So, for the past couple years, I've been baking cookies for friends, family, and pets (several kinds of dog cookies!). I'm told that several relatives look forward to my holiday baking, particularly my sister and BIL. I did 8 types of cookies, PLUS gluten-free varieties of each type (my sister is now gluten-free). Plus, I did 3 types of dog cookies (including carob-peanut butter-bacon cookies). My sister and I both value our dogs.
I'd like to ask the recipients which ones they like the best, for future reference about what to bake for next year. I'm not looking for reinforcement or anything. In fact, that would be useless to me ("OH, they're all great!").
What I'd like to know is which ones I should plan on doing next year, and which ones weren't as successful. I had my favorites, but last year, my Mom's favorite was one I wouldn't have expected. It startled me, and now I don't pretend I can predict what people like.
Is there a way to ask what people like/don't like that will be polite AND generate an honest response?