We were invited to a cookie exchange this past weekend - something I'd never participated in before. I can cook up a storm, but baking is a whole different ball game, and I don't feel it's my strong suit. Too scientific. I turned to my favorite trusty food blog, Serious Eats, to provide me with a recipe that was easy and versatile. I found this recipe for a drop cookie dough that you could easily turn into at least three different kinds of cookies, and it made about 50.

The dough was a breeze to whip up and add to, but once I started seeing the results, I realized I should have taken the high road. The oatmeal raisin cookies plumped up pretty nicely, but weren't remarkable in flavor, even though I added some Saigon cinnamon. The chocolate chip cookies, however, turned into a hot mess in the oven and all ran together, leaving me with thin, lifeless treats.

I was more than happy to be wildly upstaged by some of the other cookies at the party, namely Cindy's red velvet whoopie pies. Dang. Double dang! These suckers were amazing, and apparently a surprising cinch to make.

Other cookies present included cinnamon butterscotch, peanut butter chocolate chip, cowboy cookies, toffee chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip, sugar cookies, mint chocolate chip, spritzes, chocolate chip with walnuts, peanut butter kisses, and of course regular chocolate chip. One of those host's friends from Columbus played an ace with his banana-peanut butter-chocolate spring rolls, too. Magical! Then of course, there were Good Josh's "Shitty Christmas Cookies."