There is a kind of holiday entertaining that involves themed linens, bone china and finicky 16-ingredient canapes that take six hours to make but six seconds to consume – and then there is Dan Pelosi’s cookie party, where the table is dressed with butcher paper.
The online recipe developer and cookbook author, known online as @GrossyPelosi, has amassed more than 200,000 followers and one thing many look forward to are his annual holiday cookie parties. The self-described “gay male Pinterest Mom” regularly hosts elaborate barbecues, candlelit dinners and festive brunches at his colourful home in New York’s Hudson Valley – and recently released a hybrid cookbook and entertaining guide titled Let’s Party. But for the holidays, he keeps it much, much simpler. His annual cookie party, a narrowly focused potluck, has become the event of the year for his foodie friends – past guests include cookbook authors and food influencers Deb Perelman, Molly Baz and Samantha Seneviratne – and has been copied by his legion of followers.
Pelosi shared his formula for this inexpensive, fuss-free and crowd-pleasing tradition. (Scroll down for recipes.)
COOKIES AND NOTHING ELSE
Pelosi grew up in an Italian-American family where parties filled the schedule and they always knew what was on the menu wherever they went. He likes to communicate this when he’s hosting, too, including with the annual cookie party, where the only food being served is cookies. There are no appetizers, no cheese board – heck, he doesn’t even put out chips and dip. He’ll make anywhere between three and six types of cookies to set out. He’s upfront on the invitation that it’s a cookie-only affair so nobody arrives expecting more.
“Being very clear what the expectations around food are going to be at the party allows people to really care for themselves and also feel cared for,” he explains. “If I invite you to my house from 2 to 5 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon and I say there will only be cookies on the table, you know what to do. Eat lunch, make a dinner reservation.”
HOMEMADE OR BUST
The barrier for entry to Pelosi’s cookie parties is low, but there’s one rule: If you’re bringing cookies, you have to make them yourself. The party at its heart is a celebration of the homemade, he says, so guests are forbidden from bringing store-bought cookies or procuring them from fancy bakeries. And while there are guests who bake to impress at his parties, cookies from bakers of all skill levels are welcome (scarfing down a few bad cookies made by friends or family is the price of community).
“I know people who have cookie exchanges where everyone makes exactly 48 cookies and everyone gets two and there’s spreadsheets and no one can make the same cookie. It’s wild,” he says. “This is so the opposite of that.”
Pelosi encourages guests to bring a dozen or so of their cookie and share the story behind it: It could be an old family recipe, one you pulled off the back of the box of cornstarch or a riff on a favourite from a neighbourhood bakery. “There’s no wrong way to do it, he says. “It’s relaxed. There’s no winner. There’s no ranking.”
That doesn’t stop his guests from being creative and showing off, though. Back in 2019, his friend Lydia Cambron, a designer, brought cheeky cigarette cookies made from pretzel sticks dipped in white candy melts, their ends dusted with chocolate cookie crumb “ash.” The cigarette cookie has now become Cambron’s signature and each year she brings a new riff on it (last year’s was biscotti that looked like meatloaf with a piped marshmallow cigarette poking out of it).
BUTCHER PAPER
There is a time and place for the festive plaid/toile/floral tablecloth and this is not it. The signature of Pelosi’s cookie parties is the brown butcher paper he drapes and tapes down on the dining table (you could also use a kitchen island or desk). It’s a clean and easy surface for laying down cookies – no need for platters. When guests arrive, he has them arrange their cookies in neat little piles and scatters a few Sharpies on the table so they can label what they brought and what common allergens they may contain.
Pelosi also encourages guests to put down their names – and even Instagram handles – so people know who made what. This makes it easier for guests to connect after the party and for compliments about cookies to be directed to the right person.
“It’s like, ‘Who’s Caitlin? I wanna meet Caitlin. Tell me about this cookie!’ It’s kind of like wearing name tags at a party,” he says.
The cookie table becomes the space everyone naturally gathers and when the party wraps, clean-up is as simple as packing the cookies away and disposing of the butcher paper.
DECORATION STATION
There are some guests for whom mingling doesn’t come easily: the neighbour who might not know anybody else or the new co-worker. To give them a way to keep busy, Pelosi likes to set up a cookie decorating station at another table that’s also covered in butcher paper. The cookies for this are prepared in advance – gingerbears are his go-to as they can keep for weeks and are easier to decorate when they have had a chance to harden. He keeps it really simple: a few batches of blank cookies, sprinkles, tubes of frosting and decorating tools such as butter knives and toothpicks.
Most of Pelosi’s guests are adults but kids are welcome and this also serves as a great place to corral them.
“The space is kid-friendly. There’s cookies, there’s frosting, there’s sprinkles. My expectation isn’t no sprinkles on the ground. I’m getting sprinkles on the ground.”
THE DRINKS STATION
To prevent spills on or near the cookies, Pelosi sets up a drinks station in the kitchen so guests can serve themselves.
He always makes stovetop minty hot chocolate and puts out garnishes: mini-marshmallows and peppermint sticks (candy canes work, too). He’ll also whip up a big batch of a festive non-alcoholic cocktail using ingredients such as tea, spices, bitters and tonic water.
For guests who want to come but are reluctant bakers, Pelosi assigns drinks so they feel like they’re contributing.
Sometimes he’ll put out little bottles of liqueur so people can add booze if they wish, but “I am very much of the belief that we need to stop assuming that everyone drinks alcohol,” he says.
GOODY BAGS
Before guests arrive, Pelosi puts out plates and napkins, but also a stack of brown paper lunch bags. When guests say their goodbyes, he encourages them to make a to-go bag (this way Pelosi isn’t left with heaps of cookies at the end). If you do have leftovers, he suggests storing them in an airtight container with a slice of bread to keep them fresh.
Recipes reprinted with permission from Let’s Party © 2025. Published by Union Square & Co., an imprint of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group.
