A Sugar 'n' Spice Soiree.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful, and what could be more delightful than a holiday cookie party!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.... Enough already! When the blustering wind and swirling snow make sledding and building snowmen feel like work, ditch your icy mittens and spend the afternoon by a warm stove, sipping hot chocolate and munching on cookies. Invite your best gal pals over for a holiday cookie party and recipe exchange!

Gingerbread Greetings

Don't let holiday expenses sour your spirit! If your bank account is about the size of an elf's pinkie toe, save on invites by making your own. You'll need: red and green construction paper * black pen * gold glitter * ribbon * spray glue * large gingerbread man cookie cutter. Trace the cookie cutter onto green paper, and cut out. Add a bow tie, hat and mustache. Pen in party details, including time, place and RSVP info.

Then, using red paper, create a party partner for your jolly gingerbread man. Just add a dress and eyelashes. On the blank gingerbread lady, write "Recipe," and instruct each guest to write down her favorite holiday cookie creation and bring it to the party for a recipe exchange. Spray some glue on the blank areas and bedazzle your gingerbread pair with gold glitter. Tie 'em together with ribbon. Decorate envelopes with red and green paper, rub-on decal snowmen (at any craft store for under $2) and...more glitter!

Pre-Party Prep

The focus of your cookie party is (duh!) your kitchen. Make sure you're fully stocked for your holiday bake-off-- cookie cutters, baking trays, flour, cooling racks and rolling pins. Elbows fly when the rollin' gets goin,' so make sure your Betty Crocker buds have plenty of working space.

You can't have a cookie party without holiday music, so hit the record store for a few new CDs to add to your collection. Christina Aguilera has a new soulful one titled My Kind of Christmas. Charlotte Church's holiday release is Dream a Dream, or go for Billy Gilman's Classic Christmas. (Charlotte and Billy do duets on both CDs.)

Deck the Halls

FIRE AND ICE Whether it's snowing or not, make sure it feels like it is--and this doesn't mean slipping ice cubes down your bud's back! Go nuts with that cool snow-in-a-can. Try Snow Accents paint, available at craft stores, to create a magical winter wonderland inside your own home!

GINGER GARLANDS Adorn kitchen walls and holiday halls with colored lights and garlands. Think yuletide paper dolls, and whip up some red and green gingerbread man garlands. Fold each colored page into accordion folds wide enough to fit a small cookie cutter. Trace, cut, unfold and voila! Lengthen your garland by connecting each row with clear tape to deck the whole room! Just punch holes in the tops of their heads, and string with ribbons. Even easier? Take two-inch strips of colored paper, bend one into a circle and close ends with clear tape. Slip a second strip through the ring, and tape ends. Soon, you'll have a chain of holiday color. Or string different shaped cookie cutters on silver ribbon, secure above windows and door frames to dangle like ornaments!

The Nitty Gritty

Transform the kitchen table into an efficient work space. First, clear it off! Then throw on a festive cloth of fun holiday fabric. Put out all the goods and ingredients.

Don't incite a cookie war! To satisfy choosy cooks, pre-select recipes--and all agree on making just two or three kinds of cookies. We suggest mixing the dough in advance so when everyone arrives, you can get right to work. Chill the dough at least two hours (or overnight) before rolling. Don't get caught with your hand stuck to the cookie jar! Have a flour canister handy because dough can be very sticky.

Finally, don't forget to preheat! Allow the oven 10 to 15 minutes to warm up before baking. Plan on baking two trays at a time, rotating them halfway through cooking.

Cookies

Time to make the cookies... Depending on how many guests you have, you may want to double or even triple recipes so each girl has plenty to take home--and enough to munch hot out of the oven!

SUGAR COOKIES (Makes 3 dozen)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter

1 egg

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 tablespoons cream

In large bowl, mix sugar and butter with wooden spoon until creamy. Add egg, and mix well. In small bowl, mix flour and baking powder. Gradually add cream and flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring well. If dough seems too sticky, add a tad more flour. Divide dough into two balls. Place dough balls between two sheets of waxed paper. Flatten dough into disks with rolling pin. Chill dough in refrigerator several hours or overnight.

When chilled, remove waxed paper. Sprinkle flour on work surface, rolling pins and dough. Flatten dough with rolling pin, and use cutters to create shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, and decorate with colored crystals. Bake at 350 degrees about 12 to 15 minutes until light, golden brown. Repeat with unused dough scraps. Remove cookies from oven, and cool. Use decorative frosting after cookies have cooled completely.

GINGERBREAD MEN (Makes 2 dozen)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup molasses 

2 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda 

2 tablespoons ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

In large bowl, cream sugar and butter. Mix with molasses. In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix well. If dough seems too sticky, add a tad more flour. Chill dough in refrigerator for easier handling (two hours to overnight). Flour work surface and rolling pin, and roll dough out to a thin sheet. Cut cookies and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes. Repeat with unused scraps. Remove cookies from oven, and cool completely before decorating with colored frosting (recipe below).

COLORED FROSTING

3 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

food coloring or colored crystals

Mix sugar, milk and lemon juice in bowl until smooth. If mixture is too thick, add a little more milk. Separate frosting into several small bowls, and add food coloring a few drops at a time until it reaches the desired shade.

(Or just add water! Save some time by using Washington Creamy White Frosting Mix. We added colored crystals for different color choices.)

M & M COOKIES (Makes 5 dozen cookies)

1 pound plain holiday M&M's

2 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

Chop 1 1/2 cups of M&M's. In a small bowl, stir flour, baking soda and salt. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Add chopped nuts and candies. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 to 7 minutes. Remove from oven, and press remaining candies on top. Return to oven for 3 to 5 minutes.

Let's Chow!

When the baking and decorating are done, refuel your tired cooks. Impress 'em with trays of tea sandwiches. Lest your guests forget this is a cookie party cut each little sandwich out with holiday-shaped cookie cutters.

Dunking is definitely allowed! Offer dip-worthy drinks for your fresh-from-the oven cookies. Milk does a cookie good but, to warm the chill, serve hot drinks as well.

Tea Sandwiches

Save cut crusts to throw on your lawn to feed hungry little birdies.

TUNA SALAD

1 can albacore tuna in water

1/4 cup mayonnaise

2 celery stalks

1 apple salt and pepper, to taste

8 slices wheat bread, crusts removed

Chop celery and apple in small pieces. Combine first five ingredients in a bowl. Spread mixture onto bread, and cut out sandwiches with cookie cutters.

EGG SALAD 

3 eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dried dill

salt and pepper, to taste

8 slices white bread, crusts removed

Boil eggs (approximately 10 to 15 minutes). When cool, peel eggs and chop. Combine chopped eggs with next four ingredients. Spread onto bread, and cut out sandwiches with cookie cutters.

CUCUMBER SANDWICHES

1 cucumber, chopped

1/2 8-oz. container soft cream cheese

1 teaspoon lemon juice

salt and pepper, to taste

8 slices of white bread, crusts removed

Combine first four ingredients, mixing well. Spread onto bread. Cut out sandwiches with cookie cutters.

Drink up

The girls are thirsty? Whip up some winter favorites. And don't forget to set out the milk for dipping!

To make hot chocolate, just mix Hershey's syrup and skim milk in a pot (as rich as you like!) Simmer until hot, not boiling. Pour into mugs, and top with marshmallows!

For delicious hot tea, break out your favorite herbal or black tea bags. Drop one tea bag into each mug. Just boil water and pour into mugs. Let tea steep and stand about three minutes before serving. Discard tea bags. Serve with sugar, milk and honey.

For tasty hot apple cider, just simmer cider on stovetop until hot. Pour into each mug, and serve with cinnamon sticks or sprinkle with ground cinnamon.

Paints and Projects

While the aroma of baking gingerbread cookies and brewing tea wafted through the house, our cooks washed the flour from their hands and traded their aprons for smocks. After all, what's a party without favors?

PAINT A BOX! Every new cookie cook needs a recipe box to store her savory secrets. Most craft stores carry plain wooden file boxes for painting and decorating. Thoughtful cooks may consider painting their favorite cookie recipe right onto the lid. Have lots of index cards at hand so you and the buds can copy and trade each other's faves to fill your boxes.

BROWN BAG IT! Let your cooks create their own decorative cookie totes. Start with small brown-handled shopping bags and, using clean cookie cutters as outlines, cut sponges into holiday shapes. Dip sponges into paint to decorate the outside of each bag. Stuff colored tissue inside the bags, and fill with delicious cookies! These bags make a great re-gift too--but, don't wait more than a day to give your favorite aunt that delicious bag of homemade cookies.

TREE CANDY Make edible ornaments, no dough needed. Gather up metal cookie cutters and Jolly Rancher candies. Coat cookie cutters with non-stick cooking spray, and place on baking trays. Place a few Jolly Ranchers inside cutters and bake at 350 degrees until melted. Let cool slightly, and carefully remove from cutters. While still gummy, use toothpicks to make holes at the tops for stringing ribbon through. They're cute and edible!

BRING HOME THE DOUGH Give your guests one last take-home treat--dough logs. Spice up our traditional sugar cookie recipe with sweet surprises. Divide dough into four bowls, and form dough into log shapes. Roll each log in colored sprinkles, sugar crystals, cinnamon or finely crushed candy bars until the outside is coated. Wrap in colored cellophane, and gather and tie with ribbon on each end. Remember to attach baking info. Your buds can take home logs to refrigerate or freeze for later--just thaw, slice and decorate. Makes a great hostess gift! Hey, that's you.