Making holiday cookies is fun, but it’s even more fun to share them. And fortunately, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that there is no evidence to support that COVID-19 is transmitted through food. However, the CDC recommends that before preparing food, bakers should always wash their hands with soap and water for 20 seconds, and then wash them again after coughing, sneezing or going to the bathroom.
Never done a cookie exchange? Here’s how to organize one that’s pandemic-safe.
Start by defining your group of participating bakers and making sure that everyone is making a different type of cookie. Agree in advance on how many cookies each baker will make for other members in the group. A good rule of thumb is baking one dozen cookies for each participant. So if six people are baking, they should each make six dozen cookies, allowing one dozen for themselves and the other five dozen, bagged up separately, for each of the others.
Be sure everyone bakes on the same day or weekend, so everything is equally fresh, and then arrange the time and style of exchange. This could be a drive-and-drop plan, or participants could meet in a park, wearing masks, and the bags can be set out on a table and each baker takes their turn collecting the other bags.
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