I went to a fabulous cookie exchange party at Mariko‘s last night and brought two batches of spelt chocolate chip cookies, one with peanut butter and one with almond butter. It was so nice to hang out with the ladies, the babies, and the dog!

I hadn’t been feeling that holiday-ish yet and now I have this gorgeous selection of cookies to enjoy, since we all brought home a mix of them. Here’s just one half of the table of cookies:

Amy, Melissa F., Melissa L. put their recipes up this week, if you’re looking for some new delicacies to try, and I am just writing mine up now…

Here is my plate (with a bowl of vanilla ice cream alongside, of course!).

and here is my recipe:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 – 3/4 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups white spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°. Cream the butter, peanut/almond butter and sugars. Add the egg and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and then mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls onto lightly greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 375°. (Don’t overbake even if they don’t look ready after 12 minutes!)

Mariko’s Christmas tree was so pretty, I can’t wait to get ours and decorate it too. She gave me the hot tip to go to Michaels and use the 40% off coupon, so I’ll definitely be heading out there this week — I’d already scoured Fred Meyer and a bunch of vintage stores in search of a festive pink or silver tabletop tree with no luck.

Speaking of holiday cheer, I posted about some of my favorite ornaments to make over at the Adorn blog today, if you’re interested — all free online tutorials, which is nice for instant crafting. I love ornaments!

Okay, I’ve eaten three cookies while writing this so I think I better hit post before things get any crazier around here.