So, if we're being honest with ourselves, the best part of the holiday season are holiday cookies. My family goes all out, making basically every kind imaginable: chocolate chip, M&M, peanut butter blossom cookies (those yummy ones with the Hershey's Kiss on top), and of course, every size and shape of sugar cookie. But if you're like me, you don't particularly want to gain 10 pounds over Christmas, all in cookie weight. So here are some tips on how to survive the cookie season:
1. When making holiday cookies, make a kind you don't particularly like.
If you have to make cookies, there are a lot of things that can go terribly wrong. You munch on the chocolate chips, M&Ms, or Hershey's Kisses. You eat the dough as you go along, even though you could get sick from those raw eggs (who cares? Totally worth it). So pick a kind that's not your favorite. Even if you love all cookies, there's got to be a kind that you don't love. Isn't that why oatmeal raisin cookies were invented?
2. Don't make your cookies early.
It's just a mistake to do that. The longer those cookies are in the house, the more likely you are to eat them. You know that. Don't pretend it's not true. Those cookies will eye you until you eat them.
3. If you have to make your cookies early, hide them in the freezer.
Out of sight is the best place for those cookies to live until you need them. Plus, most people don't like cold cookies, and waiting for them to thaw takes a lot of patience... usually more than you have. You're just better off if you hide those bad boys in the back corner and ignore them.
4. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, get involved in a cookie swap.
DON'T DO IT. BE STRONG. Having 200 cookies in your house, both before and after the swap, seems like a horrible idea because it is a horrible idea. Just don't do it. Don't give into peer pressure. Stay strong, man, stay strong.
5. Avoid all cookie hot spots.
You know where they are, don't lie to yourself. And if you don't want to gain those 10 pounds this holiday season, don't go looking for those cookies. It's OK not to have much self control when it comes to dessert foods, but know yourself. Stay away. Stay healthy.
6. At Christmas parties, stay away from the cookie table.
Cookies are typically concentrated at parties, so stay away from that table until dessert time. Otherwise, you'll toss down a dozen cookies before even realizing that you've eaten any.
7. If you want cookies, just be smart about it. Put them on your plate so you know how many you're eating.
It's the holiday season, and the truth is that you're going to eat some cookies: It's inevitable. So just be smart. Put the cookies on your plate, because then in your mind, they count. If you just walk by and pick up a cookie or five, you won't remember that you ate them.
It's OK to eat some cookies sometimes, but it's very possible to overindulge on holiday treats, so just be careful during this season. Before Christmas is hard, but after Christmas there are leftover cookies, and that can be even worse! Eat your favorite cookies, because the last thing you want to do is deprive yourself, but take it all in moderation. Too much of a good thing can end badly, and you don't want to go into the new year 10 pounds of heavier because you ate too many cookies.
