking, shipping Christmas cookies and help you plan an online cookie swap

Perhaps you need help with all or part of baking cookies or how to pack cookies for shipping across the country.  We offer fun events like cookie baking retreats and kid-friendly cookie baking classes.  Check out our talented chefs and find one to help you create the perfect platter or shipping tin.

Where did the holiday baking tradition start?

One popular tradition between friends is the cookie exchange of a variety of cookies from people who’d baked them with love and care.

ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS COOKIE

Wondering which are the most popular cookies?

What are your favorites?  A talented client gifted me with her homemade biscotti.  Traditional anise and chocolate chip!  Made with love by an amazing woman who happens to be 92 and bakes them every year!

According to the Huffington Post, here are the top 10 American favorites:

1. 1. Chocolate Chip
   2. Brownie
   3. Peanut Butter
   4. Oreo
   5. Oatmeal Raisin
   6. White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut
   7. Sugar Cookie
   8. Shortbread
   9. Butter Cookie
   10. M&M Cookie

Did your favorite make the list?  Do you have a new soon-to-be favorite cookie recipe you’d like to bake?

Since you probably are staying home during these times of restricted gathering how about having a virtual cookie exchange?

You can still send and receive cookies with friends and family long distance!  Think of the fun you’ll have when opening the box of delicious cookies coming from all who join in the event. Who wouldn’t love to receive beauties like these?

Ship Christmas Cookies & Virtual Cookie Swap

How to pack and ship cookies

Is it safe to mail cookies?

YES!

Are there guidelines for mailing holiday food items?

YES!

After working so hard to create such beautiful little delights, it would be a shame if they don’t arrive in perfect condition.

Check out this info from UPS and USPS.

How to safely pack and ship cookies

Tap here for our step-by-step process illustrated in photos on how we packaged our cookies. (Link coming soon)

Ship early in the week to avoid your homemade goodies sitting in a warehouse over the weekend.

Think of creative packing materials like air-popped popcorn and marshmallows!

Not all cookies can handle being shipped but many hold up well and depending on the kind, most can be packed to prevent breaking and jostling.  Cookies that are heavier should be packed at the bottom of a box.  Always consider the weight to avoid crushing.

It’s best to pack the dry cookies separately from those that are moist. Avoid mixing crispy with bars or frosted items.

Follow these tips from “thekitchn” to avoid disappointment!

Here is a worthy video from America’s Test Kitchen that shows what to do and what not to do when shipping cookies:

As you ponder the idea of sending home-baked cookies to friends and loved ones, know that while there are great recipes, professional helpers, creative packaging tips, and shipping advice, the main ingredient always comes from you… LOVE!

Photos and recipes of our cookies & bars

Chef Johanna Gelb made yummy Thumbprint Cookies and Lemon Bars:

• Gluten-free Thumbprint Cookies
• Jam-filled Thumbprint Cookies
• Gluten-free Lemon Bars

Chef Elizabeth Bourget made these Pecan Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies. She used Pamela’s Gluten-Free flour. The shape of the cookie didn’t spread as expected and the texture was just a bit more crumbly.

Chef Dawn Buchholz made the luscious vegan brownies.

Chef Andrea Sprague’s very own gluten-free and egg-free Snickerdoodles are perfect. And she created these luscious gluten-free dairy-free Apricot Coconut Bars

Chef Joni Sare provided the scene-setting with her snowmen collection.

Here are more holiday cookie recipes from our chefs:

Here is Chef Garbo’s post that features 9 Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes

By Chef Garbo, www.chefgarbo.com

ORANGE & ROSEMARY SCENTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH SEA SCALLOPS[/caption]

With the Holiday Season upon us one traditional dish that comes to mind is butternut squash soup. Every year I change up the recipe with creative twists on a traditional theme.

Butternut squash is an impressive vegetable with a formidable history, and it’s a nutritional powerhouse that can be served up most elegantly. Unique to the Americas, butternut squash has an ancient history dating back to 3000 BC. It has been documented that American Indians frequently prepared squash as they believed its seeds increased fertility. They named this hardy and bountiful vegetable “the apple of God” and it was commonly planted close to their homes.

In addition to boosting fertility, butternut squash delivers a huge payload when it comes to nutrition for it is rich in beta-carotene, magnesium, manganese potassium, calcium and is a wonderful source for vitamins A and C.

Did you know that next to Florida, California is the second largest producer of butternut squash?

Being a native Californian it’s only natural that butternut squash plays a key role at my dinner table during the Holiday Season. To make it Garbolicious I give the soup a little San Francisco flair with the addition of sautéed sea scallops and a mélange of local flavors. In the below recipe the essence of rosemary, bay leaves, shallots and orange juice shine through as the secret ingredients that will fill your home with marvelous aromas. Celebrating the Holidays, at least in the Golden State, never looked or tasted so good!

ORANGE & ROSEMARY SCENTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP WITH SEA SCALLOPS

FOR THE SOUP:
2 pounds butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cut in small cubes)
½ pound whole butter
3 shallots
3 sprigs rosemary
Peel of one orange
1 cup orange juice
3 ounces white wine
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 bay leaves

Salt and white pepper to taste

Sweat peeled squash in butter for about 5 minutes. Add shallots, rosemary and orange peel. Simmer over low heat for another 5-10 minutes. Add juice, wine and sugar and reduce by half. Add stock, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. Bring to boil then simmer until tender.  Puree in blender until velvety smooth.  Best made a day in advance.

FOR THE SCALLOPS:
12 large bay scallops
Coarse ground salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon chopped chives (optional for garnish)

Daikon sprouts (optional for garnish)

Combine first 3 ingredients in bowl.  Melt butter in cast iron skillet.  Add sea scallops and sauté 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown.

Ladle about 1 cup of soup in a shallow soup bowl, top with a sea scallop and garnish with chives and daikon sprouts if desired. (Adapted from a recipe by Chef Bryce Whittlesey).