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Julie shops Niles, Morton Grove and Des Plaines delis and groceries for cool ingredients, devises recipes, then shows you step-by-step how to prepare them.
  If you've ever taken an entire day to bake batches of your favorite cookies for the holidays, consider this alternative: a cookie exchange. This gathering originated sometime between 1930s to 1960s, and possibly as far back as the 1830s. Friends, mainly women, would bring batches of one type of cookie to someone's home to swap, then go home with several different kinds of cookies. Not only has this kind of party made a comeback, but now there are myriads of resources for festive cookie tins, platters and containers to make your cookies the star of the show and heartfelt gifts from your …

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