If You Give a Girl a Cookie Part Duex

So I have been poring over my cookbooks trying to set the menu for my first cookie party!

After I got the Giada DVDs on Black Friday, I’ve been obsessed with all her recipes and wanted to make pretty much all of them for the party. After watching several episodes of her show and reading two of her cookbooks, debating the pros and cons of each recipe (make-ahead factor, health factor, rich-tasting factor, pairs-well-with-cookies factor) I finally decided on this menu!

Appetizer: Bacon-wrapped dates. I wanted something without cheese, and every damn appetizer has cheese!

Salad: Arugula salad with pesto vinaigrette (from Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave). It’s light, a little different, and it has artichokes and pesto…any questions?

Bread: Garlic and parsley hearthbreads (from How to Be a Domestic Goddess). They are basically made from pantry staples (and lots of garlic) and sound amazing.

Main Course: Butternut squash ravioli with cranberry-walnut sauce (from Giada’s Everyday Pasta). Um, everything about this recipe screams, “MAKE ME!!!!” But what I really like is that it’s semi-make ahead. I am going to make the ravioli on Friday and freeze them. Then on Sunday I just have to pop them in boiling water for five minutes and make the sauce. Easy-peasy!

Dranks: Definitely white wine and Jacki is bringing Kahlua to put in coffee/hot chocolate, but I haven’t completely decided on the perfect cocktail. I have a few recipes I’m choosing from, so I’ll have to keep you posted!

Dessert: I know I don’t need to serve a dessert, but, well, I wanted to. The way I see it, the cookies are to-go, so something light and refreshing seemed OK (I begrudgingly nixed the strawberry and Nutella panini). I decided on a cranberry granita, from one of Giada’s DVDs. It’s essentially Italian ice with vodka.

Cookies: Oh, right, cookies…of course! My all-time favorite cookie recipe is banana cookies. I love these cookies so much. The recipe, which I found on Yum Sugar, is bookmarked on my computer, but when I went to access it, it kept telling me “Access Denied. You do not have permission to view this page.” I was so upset. This is such a good recipe and it’s so unique. I Googled but found nothing. Finally, I e-mailed the Sugar network help peops and begged. They obliged. I got an awesome, nice e-mail today from them with my recipe. It made my day and my holiday! The cookies are that good. I also think I am going to make Nigella’s macaroons ahead of time, because they are so white and pretty and I just love coconut.

Today I am off on a friend adventure with Jacki! I am running this morning (ugh…might be five, might be the eight..it’s early, it’s cold, we’ll see), and then we are going out for a sushi lunch and going to Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods (which are a 30-minute drive from Grand Blanc, sadly). Not only am I getting my essentials (almond butter, how I have missed you), I am getting the things I need for the party! I am happy that it’s actually not too much; I already found the won ton wrappers for my ravioli (thanks, Super Wal-Mart) which I was a bit concerned about, so I just have to get a few things. I’ll probably get more “regular” food today, and get most of the party food back at my grocery stores in town. I just love grocery shopping so much…and sushi…and friends…and road trips…OK this day is really just too awesome to even handle!

Have a good day!

Tagged as: alcohol, Christmas, cookie party, holidays, Italian food, party food, treats