Sparkly 2021 Virtual Cookie Exchange Recipe and Giveaway
We are playing along with Carol at Just Let Me Quilt and her yearly blog hop and Virtual Cookie Exchange for the FIFTH time! This is one of my personal favorites as far as blog hops go. Oodles of our friends are playing along, and they always share inspiring projects and stories to go with them, PLUS a recipe to try. Friends, fun, and food – that’s a fabulous combination don’t you think?! The 2021 Virtual Cookie Exchange Blog Hop runs from December 6 through 9. A full list of all the participants is at the end of this post. Today we will share our sparkly snowy shelf liner project.
I shared our usual I Like Thursday post yesterday, in case you’re interested in enjoying our littles and some good loves.
Sparkly Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange
On Christmas Eve we always host a large informal gathering with sub sandwiches, baked beans, appetizers, cookies, and desserts. Back in 2018, I shared the mocha chocolate chip cheesecake recipe which is still a huge hit. Last year, we weren’t able to gather together which was a huge disappointment. Sue and I popped out by our Trevor peeps but it just isn’t the same at all. This year, our littles discovered the charm of sugar cookies and have developed a love for them. Rather than make them, we left that special department to Gamma to cover and chose a different cookie recipe for you. Wanna see our previous posts along with the recipes we’ve shared and some free tutorials?
- 2020 Virtual Cookie Exchange
- 2019 Virtual Cookie Exchange
- 2018 Virtual Cookie Exchange
- 2017 Virtual Cookie Exchange
Sparkly Snow Shelf Liners
Last year, we acquired an A-frame ladder-shaped bookcase (I don’t think of it as a bookcase, though, because books would have nothing to contain them). Sue’s sister helped us put it together – truly, she did almost ALL of the building.
It’s fairly tall and too difficult to take apart to store so we use it for pictures after the holiday season. For the holidays, we setup my village pieces for us to enjoy. I love each and every piece in this village!
After the holidays, I thought it would be a GREAT idea to make a fabric shelf liner for each of the five shelves. Terrific. One side would have a cute Buffalo plaid and the reverse side some sparkly snow-inspired fabric. Easy peasy. I ordered online and had it mailed to us and I enthusiastically made one liner. Here’s a couple of photos from April (!!) showing the top shelf liner with simple straight-line quilting and some family photos. It’s nearly impossible to get a photo showing the sparkly nature of the white fabric – it has a few gray sparkly sprinkles, too.
Is There a Sparkly Point??!!
Fast forward to the end of October and a broken sewing machine. How on earth am I going to get anything complete for the Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange and blog hop?! While I am blessed to have a backup sewing machine, it’s just not the same – you know?! HEY! It’s past time to get the four remaining ladder shelf liners wrapped up so decorating may commence on Thanksgiving. Those four weeks between the holidays go by so quickly – I want to enjoy every moment of our village and decorations. Go ahead and ask why I didn’t work on them at all between April and October!
Measurements were taken (again), and cutting and layering ensued. There was one planned change – the binding has to be in the snowy white fabric instead of the gray. No one wants gray snow on the edges of the village. No one. I used my walking foot this time and quilting was a breeze! I just followed the straight lines – easy peasy.
Here is a snapshot of the liner in use! The reflection on the sparkly “snow” almost looks real, doesn’t it? These will be a welcome addition to the yearly village setup.
A Virtual Cookie Bar – Not Sparkly At All
In an effort to spread the joy and love for cranberries to our littles, I thought I would make something that features them. I adore the tartness of them and how wonderfully they pair with turkey. A forkful of the two together is pure yumminess! What should I make, I thought. Enter my friend, Betty. Betty Crocker that is. She sends me several emails every week and recently she pictured Cranberry Gooey Butter Bars. Since cranberries are fresh now and I always make some cranberry/strawberry sauce for Thanksgiving, it isn’t a stretch to add this to my mental to-make list.
If you check out the ingredient list, you will ascertain quickly that these are not low-calorie or low-fat. I rarely make anything that uses a cake mix but I acquiesced and followed the recipe exactly. I melted the TWO sticks of butter, separately, and let it cool so as not to scramble the eggs. The crust layer, as pictured above comes together nicely as a dough and it is very easy to spread out into all corners of the 13″x9″ pan. Next up is the star of the recipe . . . the cranberry!
My bestie, Sue, the sous chef, washed these fresh puppies for me. I’m pretty sure we didn’t include any twigs . . . <wink>.
Cranberry Goodness Continued
Once they were dry, I folded them into the cream cheese mixture and added layer two to the unbaked first layer.
Nice, huh?!! Ready to see the final, delicious result? Yeah, baby. Betty did not disappoint.
Out of the oven, nice and golden brown although the cranberries migrated to the ends of the pan. I had to take one glamour shot on the holly plate with a dollop of whipped cream. Honestly, the first half-dozen pieces I had, I didn’t bother with whipped cream. Then, when I ate the glamour shot piece, I added a whole LOT more whipped cream! It’s not needed but if you’re going to add it, then ADD it. Sue’s mom said, “Oh, wow. This is delicious.” Take that declaration for what it’s worth! This is a definite make-again in our house.
An Alternate Cookie Recipe
Just in case you don’t like cranberries here is an alternate cookie recipe that all three littles approved last weekend! It is also from Betty – she has never led me astray! Betty made them with M&Ms but I substituted regular Nestle morsels for the M’s. No one complained . . . I think I’m going to make another batch for a custodian that is retiring at the end of the year.
If you’re looking for the coffee stout cookie recipe, I shared the recipe and details in our To-Do Tuesday post earlier this week.
A Small Sparkly Giveaway
The giveaway is now closed – lucky number 9 (Joan) is the winner.
We are NOT giving away cookies although not all that long ago we participated in actual cookie exchanges. How fun are they?! You make a bunch of one cookie and come home with a dozen of many different types of cookies. Anyway . . . I digress. This giveaway is for a couple of small mug rugs or coasters.
Way back in October, I received a spiffy email with a free embroidery design of Happy trees from Heather at the Kreative Kiwi. I’ve been wanting to do more embroidery projects so this was like a sign from above. Needless to say, we have some leftover fabric from our main shelf liners/sparkly snow liner.
Leave a comment if you’d like to be in the running to receive some happy mail. Over the weekend, we’ll select a lucky number and contact the winner.
Our Sparkly Virtual Christmas Cookie Participant Friends
December 6
- Creatin’ in the Sticks
- Inflorescence
- Quilt Schmilt
- Sew Many Yarns
- Pumpkin Patch Patterns & Quilting
- Just Because Quilts
- Treasured Nest
- Cathie’s Craftworks
- Scrapdash
December 7
- MooseStashQuilting
- Songbird Designs
- Beaquilter
- Selina Quilts
- Life in the Scrapatch
- Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
- Homespun Hannah’s Blog
- Cynthia’s Creating Ark
- Samelia’s Mum
December 8
- For The Love Of Geese
- Days Filled With Joy
- Food for Thought
- Karrin’s Crazy World
- Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
- Stitchin At Home
- Words & Stitches
- Colletta’s Kitchen Sink
December 9
- Just Let Me Quilt
- Home Sewn By Us – that’s us!
- Just Sew Quilter
- Ms P Designs USA
- Quiltscapes
- Texas Quilt Gal
- Creative Latitude
- That Fabric Feeling
We hope you have a minute to check out all of the sparkly participants. You will surely find something to inspire you plus a delicious recipe or ten (or even more)!
♥ ♥ ♥
Consider joining us each Tuesday for our hosted linky party called To-Do Tuesday. Check our sidebar or our Linky Parties page on our website for more quilting fun. Like/follow us on our Facebook page to share the photos of what you’re working on. We would love to see them!
OH wow, I love your village!! It’s so cosy and Christmassy! All your cookies and cookie bars look delicious, and such lovely Christmas projects too! xx
This is such a fun post – Lots of holiday cheer in each paragraph. I bet that ladder/bookcase/village holder is fun to use in so many ways. What a fun piece to decorate seasonally. Thank you for sharing all of these fun ideas Roseanne. Happy Holidays to you!
Your village is spectacular and looks wonderful on the sparkly white shelf liners. Those cranberry bar cookies look absolutely delicious! And your embroidered Christmas coasters are so pretty.
Oh, those cranberry bars might have to come to me, but I wonder if I can sub in dried cranberries? Or bananas, or chocolate chips!!! I adore your little Christmas trees!!! So sweet. Now I need an embroidery machine!
I love cranberries! Those bars look delicious, thank you for sharing!
What a great post! My friend has the houses to make a village and every year it is an issue as to how to display them all. I must tell her what you have done. That works beautifully and they are protected there too.
Meanwhile, great cookie/bar recipes. Love the cranberries. Good eating for sure even or especially because of the TWO bars of butter. LOL
Your idea to make shelf liners is brilliant. The fabric really does add that perfect sparkle. Thank you for all of the great recipe links. They all sound amazing.
I am so happy to see cranberries in a recipe! Thanks for all your inspiration! Many Blessings for a Merry Christmas!
Wow!! You have so much packed into your blog post. I want a big bite of those cranberry treats right now…with or without whipped cream. I do love a good basic cookie with M&M’s, the world’s best topping of all. I like your display shelves. I have always admired those ladder shelves in other people’s homes. Like for sure they would topple over in my house!!? Your idea of using the shelves for holiday decor is just brilliant!! You have nailed it!! Why fight with books falling off when you can have your own museum display. Thanks so much for sharing all the lovely ideas. I wish you a very happy holiday season with the littles, the bigs and all in between!
Great post, and me too on the whipped cream. I love the ladder shelf doing double duty, if it’s multi-functional you cannot go wrong. Hope that sewing machine was mended. Merry Christmas to you all.
Your cranberry bars look great!
Wow, your ladder shelves and lit-up village took my breath away! Sparkly! And your fun desserts look soooo delicious! I’m the only fan of cranberries in my house, but they may change their minds. And, there can never be enough whipped cream, right?
I love your village set up. I think I may have many yards of that sparkly fabric too. Oh cranberries yum!
The shelf is perfect with your perfect liners – gray and white check and that snowy white. OH, and the cookies….so many good ones to make and then take off later (if you know what I mean). At least for right now this is a virtual hop and I am safe! Of course, who wouldn’t love some of those adorable mug rugs!
Oh, wow. That village looks so pretty. I’m sure that the shelf is enjoyed all year long. What a nifty way to make shelf covers. I think Sue’s sister needs to come with each shelf set so they would get put together right. Those recipes look so yummy and I do believe I will try one or both…once I get done wrapping gifts to mail. Yes, I’m running way behind. Those coasters are so pretty. Such a nice little drawing. Have a great weekend.
Both recipes sounds delicious.
Love your village with the sparkly fabric. I make a simple gooey butter cake using crescent rolls as the base, then filling it with the cream cheese mixed with strawberry jam, topped with another crescent roll and melted butter and bake.
what a fabulous holiday display! I am going to try that yummy looking cranberry recipe too! I am always up for some happy mail!! thank you !
The ladder book shelf, sparkly liners, Christmas village, the cookies, cranberry – You have me totally distracted. So many awesome things in the post as always!
I love your sparkly shelf liners and the buffalo plaid side, too, Roseanne! Your shelves look great for lots of different uses. The cranberry bars sound delicious, too – I love cranberries in baked goods. I hope you’re planning your annual Christmas Eve get together this year, and I bet the cranberry dessert will be a hit!
Thanks so much for the cranberry recipe. My husband likes cranberries so I’ll have to try it. This shelf looks like it worked out very well; however, it took some doing. My mother had a “leaf plate” like the one that you are showing with the cranberry dessert on it. It’s very festive.
OMG that cranberry cheesecake dessert looks divine. I do believe I started salivating looking closely at the photos. Your village is so pretty! Yes, the sparkle on the snow is the coolest!
oh you reminded me of a recipe a friend shared years ago and I never tried it. Cranberry sauce cookie bars… gotta go look for that.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE your display and that would be awesome for my snowbaby collection wherever it is and I hope it survived the move (some boxes were stolen grrrr and found out later)
That shelf idea for your village is a great idea. I have mine on a banquet table, and my dining room table, but I have too many houses for a shelf like that. My brother built something similar with multiple levels, and in the shape of a Christmas tree. It is round. Thanks for the cookie ideas, they look delicious!
I wish I’d had a shelf like that when I had all my houses. It looks amazing! It’s such a small world…Betty is my friend, too. She failed to send me your yummy looking recipes, so you must be her favorite. That cranberry one is on my list for sure! I dug out my embroidery module the other day to make something. I’d forgotten how fun it was to use. Your little sweet mug rugs are very cute! Thank you for always being a happy place to visit and for hopping with us!
I love your shelf liners and your beautiful display!! What a great idea! The light really does make it look like sparkly snow! Thanks so much for the recipes! We make just plain gooey butter cake. I love cranberries, but not the rest of the fam, unfortunately. The pudding cookies sound great and I think even the pickiest of mine would eat them! LOL Your mug rugs are adorable. Enjoy that embroidery machine! You did a great job on them!!
Love your village and the ladder to display it. Your goodies look yummy. And I love your mug rugs. Have a very Merry Christmas.
Love the sparkly shelf liners and their gray check side, too. Your village is so beautiful! The cranberry bar recipe looks very tempting. My oldest son makes pudding cookies with a recipe that he adapted from my chocolate chip cookie recipe that is very close to the Betty Crocker one. He makes endless varieties of cookies. We look forward to snacking on what he will make next. Thank you for sharing in the hop. May you and yours have a Merry Christmas … <3 Pat
Hey! I can see the sparkle! What a grand idea, and I love all of your houses on the shelves. They look so festive and inviting. Those cranberry bars, oh my! Yum! And you can’t go wrong with M&M cookies. Those little embroidered trees are too cute!
Ya got me with the cranberries…dang it…more pastry down the gullet…love the ladder, btw, love the Christmas lights all set up it, gorgeous!
Thanks for sharing all your past makes! I have been only blog hopping this year, so this is my first Cookie Exchange. Loved seeing all your makes. Thanks!
Oh my goodness, you ladder bookshelf is just the best. What a great space to decorate for all the holidays. Your girlfriend “Betty” is one of my favorite gals too. She never disappoints in the kitchen! LOL!! Have a very Merry Christmas!
That cranberry cake recipe looks delicious. That was the perfect sparkly fabric for the snow. And your village looks beautiful. I’ve had to limit the amount of houses in my village because of space. You solved that problem perfectly.
Your cranberry recipe looks delicious! I really love your display of houses on the ladder tree. So pretty!
The village looks great, and that snow fabric is a fantastic addition! Thank you for the fattening cranberry recipe! I look forward to making it! 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your post and seeing all your projects (including cookies). The cranberry bars look amazing–I think I would love those. The shelf liners you made are very nice–perfect for your village. The embroidered mug mats are beautiful! Thanks for sharing everything.
I am not a cranberry lover, but it still looks yummy and I am sure DH would love it! The cookies sound delicious to me;) Love that sparkly fabric for the shelf liner, so perfect to set you village scene on.
Oh my goodness what sparkly goodness in your post!! LOVE your village, and it looks spectacular on those ladder shelves. I could not love the sparkly snow fabric more! And your little coasters are beautiful (did I mention I love the sparkly fabric?) with the wonderful words embroidered on them. I’d love to win one, but now I’m feeling sorry for Carol (see her post), so I’d defer to her if necessary. 😉
OK your “shelf liners” are beautiful. I love the buffalo check (?) lined with sparkly snow. And oh those bar cookies! I feel exactly the same about cranberries as you do. When I had all my canning supplies I bought cranberries by the BIG bags and made all kinds of cranberry goodness with them. And yes I’m the only one who eats cranberry anything in my family. 🙁 I need to come and visit you and Sue. 😉 I’m downloading all your recipes.
I am LOL about “the first half-dozen pieces I had” 😀 LOVED your post!
I need that ladder for my village, what a wonderful idea! I love the sparkly fabric and the shine. The cranberry recipe sounds so good!
Hi Roseanne. The shelf liners are real winners in my opinion seeing the lights from the village reflect on the sparkly fabric. I’m a fan of cranberries so I’m printing your recipe to make a pan, but gee, I have to eat it all myself 😉. This hop has me adding another 2 miles to my walk so my pants don’t shrink again! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and thanking you again for the many smiles, giggles and inspirational posts over the year. ⛄️
And yes, I’d love to win one of those pretty coasters but understand if you are limiting it to Americans with the insane costs for international shipping.