My girlfriend has had her annual cookie swap for 8 years now. I have attended almost every single one. In the past it has made me very happy to share the traditional tastes from my childhood with the swap participants. This year I decided to try something totally different and something I've never done before... roll out cookies.

I found this Halloween treat amongst my massive recipe collection and figure I'll put my own spin on it for Christmas. You can see where I altered the recipe. I bought the 3D printed apple cookie cutter set, brand new, on ebay which included a stem and a leaf shape. I decided not to go with green craft sticks because they didn't indicate they were non-toxic or appropriate for baked goods, so I picked up non-stained ones from my local craft store.

With the apple & leaf cookie cutters, my Great Aunt Josephine's orange wood rolling pin that I gleefully inherited (custom made by her husband, my great Uncle Joe), and tons of extra flour to throw around, I was ready to roll!

After much difficulty and lots of flour dust (the dough was just too buttery to work with even after adding more flour and refrigerating), the original recipe only yielded 20 of these precious bits of apple-spicey sweetness and have now begun to call them, "Designer Cookies" and tweeted #toomuchwork.

After baking and cooling came the decorating... my favorite part! Melted the caramel and broke up the almond pieces and then went to town. It was fun to see them evolve.

I put them in the fridge first for about half an hour to give the caramel a chance to set up before placing them in individual cellophane bags.

I decided to place them in pretty Christmas cupcake holders first, this way the caramel was protected and yet it was still slightly visible. Then I tied each one with a festive ribbon and attached a paper ornament decor for an added touch.

Because the recipe was rather time consuming and I still had to bake for my husband's clients, family and friends, I decided to give one each to my husband's personal training clients. After all, they do pay him to get them and keep them in shape not assist them in wrecking havoc with their diet over the holidays. Good excuse. I began thinking of a new and improved way of forming the apples rather than rolling and cutting them out.

Here is the new and improved version (made especially for the cookie swap) ready to go into the oven. At this point, to make up for the lack of perfectly cut-out apple cookie-on-a-stick, I got creative with the leaves and formed veins with a toothpick. By this time I was tweeting, #butwhydotheylookliketomatoes. LOL.

They baked perfectly and held their shape! I was so relieved, only two more days until the cookie swap! Good thing I didn't wait until the last minute! I promptly doubled the recipe and baked another batch.

I think they turned out really cute & tasty and everyone wanted to know how I made the leaves.

I placed 6 cookies in each carrier box, rolled the recipe up like a scroll, tied it with a ribbon, and attached it to the cookie bag with a festive clip. As it turned out, there were only 7 girls, including me this year, so I brought 6 boxes to swap and came home with 36 different cookies that were shared by the other women. Such an array and saves you from making many different kinds. All the cookies were great this year. Pumpkin Snicker Doodles, Espresso Bean Shortbread, Toasted Coconut, Sparkling Peppermint, Spiced Hazelnut-Chocolate Biscotti, and my personal favorite, Coco-Mac Nut Cookies with dark Chocolate Chips. Yummy!

Here's the new and improved recipe for my Carmel Apple Cookies.

A few days later... After the whole rolling and cutting out cookie fiasco, I happen to come across a recipe for doggie biscuits. Yes, it was a roll-out cookie cutter recipe. I read it and thought I would try it anyway. I purchased a doggie bone cookie cutter at out local craft store and tried my hand at it once again. This time it was a breeze as the recipe for this dough was firmer. The experience was actually fun. The recipe made plenty so I gave my son's dog, Lucky, a tin to take home and I kept one here in the fridge for when he comes to visit us. Read all about how to make these adorable and nutritious treats with the new and improved version using peas and carrots here: Doggie Treats.

The best part, Lucky loves them! We totally have his attention when he sees them. They are loaded with pumpkin puree, natural peanut butter, wheat germ, wheat flour, and eggs. We use them to teach him new tricks. =)

Lucky Boy Isom, 1 year old. "Ruff!"