I haven't done any serious baking of Christmas Cookies since Maxi was a baby. But I'm thinking he is old enough now that he would really enjoy participating and I know he'd love to give the goodies to his friends.
I was looking through Bill's collection of Christmas cookies and he has some really nice ones. In fact, his collection has inspired me to try some varieties I've never tried before.
How about you guys? What smells like "Christmas" in your house?
Merme
We were given two hands to hold, two eyes to see, two ears to listen & two legs to walk. But why were we given only one heart? The other heart was given to another for us to find.
gingerbread cookies. growing up my bro & I would go to grandmas apartment make gingerbread men, trees & stars, decorate her little tree, and go home exhausted & full of cookies.
I bake Christmas cookies every year but to be honest hadn't even started thinking about it yet. I looked at Bill's collection a while back and printed out a bunch of them. Now I just have to find what I did with them. I might have to reprint them when the time comes.
I stopped baking cookies when I got my brand new state of the art oven. With all of it's little do dads it doesn't cook evenly. I burns the bottoms and leaves the tops to raw.
~Tina
Drama Free Zone. What every gardener loves the most, Begins and ends in rich compost. (Tina)
Yeah, I've been complaining about it since we got it. Every year he says, no cookies? I say burned bottoms. I would have liked it taken back right away but it is too late 3-4 years later. My neighbors got the same one. Works well. (sigh)
~Tina
Drama Free Zone. What every gardener loves the most, Begins and ends in rich compost. (Tina)
I usually make a lot of fudge. I have a recipe that my grandfather used when he was in "primary" school. He'd come home on lunch and make it, then eat it when he came home for the day.
merme i love baking at christmas with my kids, their not that much into it now that their teens but bb is, its so much fun! i have a little book with all my fav recipes in it for christmas bakin
I spent many years perfecting my yeast breads recipes for Christmas and now I am no longer strong enough to do the necessary kneading to make the breads light and yummy. But I am thinking Maxi might very well be strong enough now; he is a tough little kid with big hands! I may just whip up a batch of dough and watch him have at it, just to see.
Back home I always liked to sponsor or participate in a cookie exchange. Ten people are invited and each person bakes 11 dozen of one type of cookie. Everyone goes home with ten dozen different types of cookies and the 11th dozen is for sampling!
Merme
We were given two hands to hold, two eyes to see, two ears to listen & two legs to walk. But why were we given only one heart? The other heart was given to another for us to find.
I haven't done any serious baking of Christmas Cookies since Maxi was a baby. But I'm thinking he is old enough now that he would really enjoy participating and I know he'd love to give the goodies to his friends.
I was looking through Bill's collection of Christmas cookies and he has some really nice ones. In fact, his collection has inspired me to try some varieties I've never tried before. How about you guys? What smells like "Christmas" in your house? Merme
At MY house it is Christmas only after I bake My Grandma Bilyeu's Oatmeal Cookies and a "Soft" sugar cookie whose recipe I got out of "Whos Cooking What in Illinois" My Girl's will have it no other way--anything else is a "Bonus" to them.
________
Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain!! .....
I spent many years perfecting my yeast breads recipes for Christmas and now I am no longer strong enough to do the necessary kneading to make the breads light and yummy. But I am thinking Maxi might very well be strong enough now; he is a tough little kid with big hands! I may just whip up a batch of dough and watch him have at it, just to see.
Back home I always liked to sponsor or participate in a cookie exchange. Ten people are invited and each person bakes 11 dozen of one type of cookie. Everyone goes home with ten dozen different types of cookies and the 11th dozen is for sampling!
Merme
The lady my girls have "Baby Sat for" over the years does that. She is a dentist & she invites all her employees to her house & they do a cookie exchange just like you describe yours
________
Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain!! .....
Once I invited a sister-in-law who really liked to bake. She declined my invite, because she had already accepted one at work. Boy, was she sorry! Some of the guests for the other exchange bought store cookies... like bags of Oreos! She must have been so disappointed to have made such an effort to make 11 dozen really yummy treats and get Oreos back....
We were given two hands to hold, two eyes to see, two ears to listen & two legs to walk. But why were we given only one heart? The other heart was given to another for us to find.
they must be related to sis-in-laws. they all brought chocolate chip cookies that were cut and baked from one of those cookie rolls you buy at the grocery store.
~~Tam~ You can bury all your troubles by digging in the dirt.
Funny, isn't is, what some people define as "Christmas Cookie"?
Also, there are some cookies on Bill's Christmas cookie page that remind me of the big, elaborate weddings of my childhood. But that isn't going to stop me from trying them this Christmas!
Merme
We were given two hands to hold, two eyes to see, two ears to listen & two legs to walk. But why were we given only one heart? The other heart was given to another for us to find.
Merme, my MIL makes sugar cookies every holiday and my son stays the night with her, and his cousins, so they can bake them and decorate them to hang on the tree, and leave for Santa, plus a few extra to enjoy for ourselves! I love this tradition, YUM, YUM! My son always makes me a special angel to eat & one to hang on the tree, because I am an angel collector. If I make anything at home, it is the Friendship bread, the one where you take the "starter" mix in a ziploc bag for so many days & you knead it every day, then add ingredients & bake it, then hand out more starters, & so on.
The one that signals Christmas in my house is the thumbprint cookies - rolled in hazel nuts and raspberry jam on top. Always make a double batch and if I make them too early there are NONE left for the holiday!
oooooo i love the thumbprint cookies! i also fill them in with jellys grape n strawberry when i didnt have jam, was good like that too. i also make chocolate ones like that, your basic chocolate cookie dough rolled in finly choped pecans, filled in with carmel n drizzles with yep more chocolate, lol
our tradition yummys are the roll out cookies [sugar cookies rolled n cut in shapes for decorating] and frozen cream cheese pies,peach,rasberry n strawberry, althogh why we eat frozen pie in the winter is beyond me! lol
I put apple jelly in my vanilla thumbrints, a hershey kiss in my nutty thumbprints and an almond in my chocolate thumbprints. (I re~read the sentence and it sounds strange , oh well)
Christy have you ever done cream cheese in your roll outs? I put half the amount of butter and the other half is replaced with cream cheese. Delicious.
Here the only cookie made at Christmas and no other time is a Scotch cookie, you know the tiny white cookie with a button of icing and a cherry on top. DH's mother only made them at Christmas so I have passed on the tradition.
Meat pies are only made for Christmas time as well.
~~Tam~ You can bury all your troubles by digging in the dirt.
Mom makes killer mini mince meat pies-----at least 6 dozen each year. It's tradition and we scarf them up one after the other since we love them and they are only a Christmas thing.
I grew up eating meat pies all year round. In DH's family it was a treat that first got served for Christmas breakfast(not the best thing in my eyes since we usually drink on the Eve with family) and the rest to be eaten up within the month.
I miss your mom too.
~~Tam~ You can bury all your troubles by digging in the dirt.
So when does everyone begin their Christmas Baking??
I LIKE to do it all on Thanksgiving weekend or the first weekend in December--then put them into the freezer until the week of Christmas. it seems otherwise I get busy & a lot of it does not get done.
same way with decorating------
________
Life isn't about how to survive the storm, but how to dance in the rain!! .....
We used to give tins of homemade cookies to people like the mailman but we don't even know who our mailman is now.
I like to make Stained Glass sugar cookie where you cut out the center and put a lifesaver in the middle so it melts and fills the hole. Rum balls are fun at Christmas, too. For our Church festival's Cookie Walk each year I make Cranberry Hootycreeks and they sell out fast!
Merme
We were given two hands to hold, two eyes to see, two ears to listen & two legs to walk. But why were we given only one heart? The other heart was given to another for us to find.
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