Christmas Cookie Baking Party
Did I ever tell you that I have a sweet tooth? (More like sweet teeth, plural.) So, naturally, baking is one of my favorite things. Right up there with eating baked goods. Tee hee.
When it comes to baking, I love it all – – from carefully following a recipe to licking the bowl clean. Go one step further and make it a social event, and I’m in heaven.
And that’s exactly what I got to do this past Tuesday. I met up with my M.I.L. and sister-in-law for a full day of baking! Here we are in our uniforms, ready to bake up a storm.
And we mustn’t forget our two “assistants,” my nephew and niece, Grant and Reagan…looking absolutely adorable. They were so good.
I think this is a story that can be better told in pictures than in words, so here is an epic photo collage to get your mouth watering.
At the end of it all, we had a counter full of goodies. We each took home a portion of each others’ creations to make one mega-batch of cookies.
Here are the spoils of our efforts, all ready for divvying up! (Did you know divvying had two “v”s? I didn’t! Thank you, Spellcheck.)
In case you’re curious, here’s what we made (counter-clockwise):
- Red velvet gooey butter cookies
- Mint chocolate cookies
- Mocha truffles
- Layer bars
- Heath bars
- Chocolate peanut-butter bars
- Buckeyes
- Baked Chex party mix
- Cut-out cookies or as my husband calls them, “same old kind cookies” (not pictured above)
Let me recommend a new recipe I tried for Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies. They really do melt in your mouth. You use Duncan Hines cake mix, so the recipe is super easy. The best part is sprinkling them with powdered sugar at the end. For Floridians, this is about the closest we get to snow.
We missed our sisters and mothers who couldn’t be there…but we have already declared this an annual tradition, so I trust this is the first of many Christmas cookie baking parties to come! (And thanks to my cousin Liz for inspiring the idea for this event in the first place.)
Now, the real fun begins: eating them all! Giving them away. (Grin.)
And to close, a few questions for you, dear reader:
What are your favorite Christmas cookie recipes? Do you have any traditions related to baking around the holidays? Do tell!
My mouth is literally watering right now! And those kiddos are deliciously cute as well. Can’t wait to meet Reagan and Grant someday soon. Love that you guys organized a baking party. Wish I could be there too! The last photo of all the cookies is incredible…so many yummy options to choose from!
We’ll have to do some baking together someday soon…especially now that you have a cookie scoop of your own! 😉 Yes, you’ll absolutely fall in love with Reagan and Grant when you meet them, not to mention Jeremiah and Clara. Micah and Cora have both grown up so much since you saw them at our wedding, you almost won’t recognize them!
Can’t wait to see them all!
Sooo cute and soo sad I couldn’t be there….but very thankful that I got to partake of the yummy treats!!
You were with us in spirit, Ashlee! Glad you got a care package from Mom with some of the sweet treats. (P.S. Did Todd tell you I got Mark SMALL WORLD for Christmas? We think of you every time we play it…and we play it quite often! It’s so darned fun.)
So yummy!!!
Indeed! I taste tested them all!
What fun and a great variety of cookies and snacks! Thanks for sharing the pictures, the story, and the recipes! Reminded me of some cookie baking parties I had with Rosemary Sieffert and Sue Stradling when you were little…Next time you’ll have to add some Krumkake (rolled Swedish cookies)!
When Rachael asked me about our family cookie traditions, I told her about Krumkake! I even saw an iron going for about $20 on ebay…not too shabby!
Maybe we can make some on xmas eve!
That’d be fun! I don’t think Mark has ever had krumkake.
Yummy, yummy, yummy! Could you just bottle your energy and ship it my way? I need a good dose of motivation to get all of my goodies done. Great job, as usual!
I know where all of your energy is going: toward your daughter’s b-day party…which sounds like it’s going to be just loverly. Sending you some extra doses, though, via Christmas fairy. 😉
Dear dear Lauren! How in the world did you document all this and NOT capture the mess that was from one end of the kitchen to the other! haha Great job & we will definitely make this a yearly tradition – between all of us, we definitely have enough for a full blown cookie exchange! Next year, Jodi & Ashlee, get ready – you gotta be here too!
Ha ha! Well, there were certainly several “mess” pictures in the bunch…they just didn’t make the cut. I had too many other good ones. Can’t wait to have Jodi and Ashlee joining us at next year’s partay. I imagine the mess will be even greater…but so will the goodies! Thanks again for hosting. Your kitchen feels like it was made for getogethers like these.
already licking my lips and storming my brain for next year! 😉 maybe we could find baby aprons for grant-pa and clara!
Lol. Love that idea, Jodi! A new crafty project for me, perhaps? And “storming my brain” is now officially my new favorite phrase.
Lauren, you stole my blog post, lol! I am part of a collective that is posting next Wednesday and my particular post is about cookie baking parties! 🙂 And to make things even more “spooky how similar”, we did our baking this past Tuesday as well (now on our fifth year)!!
Love all your cookies! Looking forward to checking out the recipes…especially for the mint chocolate cookies! 🙂
Kenley
Wow, Kenley! What a coinkydink! I’m looking forward to reading your post next Wednesday. Love that you’ve been doing cookie baking parties for five consecutive years. You’re my role model!
Yes, the mint chocolate cookies were fun (I love their green color)…mine turned out a little bit big and flat, so in the future, I’ll do smaller, rounder cookies. But they’re yum-yum good.
I’m such huge mint fan so I’m sure they are wonderful! 🙂
OMG id be in sugarcoma haha everything looks so delish!
Thanks, Marina. I know, I have to really exercise self control, especially with my M.I.L.’s mocha truffles. Mmmmmm…..
Thanks for sharing those recipes. …and the photos are great!
You’re welcome! And thanks! I had fun in pixlr giving the photos a more vintage look. It seemed befitting of them!