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Do you have a cookie party in your future?

Is there a massive plan afoot to organize friends/co-workers/relatives/cellmates for a gathering in which an inordinate amount of cookies is exchanged?

I have a love/hate thing going for the cookie party. The premise is a bit appealing, bake dozens of one kind of cookie and bring it to a social gathering where there will be dozens of other cookies for which you make an even swap: Ta-daa, now for the price of one recipe, you have a huge variety of cookies.

But (and here comes the Scroogey part) most of them suck.

Yes, we all know I am a control freak and a bit of a food snob, but I enjoy an M&M cookie just as much as the next coiffed Super-mom. Neither at issue are traditional cookies: iced gingerbread, frosted sugar cookies, spritz or the like. And ugly cookies are always welcome in my house, if it looks like a toddler iced it, great.

It's the non-cookies that bother me. Melting a Rolo on top of a bell-shaped pretzel does not a cookie make. Mixing cornflakes into melted chocolate and dropping them into blobs does not a cookie make. Dipping an Oreo halfway into white chocolate? Come one, why don't you just kick me in the gut. If I've spent a whole afternoon mixing and baking and cutting and sandwiching and frosting for you, the least you can do is turn off Guiding Light, put down the Arbor Mist and dust off the Kitchenaid mixer you got as a wedding present.

I'm not asking for anyone to go overboard, just cream a little butter, throw a little sugar, break an egg or two. Don't hand me "busy", we're all busy, there's maybe two or three people in the state who aren't. But it doesn't have to be hard, and it doesn't have to be elaborate, it just has to be real.

Just try it this year, go for the real:

Shortbread is easy and rich and seems like you worked really hard.

Cranberry Hootycreeks are simple, and fun to say!

Lace cookies are ridiculously good.

Mini Black and White's are worth the effort.

Gingersnap Raspberry Sandwiches would be a welcome sight.

There are those who can't resist Chocolate and Mint or Chocolate and Ginger.

When in doubt, go classic. Your house will smell amazing.