anyone want to talk about christmas/holiday cookies/baking?

[agm04]

what do you make?  do you gift neighbors/coworkers?  if so, what kind of box or bag do the cookies go in?  my SIL and i are doing a big baking day this weekend, and i need to make plans!

we usually make:
chocolate crinkles - similar to this recipe www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/chocolate-crinkles/941e22b3-9a48-4fb1-bdb0-27479e76d484 
pecan balls - i can't find a recipe online, which is sad because they are awesome and pretty.
snickerdoodles - i like this recipe www.howsweeteats.com/2010/12/fat-fluffy-snickerdoodles/ 
some kind of sugar cookie - i love decorating pretty ones, but i also love chewy ones with buttercream on top.  love this chewy recipe.  www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/chewy-sugar-cookies-recipe.html 
fudge - i make some similar to this - SO EASY - with milk chocolate chips.  allrecipes.com/recipe/150550/foolproof-chocolate-fudge/ 

SIL wants to make some powdered sugar/snow ball cookies this year, whatever those are, and i want to make toffee!  i may try this www.suburbansimplicity.com/almond-roca/

now don't ask me how we're going to do all this with DD in the house.  she loves "helping", but i'm probably being too ambitious.

[honda13]

I don't really bake, but I am happy to accept any baked goods sent my way

[sabrinaml]

My mom makes homemade candy and I usually help with that. I'm excited for C to get a little older and actually help with a cookie day. Part of me wants to invite my nieces over for a cookie day, but I know I would get annoyed after spending an hour with them. (And they would rather play on phones, watch a movie, or torment Cole- some of them have no boundaries and like to always be in his face)

[marshian]

Yes, perfect thread! I love to bake. About to start holiday cookies this week!

First, to your question about giving them out. My mom always gifted big plates of cookies to certain family friends. She would buy these large disposable holiday platters and then we plastic-wrapped the crap out of them. Not fancy. When I've given out cookies in the past, I've purchased cute plastic bags from Michael's or Joann's (or Amazon) and then tied with ribbon. Tins would work well too. Line with tissue paper.

My family almost always makes:
- Peppermint patty cookies -- chocolate cookie with peppermint patty on top. My mom does some odd recipe using chocolate cake mix. When I've made them, I make chocolate cookies from scratch.
- Peanut butter with Hershey's Kiss
- Rolled out sugar cookies decorated with colored sprinkles

Since I've been on my own and with H, I've changed up the ones I really enjoy. I'm going to link recipes, but I tend to tweak them, so these are just starting points.

Always Make: Rugelach
Recipe: allrecipes.com/recipe/10115/rugelach/

Always Make: Snickerdoodles
New Recipe This Year: www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2012/10/brown-butter-snickerdoodle-cookies/

Always Make: Something chocolate and peppermint. New recipe this year!
Recipe: sallysbakingaddiction.com/2015/12/07/peppermint-mocha-cookies/

New This Year: White chocolate pistachio (I'm omitting the cranberries)
Recipe: www.daringgourmet.com/2013/12/13/white-chocolate-cranberry-pistachio-cookies/

New This Year: Soft gingerbread cookies
Recipe(s): www.crunchycreamysweet.com/2015/11/30/chewy-ginger-molasses-cookies/

[sdlaura]

Agreed - Great thread! I had just gotten out my phone to start planning what the kids and I are going to make this weekend. I usually make cookies and put them in treat bags for my coworkers, neighbors, kid teachers, etc. I usually make:

Sugar cookies decorated with icing, sprinkles, etc.

Peanut butter blossoms (with the Hershey kisses)

Chocolate Chip

Almond raspberry thumbprint cookies (these have become my favorite lately)

Lemon cake cookies

And I need to think about whether I'm going to add anything else....I don't want to get too ambitious with the two preschoolers 'helping'

Thanks for starting this thread to help me plan!



ETA - I forgot gingerbread cookies. I'm not a big fan, but DH and the kids are.

[agm04]

love your lists! you're making me want peanut butter/chocolate cookies. our very good neighbor friends have a son with a peanut allergy, so unless all the cookies are staying in my kitchen, i tend to skip them. i am paranoid.

[marshian]

Dec 14, 2016 12:49:05 GMT -5 agm04 said:

love your lists! you're making me want peanut butter/chocolate cookies. our very good neighbor friends have a son with a peanut allergy, so unless all the cookies are staying in my kitchen, i tend to skip them. i am paranoid.

Allergies are no joke. Can't blame you for being careful.

Ever since I started bringing in baked goods to work, I always specify what is or isn't in the treat and tell people to ask if they need to know more. With some large groups the norm is to send an email to the group and I always add a footnote about common allergens (if it has them or doesn't). I had a few people tell me they'd never seen anyone do this. I have friends with allergies and they would avoid eating anything homemade to be careful. They were so happy when I could list out exactly what I used and they could eat the treat too! Just seems to be a common courtesy to watch out for this stuff. 

[mreve]

I always make peppernuts and pfefferkuchen, both of which are passed down family recipes so no links.

I usually get together with my mom and aunt to make homemade turtles, but haven't yet this year.

Last year I made these with some slight adjustments and they were amazing so I'm planning to make them again this weekend: allrecipes.com/recipe/234673/pecan-cranberry-butter-tarts/

I don't give baking as gifts but I always have to have a bunch to send to the shop as we have a crew that works on extracting bees all month. (I know, this doesn't really make sense unless you know exactly what I'm talking about. Sorry.)

[marshian]

mreve - What's pfefferkuchen?

[mreve]

Dec 14, 2016 15:16:08 GMT -5 marshian said:

mreve - What's pfefferkuchen?

I tried to google a link, but nothing that came up was close to what I make. It's a German cake that uses honey and lard and cream and spices like cloves/cardamom/nutmeg (I actually use a pre-mixed spice that comes from a German specialty store). It's a very dense cake. After it's baked it gets cut it half and filled with apricot jam and coated with melted chocolate.

[marshian]

Dec 14, 2016 15:25:24 GMT -5 mreve said:

Dec 14, 2016 15:16:08 GMT -5 marshian said:

mreve - What's pfefferkuchen?

I tried to google a link, but nothing that came up was close to what I make. It's a German cake that uses honey and lard and cream and spices like cloves/cardamom/nutmeg (I actually use a pre-mixed spice that comes from a German specialty store). It's a very dense cake. After it's baked it gets cut it half and filled with apricot jam and coated with melted chocolate.

That sounds yummy!

[iris1264]

Dec 14, 2016 12:49:05 GMT -5 agm04 said:

love your lists! you're making me want peanut butter/chocolate cookies. our very good neighbor friends have a son with a peanut allergy, so unless all the cookies are staying in my kitchen, i tend to skip them. i am paranoid.

I'm sure his parents thank you! DD has a peanut allergy as well, and I'm super paranoid and overprotective. It's nice when other people understand and are accommodating.

[pinecone21]

I'm really behind on my baking. I made my first cookies tonight. New recipe, and they turned out really well: peppermint brookies weelicious.com/2016/12/08/peppermint-brookies-recipe/

I also make mint brownies every year, but that's a family recipe. This year I'm also making sugar cookies, shortbread, and buckeyes: allrecipes.com/recipe/15171/buckeye-balls-ii/

[marshian]

pinecone21 - I just made my first tonight too! Those look good!

[marshian]

I made white chocolate chip pistachio cookies last night and they were tasty! Today I'm going to do peppermint mocha.

[starsandshamrocks123]

I'm impressed by all of this. The most I've ever done is melting Hershey kisses on pretzels and topping with m&ms.That takes mad skills, right??

[bagels]

We have a Norwegian family tradition to make lefse. Yum!!
My mom, sisters, and ILs bake so much at Christmas that it's probably not good for my waist line to make sweets too

[pinecone21]

Dec 16, 2016 18:55:51 GMT -5 bagels said:

We have a Norwegian family tradition to make lefse. Yum!!
My mom, sisters, and ILs bake so much at Christmas that it's probably not good for my waist line to make sweets too

I am so happy that I'm pregnant over Christmas. No need to feel guilty about cookie calories this year!

[sdlaura]

So I spent a lot of the weekend baking and ended up making it through 5 of the 6 kinds I had planned on (I never got around to the chocolate chip cookies). The kids kind of "helped." They enjoyed using cookie cutters and frosting and decorating the sugar cookies and gingerbread men, and they like dumping ingredients into bowls. They do a pretty good job until there's any downtime (like me needed to take something out of the oven or wash a bowl or something) and then flour starts flying and they start licking spoons and sticking them back in the bowls

[agm04]

bagels my FIL grew up in Norway and I have never seen those - I have to ask him about them!

We had a successful cookie baking weekend, but I still didn't end up with enough cookies for mail/UPS/Fedex delivery people. i just did boxes for neighbors we're close with. But the more I think about it, the less i think the delivery people would eat food from a random person's house, so i am probably just wasting my effort.

we made chocolate crinkles, pecan balls, snickerdoodles, spritz cookies, fudge, almond roca, oreo truffles, and dough for snow ball cookies, which i just sent home with SIL bc i was done!

[agm04]

oh and we plan to do sugar cookies later, maybe christmas eve. i love decorating cookies, but there are always so many, and it's fun for everyone to decorate a few! and a gingerbread house (which i plan to buy bc i always regret making from scratch).

[marshian]

I made rugelach last night and now I'm done with cookies! Next up is baking gingerbread for our annual gingerbread house creation.