By Marilyn Helton

Diabetic Friendly Cookie Recipes Cornmeal Biscotti Sugar-Free Chocolate Caramel Bars Sugar-Free Rugelach Sugar-Free Anise Cut-Outs No-Bake Sugar Plums Low-Fat Frosted Sugar Cookies Espresso Brownies Almond Honey Rugelach Pumpkin Brownies Apple Butterscotch Bars Confetti Cookies Holiday Party Beverage Recipes Mulled Rosy Cider Pink Slush Merry Cherry Punch Click here for Lots More Diabetic Friendly Recipes!

When friends and family get busy with their separate lives, it's hard to stay connected, especially around the holidays. A cookie swap is a special way to get together with the people you always like to see, but seldom do. It's also the perfect excuse to both indulge in some delicious seasonal confections and lighten your holiday workload.

In a cookie swap, your guests bring a tin filled with one kind of cookie and leave with it refilled with a variety of the treats that everyone else brought. Not only does the wide assortment of goodies serve as refreshments for the cookie swap participants, they are the perfect treat to serve when guests stop by during the holiday season.

Schedule the cookie swap for a late afternoon, a couple of weeks before Christmas. That's when all the plans and pressures of the season feel overwhelming, making it a good time to pause briefly and do something emotionally satisfying for yourself.

A cookie swap works best when each guest brings five dozen cookies. Homemade sweets are nice, but since this is a gathering meant to relieve holiday stress, they are not mandatory.

Start your cookie swap by relaxing for an hour or two, visiting with one another while enjoying a cup of hot tea, Mulled Rosy Cider, or glass of chilled Pink Slush (we've included the recipes below). Guests munch on the various cookies, so theres minimal work for the hostess.

The real swap occurs when empty tins are filled with an assortment of the cookies which are left. If someone can't make it to the swap in person, invite them to participate from long distance. Just nestle your cookie-filled tin in a box filled with crushed newspaper to cushion it for the trip, and sent it on its way. You should receive a similar surprise when the recipient returns your tin, filled with delicious goodies!

Cookies for a swap should be easy to make. Spice cookies, fig bars, jumbles, amaretti and biscotti are ideal. They all will stay fresh for a couple of weeks when sealed in an air-tight tin. The lemony Cornmeal Biscotti below, barely take 30 minutes, and, if need be, can be shipped across country.

Have a wonderful, memorable holiday and be sure to make time to enjoy yourself!

Marilyn

Click here for more on holidays cookies: recipes, packaging ideas, tips and more!

IMPORTANT NOTE!!! We DO use small amounts of refined sugar per serving in our recipes, which is in keeping with the revised guidelines for people with diabetes, issued by the American Diabetes Association Committee On Nutrition in 1994. We strongly urge that you check with your physician, health care team, primary diabetes health care provider, or registered dietitian or nutritionist on how to incorporate our recipes, or any recipes from our cookbook reviews, into your daily meal plan. Please Note: Recipes with refined sugar may not be suitable for ALL diabetics. Your blood sugars should be under control and your daily meal plan MUST include the carbohydrate allowances per serving for each recipe containing refined sugar.

Marilyn Helton is a regular contributor to Fabulous Foods as well as the Diabetic Gourmet. She firmly believe that a diabetes diagnosis does not have to mean a culinary death sentence. Click here to visit Marilyn's website Cinnamon Hearts for more diabetic recipes and information.