Our 3rd annual Gluten-Free Cookie Swap was the most successful to date, generating nearly 100 (99 to be exact) new, tried and tested gluten-free cookie recipes in less than 40 days. Thousands of cookie fans flocked to the site to share, find and drool over tantalizing photos and recipes of everything from gluten-free pizzelles to spritz cookies, gingerbread to reindeer cookies, and nearly every kind of cookie in between!

The creation of this free album of hundreds of cookie recipes — open to anyone searching for a gluten-free cookie recipe — is something our gluten-free community should be very proud of. Home bakers, professional bakers and bloggers all contributed recipes to this collaborative cookie effort.

Beyond the enthusiasm felt for this open and growing community recipe resource, the prizes offered by this year’s Gluten-Free Cookie Swap sponsors raised the stakes for all those who shared recipes, no matter how many votes they were each able to garner. This year, hundreds of dollars worth of gluten-free food, baking accessories, cookbooks and even gluten-free cosmetics were given away each week via random drawings, adding even more winners to the three grand-est prize packages earned at the conclusion of the contest.

Our weekly prize sponsors included:

• Earth Balance free product coupons + Bamboo Cutting Boards
• Gluten-Free Cookie Mixes + Cookie Mix E-books from Jules Gluten Free Flour
• Gluten-Free cosmetics from Gluten Free Beauty
• Food Scales from EatSmart Products
• Gluten-Free Serving Spoons from The Food Allergy Kitchenware Co.
• Learning to Bake Allergen-Free: A Crash Course for Busy Parents on Baking without Wheat, Gluten, Dairy, Eggs, Soy or Nuts by Colette Martin
• Gluten-Free Baking for the Holidays by Jeanne Sauvage
  
• Allergy-Free and Easy Cooking by Cybele Pascal
  
• 2013 Gluten Free Calendars featuring 12 top GF advocates & celebrities
• New Planet Beer (Gluten-Free beer!) Kitchen Aprons
• Enjoy Life Foods free product coupons
• Diane Eblin/The Whole Gang 2013 Cookbook Desk Calendar
• LUNA Protein Bars – Cookie Dough Flavor

The three top prizes were drawn from the top 7 most popular recipes, as decided by the community at the conclusion of this year’s contest on December 31, 2012. Those recipes are listed below, and can be found (along with all the other recipes submitted) in the Photo Album of the Gluten-Free Cookie Swap on Facebook.

A portion of the tasting panel hard at work.

These finalists baked their cookies and sent them in for a blind taste-test by gluten-eating cookie lovers (*note: I did not vote). The results of the tasting, and therefore the results of our 2012 Gluten-Free Cookie Swap, are listed below.

Congratulations to the winners of the 3rd annual Gluten-Free Cookie Swap, and thank you to everyone who participated by sharing a recipe!

The 7 finalist cookies were judged individually by the 8 person panel on taste, texture, appearance and (lack of unpleasant) aftertaste. The cookies were all displayed on the same plates with only numbers identifying each plate.

Our big winners this year are:

3rd Place: Celiac in the City’s Snowflake Cookies

3rd Place Prize Package:

• Cuisinart®’s 2-lb Bread Maker with Gluten-Free Setting ($100 value)
• Earth Balance® branded “Eat More Plants” T-shirt, bamboo cutting board and coupons for 7 FREE Earth Balance products ($85 value)
• Jules Gluten Free™  one 5-pound bag of Jules’ famous Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour, one bag of Jules’ Graham Cracker/Gingersnap Mix and one bag of Jules’ Cookie Mix, plus Jules’ Cookie E-book and Jules’ Cookie Mix E-book ($60 value)
• Le Creuset®’s ceramic Batter Bowl ($40 value)
• Food Allergy Kitchenware Company stainless steel Gluten-Free serving spoons x 2 ($26 value)
• Enjoy Life® Foods one bag of Mini Chips + one bag of Mega Chunks + three $1-off coupons for any Enjoy Life product ($13 value)

2nd Place: Ami Tindall Frank’s Rum Balls

2nd Place Prize Package:

• Cuisinart®’s 14-cup (do anything!) Elite Collection Food Processor ($290 value)
• Earth Balance® hot branded hoodie, bamboo cutting board and coupons for 7 FREE Earth Balance products ($95 value)
• Jules Gluten Free™  5-pound bag of Jules’ famous Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour, one bag of Jules’ Graham Cracker/Gingersnap Mix and one bag of Jules’ Cookie Mix, plus Jules’ Cookie E-book and Jules’ Cookie Mix E-book ($60 value)
• Le Creuset®’s ceramic cake stand ($50 value)
• Zak! Designs® recycled melamine pink 4-bowl set ($40 value)
• Food Allergy Kitchenware Company stainless steel Gluten-Free serving spoons x 2 ($26 value)
• Enjoy Life® Foods one bag of Mini Chips + one bag of Mega Chunks + three $1-off coupons for any Enjoy Life product ($13 value)

Grand Prize for the 2012 Gluten-Free Cookie Swap: Janice Alotaibi’s Dolly’s Gluten-Free Pumpkin Cookies

Grand Prize Package:

• Cuisinart®’s 5.5 Quart. high-end digital stand mixer ($350 value)
• Le Creuset®’s festive ceramic Holiday Mixing Bowl Set ($90 value)
• Jules Gluten Free™ pink Jules Apron, one 5-pound bag of Jules’ famous Gluten Free™ All Purpose Flour, one bag of Jules’ Graham Cracker/Gingersnap Mix and one bag of Jules’ Cookie Mix, plus Jules’ Cookie Ebook and Jules’ Cookie Mix Ebook ($85 value)
• Earth Balance® coupons for a YEAR’S SUPPLY of FREE Earth Balance products ($60 value)
• Zak! Designs® Clear canister Set ($47 value)
• Enjoy Life® Foods’ HUGE 5-pound bag of Chocolate Mini Chips ($43 value)
• NewMetro® Design Auto-Vacuum Storage Canister for flour or cookies! ($40 value)
• Eat Smart™’s brand new Precision Elite Kitchen digital kitchen scale ($40)
• Food Allergy Kitchenware Company stainless steel Gluten-Free serving spoons x 2 ($26 value)

A separate kid-tasting panel voted on the cookies for fun. I’m happy to report that all the gluten-free finalist cookies were loved by the younger gluten-eating testers, too!

The remaining finalists will receive more gifts from Jules Gluten Free, and of course, our community’s gratitude for participating and sharing such phenomenal recipes! Thanks to all our incredible sponsors and to everyone who helped to make this year’s Gluten-Free Cookie Swap such a wonderful success!

While the contest is over for 2012, the recipes from each year’s contest remain posted and available for your use at the Gluten-Free Cookie Swap. These recipes were meant to be shared by you, too! Please make recipes from the Swap and share them with friends and family to spread the gluten-free cookie love! Feel free to share or take a recipe anytime, and get your recipes ready for the 4th annual contest later this year!

Until then, happy cookie-ing!