And.....The First Holiday Cookie Has Been Baked!

Parent Cafe
1

<p>Hard for me to carve out a chunk of time to go all out so my goal is to TRY and get one done most nights this week so I have at least a few done by the weekend.</p>

<p>First cookies - gingerbread with buttercreme frosting. Super simple, super good!!! Just packed them up and popped them in the freezer.</p>

<p>Cut out cookies will be last - cause H CANNOT keep his hands off of them and I would like some to still be around ON Christmas!!!</p>

<p>Have you baked your first holiday sweet yet???</p>

2

<p>Oh, my goodness, I’m impressed! I start my holiday baking on about the 23rd (but then, I’m not much of a baker :o ).</p>

<p>Are the cookies just as good after having been frozen for a couple of weeks? </p>

<p>And would you care to share your recipe for the gingerbread with buttercreme frosting? :)</p>

3

<p>I’ve actually gotten all my holiday cookies baked! (Please don’t ask about Christmas cards, because I still haven’t gotten last year’s out!). I am motivated to get cookies baked because I send cookies and homemade jams to my father and FIL for their gift. Neither wants anything else, so I have to get them baked and in the mail before Christmas. I haven’t gotten them mailed yet, hopefully tomorrow! </p>

<p>I will admit that I make mostly regular cookies (m&m, mincemeat, oatmeal raisin and spritz) so it isn’t as time consuming as some of the fancy cookies.</p>

<p>Good luck with your baking!</p>

4

<p>I was going to make some sort of trail bar, but I hadnt gone through my recipes yet.
D is going on a ski trip, with a friends family & I want to give her some snacks to bring.</p>

5

<p>None baked yet but going through my recipes while I watch tv and making the grocery list.</p>

6

<p>I feel behind now… I have been focused on shopping and getting ready for the second party at my house this weekend. Must start baking!</p>

7

<p>I have dough made and frozen for 4 different cookies. I will probably add a couple more recipes to that and bake next weekend. The types of cookies I make can be kept well-wrapped and cool for a bit of time without losing their freshness. I prefer to have the messiest part of making cookies behind me as the calendar advances. I don’t know what it is with me and flour, but you could film a White Christmas special in my kitchen once the measuring and mixing starts.</p>

<p>No progress on cards yet, though.</p>

8

<p>Let’s be honest. Cookies are 100 times more important than cards.</p>

9

<p>Definitely more important than cards!</p>

10

<p>Abasket, can you share your recipe?</p>

11

<p>Cookies will be baked at our house if the kids bake them!</p>

12

<p>Thank goodness cookies are more important than cards! Whew, I feel less stressed already!</p>

13

<p>I stopped doing Christmas cards several years ago - a job I TOTALLY hated and I felt like I was sending them out to people we saw anyway or didn’t really have much of a connection with.</p>

<p>That was the year I upped the Christmas baking. :slight_smile: Haha.</p>

<p>I do several different cookies/bars. Everyone has their favorite and of course, they all are different! Freeziing works well for all of them and helps us to not eat them too fast. I end up running down to the freezer and making small plates to give away all through the season!</p>

<p>Most of what I do is from scratch but not hugely complicated. Baklava, lemon bars, PB w/kisses on top, PB w/Reeces cup. Have a new recipe for salted caramel bars that I’m going to try.</p>

<p>All of ^^that leads to my gingerbread recipe which actually is a shortcut! My family has never been fans of gingerbread. Seems some of the recipes I tried ended up too hard/crisp and not all that flavorful. Last year on a wim I picked up a gingerbread ready mix - SCORE. The kids LOVED them! I just make them as cookie drops (as opposed to gingerbread people). So, here’s my recipe!:</p>

<p>1 box Kruteaz gingerbread cookie mix
Mix up as directed on back of box as Cookie Drops, not the regular rolled out gingerbread)
Roll into small balls no more than 1 inch in diameter
Roll each ball in sugar
Place on parchment and bake at 350 for about 8 mins (they will start to look crackly)
Cool and then frost
(One box will make about 3 dozen)</p>

<p>Buttercream:
1/2 c. white crisco shortening
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
4 c. powdered sugar
Milk to desired consistency (around 2 T)</p>

<p>We use our fancy decorator squirty think to “frost” the cookies.</p>

<p>A box of the Kruteaz cost me $2. Bargain, delicious cookie!</p>

<p>You’re not judging me, right. (wink, wink)</p>

14

<p>We always start Thanksgiving weekend with peanut butter balls. Takes about 2-3 hours to make 120. We ration them at a maximum 2 per person per day. Right now the PB ball lovers are at college and a job so there are still half left. The weekend before Christmas the kids and I do cookie cutter sugar cookies and decorate them, a tradition I had with my mother since I was very young and continue with my kids. They rarely last until Christmas</p>

<p>This year, I will also do Spritz, fudge, and try a new almond brittle. I really miss my mother’s cookies: round balls (Russian teacakes) and thumbprints, though on occasion I will make them.</p>

15

<p>Agree that Christmas goodies are way more important than cards!</p>

<p>We start right after Thanksgiving with fudge. I have already made brittle, chocolate bark, peanut blossom cookies, raspberry almond thumbprints, and homemade marshmallows.</p>

<p>Some dough in the fridge now for some pistachio/cherry wedding cakes. Then it’s on to rocky road, sour cream twists, peppermint bark, and who knows what else!</p>