Photo: Hannah Whitaker

The best thing about going to a cookie exchange (aside from the 6 dozen cookies you cart home) is the often amazing recipes they help unearth. How else would I have come across my mom's friend Rita's pistachio-cranberry icebox cookies, or our neighbor Linda's Italian almond crescents, other than at Aunt Betty's annual bash? So when an editor at The Food Network invited me to a virtual cookie swap, I knew I had to join in. It works like this: on one day (today!), food magazines, blogs and other websites each "bring" a different cookie recipe to the table. Instead of sorting through your cookbooks or the millions of recipes online, you can scroll through this best-of-the-best list: Since each site is only allowed to share a single recipe in the swap, you know every one of them is going to be a winner.

Life Lift's contribution to the exchange is a butter cookie recipe from the December issue of O. The dough is beyond simple; what makes these sweets unique is that you use a glass with a design in the bottom (it could be a vintage water tumbler, a vase, a Ball jar or anything else you find in your kitchen cabinets) to stamp each circle of dough. Even something that’s just a basic ring looks beautiful when it’s sprinkled with colored sugar.




ALL YOU: Pecan and Honey Diamonds
Gilt Taste: Momofuku Milk Bar's Holiday Cookie Recipes
Liquor.com: Drink in the Holidays
Cooking Light: Iced Sugar Cookies
MyRecipes.com: Ultimate Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Food52: Ginger Spiced Molasses Sugar Cookies
Cooking Channel: The White House’s Molasses Spice Cookies “Gingersnaps”
BlogHer: Triple Chocolate Almond Cookies
CafeMom: Marvelous Mini Apple Crisp Cookies
The Daily Meal: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Food Republic: Gingerbread Cheesecake Cookies
EatingWell: 5 Tips for Perfect Gingerbread Cookies
Redbook Magazine: Candy Cane Cookies
Gourmet Live: Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies
AP/ J.M. Hirsch: Ginger Fig Crumb Bars
Fox News: White Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
Epicurious: Italian Almond Cookies
Big Girls Small Kitchen: Cowboy Cookies
FN Dish: Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip-Bacon Cookies
Yahoo! Shine: Nutmeg Rosettes
Food & Wine: Chocolate-Espresso Snowballs
YumSugar: Coconut Date Balls