Wow! Another Thanksgiving weekend down. And can I just say, my tummy hurts! Ugh!
Not from all of the delicious, carb-rich food from our two Thanksgivings.
My discomfort is from all the cookies I ate Sunday during our annual cookie baking fest. I mean, this is some SERIOUS Cookie Baking to the Extreme.ย
Every year, (starting before I was born), my mom, sister, aunt, cousin, and I bake cookies. A LOT of cookies.Let me break it down for just a sec. We each used to make two kinds. Two dozen per person, per type of cookie. So each of us would make four dozen cookies for five people. 48×5=240 cookies.
We also used to bake everything all together in 2-3 days. That much baking, with that many women. (Let that sink in for a moment.)
I don’t care how big your kitchen is, that is some close quarters. And we’re all hopped up on sugar, so forget it!! We’re lucky we’re still friends by the end!
Finally, (after 30 years of trial and error), we decided to simplify things a bit.
First, each of us only bake one type of cookie, (so only 120 cookies per person.)
Second, instead of baking together, we bake at home.
We forego the three day baking event, and get together for one day to have a cookie exchange.
While we’re together, we bake sugar cookies.They happen to be, in my humble opinion, the tastiest, most fun to decorate, and the biggest pain in the ass. Roll, cut out shapes. Flour everywhere. Roll some more. More shapes.
Every year while we decorate them, we watch a Christmas movie. My favorite is Love Actually, (Walking Dead fan? You’ll never look at “Rick” the same after this movie). My second favorite is Elf. It has everything you want in a Christmas movie. It’s cheesy, magical, and heartwarming.
One year we even watched Christmas in Connecticut. That was a memorable one. The sexual innuendos alone are almost enough for a recommendation. Almost. (In case I’m being unclear, I’m saying don’t watch it!)
This year, my little lady got to get in on a bit of the action.She helped me make my Knock You Naked Brownies. She had a lot of fun counting out the caramels for me.
That is until she got fixated on the idea of sampling one. At that point I lost her.
She also got to help my mom make Sandies (or Russian Tea Cakes, if you prefer.) Rumor has it, she sampled more dough than mama would have liked.On the big day, she helped with the sugar cookies.
Ha! She helped, alright! She cut out a cookie sheet or two’s worth, then she was busy playing in the flour. Because flour is so fun to get all over grandma’s kitchen, obviously!!
I’m just bummed we didn’t get to the decorating part until after she went home. Next year, though. She’ll get to do it all.
In the meantime, here are some of my gems.You can tell I was done by the time I got to these cookies. I enjoy decorating quite a bit at first, then I want it to be over.
The detox starts today.
Do you bake Christmas cookies every year? What kind? What types of traditions are you sharing with your little ones?
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23 Comments
I actually think that it used to be more than 2 dozen per person… we did a CRAZY amount of cookies in some previous years. Now it’s down to a much more manageable 1400 cookies or so. LOL.
December 2, 2014 at 11:59 amYou’re right, before we started the cookie exchange, it was WAY more. Probably double, haha!!
December 2, 2014 at 12:03 pmWhat a special tradition!!
December 3, 2014 at 9:40 amIt is! So much sugar, but a lot of fun!
December 3, 2014 at 10:01 amWell this made me crave cookies…..
December 3, 2014 at 2:10 pmHa! Sorry about that!!
December 3, 2014 at 2:53 pmDelicious! I have to get some stuff for our Christmas cookies! Me and my girls make them every year for everyone that we know. ๐ Yours look delicious and I could never decorate them as good as that!
December 4, 2014 at 9:54 amFun!! Im looking forward to this tradition with my daughter. Thank you!
December 4, 2014 at 10:10 amOh my gosh – that’s a lot of cookies! What a fun tradition though – it’s something I love to do with my boys!
December 5, 2014 at 10:43 amA whole lot! Its fun giving them away though, and hopefully i don’t end up with too many leftovers. I would eat them all…
December 5, 2014 at 11:01 amOooo, the knock you naked brownies sound good! My husband would like them….
December 5, 2014 at 11:15 amThey are so good! One of my favorites! I only make them at Christmas because they’re kind of a pain. Lol!
December 5, 2014 at 11:41 am30 years of trail and error have certainly yielded some RIDICULOUSLY amazing looking cookies!!! I love this idea. Your family clearly has some talented cookie markers!
December 5, 2014 at 12:30 pmThank you! Unfortunately I like to eat all of them. There aren’t any gross ones…haha!
December 5, 2014 at 12:37 pmoh, i would definitely had to sample all of them!! I love that your kids always cook with you! I’m sure they love it.
December 5, 2014 at 1:56 pmShe does!! I wanted to get her a play kitchen for Christmas, but I think instead we’re going to get her some of her own kitchen tools.
December 5, 2014 at 2:15 pmThat sounds perfect! Those kitchens take up so much room. I think 1 kitchen in a home is enough. ha ha
December 5, 2014 at 2:28 pmremember those ez baking ovens?? Those were such a thrill!
Haha! So true about space! And we just got rid of stuff to de-clutter! I never had an ez bake oven. They were so cool though!
December 5, 2014 at 2:30 pmI know…except now I see them more as a fire hazard! parenthood kind of sucks the thrill out of things. ๐
December 5, 2014 at 2:32 pmHahaha! Yep!
December 5, 2014 at 2:32 pmGreat tradition! I bake lots of cookies every year too. In the past, I was always shooing the kids out of the kitchen and telling them to stop touching the cookies that we’ll be giving to our friends. This year, though, they’ll probably want to be my little helpers. We’ll see how many cookies actually make it into the gift bags. ๐
December 5, 2014 at 2:56 pmHaha! Good luck!! I know when I was a kid I always ate a TON of cookies. (Ugh, still do!!)
December 5, 2014 at 3:03 pm[…] Holiday traditions can be so much fun. This year in particular has been especially fun with the kids. I’ve been introducing them to games and family traditions that I grew up loving. The best part is, they’re having such a good time and they (at least, Little Miss), remembers the fun. […]
April 11, 2017 at 7:05 pm