It’s become an annual tradition. The day following Thanksgiving (otherwise known as Black Friday) is our baking day.
Although, to be honest, this year, we moved the date to the Saturday after Thanksgiving because of my sister’s work schedule; regardless of when it falls, it’s a day I look forward to all year long.
My mom, sister and I make a huge mess in the kitchen, preparing goodies for the Christmas season.
We form an assembly line:
1) One of us (my job this year) is to mix and prep all the dry ingredients. Each dry ingredient bowl gets a label with the cookie title, the wet ingredients needed and the oven temp + bake time, and a note if the recipe needs chilling or not.
2) Another person (my sister this year) is in charge of the mixer. Creaming butter and sugars together according to the recipe, and adding in the dry ingredients already prepared.
3) Finally, the last person preps any add-in ingredients, and volunteered to do the dishes. Yes, my mom volunteered to do the dishes. She also shuttled the cookie dough to the porch or fridge if chilling was needed.
After the chilling is done, we line up the dough on the kitchen table and all of us scoop cookie dough balls onto wax-paper covered cookie sheets.
Most of these end up being flash frozen and then packaged into labeled containers or freezer bags for later baking. All bags get a cookie name, baking temperature and time written on them, as well as the date.
But, of course, some require immediate baking and consumption.
In the end, here’s what we made:
- 6 batches of Nut-Free Chex Mix
- 2 batches of Caramel Chex Mix Munch
- 1 batch of Muddy Buddies
- Grandma’s Spritz Cookies
- Lofthouse-Style Thick Sugar Cookies
- Peppermint Crunch Cookies
- Anise Cookies
- Mint-Surprise Cookies {new}
- Lemon Cookies {new}
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies {new}
- Orange Cranberry Cookies {new}
- Hot Cocoa on a Stick
- Andes Mint Fudge
- Molasses Crinkles
- And, Gingerbread Play Dough {new}
I’m tired just looking at that list! But, we had so much fun and my freezer is stocked and ready for the Christmas season.
Now, whenever we have people over, I can bake up a fresh batch of cookies and serve it with hot cocoa.
On my baking list are a few more treats before the season is over (and, by over, I mean before February):
- Dark Chocolate Cherry Bark
- Dark Chocolate Cherry Shortbread (we leave these for Santa)
- Dark Chocolate Toffee
- Mint Oreo Cookie Crunch
- Carmelitas
- Soft & Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
- and, my mom’s famous fudge (she already made this one!!)
We finished up the baking day with pizza and a cute Hallmark Christmas Movie featuring Candace Cameron Bure (remember DJ from Full House?!) called Let It Snow. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day.
Do you do a Christmas goodie baking day, or do you spread out your baking all Christmas season? I’d love to hear your baking traditions!
Do you freeze the chex mix?
ReplyDeleteYou look so much like your sister!! :) I love your tradition....it sounds like such fun! Maybe I can do a weekend like that soon with the kids to help me get into the holiday spirit and drag me outta the bah humbugs!
ReplyDeleteMy mom and I used to always have a cookie-baking day 2-3 weeks before Christmas. She passed away a couple years ago. This year I invited my new step-sister over to bake cookies with us. Here's to cherishing old memories and making new ones!
ReplyDeleteI come from a family of 10, I was the youngest, though I was not really part of the cookie making, I was part of the eating.
ReplyDeleteMy family made fruit cake, my dad did the baking in our home….
When I got older for my two children, I would make sugar cookies, Carmel corn, fudge and layered cookies.
Each year I still bake, just not as much and share them with work;
That is truly impressive! Just the purchasing and assembling of all the ingredients is a huge chore. I've never done a huge baking day like that - it's overwhelming to me at this stage of life (with 5 young kids) - but maybe someday when they're old enough to really help and not just make a bigger mess of my kitchen!
ReplyDeleteWhat an impressive list! I usually just bake all through the month! My kids think it's awesome when we are baking cookies almost every day!
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