Holiday Baking Begins!
It’s no secret that I love to bake.
But I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t a little scared at the length of my holiday cookie list this year. Just take a gander below.
Last year, I made boatloads of cookies. One evening, we were rushing to a party and Mr. How Sweet was actually ready before me. If you knew us, you’d know this never, ever happens. But I asked him to make a cookie tray and… he made the best cookie tray I’ve ever seen. He piled the cookies up at least 6 inches high and it just looked fabulous and delectable and impressive and amazing. I like having lots of cookies around for the holidays to take to parties and give as gifts. It’s the Mother Lovett in me.
I just need to find a way to manage my time for all of this. Yikes.
Holiday Christmas Cookie List
Peanut Butter Blossoms: this is my all-time favorite holiday cookie.
Cut-out Sugar Cookies: these go like hot cakes in our house. I use tons of sprinkles.
Mother Lovett’s Thumbprints: some of Mother Lovett’s favorites! These were frequently found in the freezer 6 months later.
Red Velvet Cake Balls: just a batch of red velvet cake, combined with cream cheese frosting and dipped in white chocolate.
Soft Gingersnaps: made these for the first time last year, and ended up making FIVE additional batches. DELISH.
Festive Chocolate Covered Oreos
Festive Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods: inspired by Sabrina, these were a hit last year.
Big, Soft Sugar Cookies: can’t wait to make these. I used to OD on Lofthouse sugar cookies.
Mother Lovett’s Butterballs: I don’t love these, but my mom really does. And they remind me of Mother Lovett.
Salty Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars: cookies in bar form!
Mother Lovett’s Orange Cookies: there cake-like cookies are divine and my mom loves them.
Seven Layer Bars: some people call these Congo bars, I think? I don’t measure a thing and make the layers super thick.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies
Yeah… I have no idea where I will store all these cookies (besides my freezing cold garage) and how I will manage to not blow through the entire list by December 20th. And by “blow through,” I mean eat. All of them. And this doesn’t even include new cookie recipes that I will be sharing with you throughout December.
How will I manage? How will I stay sane? How will I fit into my pants? That is the real question.
But all I really want to know is…
What am I missing? What is your favorite cookie that you just can’t resist? What cookie screams Christmas to you? What is on your list? Are you even as wacky as me and make a list? If you have a recipe, please leave a link!
137 Comments on “Holiday Baking Begins!”
Whoa! You weren’t exaggerating when you said you make a lot of cookies! I will be looking towards you for cookie inspiration. :-P
I am starting my holiday baking today too! My list is long:) I will have to try a few of your favorites. Thanks!
I can’t wait to start baking like crazy for Christmas(not like I already won’t). That’s a great list. In my house, we need to make pizelles for it to be Winter.
Oh and here are my favorite holiday cookies from last year:
http://twopeasandtheirpod.com/the-best-christmas-cookie-recipes/
Let me know if you try any of them:)
great list! sounds like a wonderful few weeks of baking:-)
A few weeks of solid baking…that would be fun. I’d have to quit my job though. Hmmm…hard decision, work in customer service or stay home and bake. What a hard decision that would be. ;)
Suzanne
The baking madness begins today for me too!!!
Ginger molasses cookies are my favorite :)
Well, looks like 19 kinds of cookies. Not counting the new recipes you teased us with. If you bake every day, you might make it.
Maybe you can hire a cookie eater/frosting finisher. Two birds, one stone.
Also, don’t you need to make fudge?
I will bust out all the recipes in 2-3 days and be done! I probably will make a small batch of fudge along the way, but I find that most people don’t eat it since they are usually overwhelmed with 20 kinds of cookies.
Those will be some serious bake-tastic 2-3 days. You should bring in a documentary crew for it.
Wow that is a lot of Christmas baking!! Two of my favs are shortbread and peanut butter balls!! They are Christmas staples to me!
Do you have a shortbread recipe??
I like my shortbread soft and crumbly… so this recipe makes them that way, it’s the way my mom always made them:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup all purp. flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
diced candied cherries (optional)
-cream butter and sugar together, mix in flour and cornstarch and then extracts. Roll into small balls and slightly press down or drop by small rounded spoon full onto baking sheet. If using the candied cherries you can either half them and put one half on top of each before baking, or I dice them and form a holly shape using green as leaves and a red on in the middle (as berries). Bake at 350 for 8-10 min max (you want them soft and they go from soft to burnt fast).
Thank you!
oh the butter should be room temp
np! :)
oh my, what a long list! i’m a little scared at how long my list is getting too. and such bad timing! i have final exams starting soon :( but afterwards, i will definitely be baking up a storm!
These all look like great additions to my cookie list this year!! Can most of them be frozen?
I think most can, however I never freeze them because I don’t have room, so I am not 100% positive.
do you just make them way ahead of time still and keep them cold in your garage then? i want to start making cookies tonight for a party on Sunday but I’m not sure which kinds will hold up best…
I do. I let them all cool, wrap and layer them in lots of saran wrap and aluminum foil, and put them in a seal tight container. Keep them in the garage!
Wow, these look great! I really want to make the turtle cookies…but do the caramel pieces turn hard by the next day? I wish I could keep them semi-gooey forever…
Hahaha um… these never last long enough for me to know! They rarely last a whole day. But I have been using these caramel bits this year: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/allReviews.do?product_id=10308416
I love them so much more than the caramel squares!
I’m thinking about making those Oreo balls today. Last Christmas I made fudge puddles and those were super cute and yummy. Here is the link. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fudge-Puddles/Detail.aspx
We do cutouts & Russian Tea Cakes (melt in your mouth YUM!). I also like to do little pretzel treats. You take a mini pretzel, top it with a candy cane hershey kiss & bake at 180 for a few minutes. When the chocolate is just getting soft, you pull them out & press a Christmas M&M into the center. They’re super cute & festive (not to mention addictive)! The other one I make is a “Creative Mix.” It’s PB Captain Crunch, Chex, peanuts & pretzels doused in those giant white chocolate bricks (melted, of course). OK, now I am getting hungry . . . I need to go find that recipe! I always end up giving it all away in little gift bags because it makes SO freakin’ much & I will eat it all until it’s gone if I don’t!
Double chocolate loaded italian biscotti. Loaded with almonds, dried cherries and chocolate chips. People actually turn into savages around them.
Recipe?? That sounds amazing. I usually think of biscotti to be dry and I’m not a fan, but I think you’ve changed my mind.
You may come bake for me any time! :)
I’m feeling the same way. I want to bake everything in sight, but until I have somewhere to send baked goods, this is just a recipe for a new pants size by new years :)
Looove your list! I think I’ll take a page out of your book and prep for a season filled with cookie baking!
I love seeing that long list of cookies!! I recently made dark chocolate cookies with espresso salt http://www.confessionsofachocoholic.com/chocolate/dark-chocolate-cookies-with-espresso-salt and I’ll be making them again for myself I mean to give away for Christmas ;)
These sound amazing!
Missing? Holy cow. There are many I haven’t even heard of! If you can come up with a healthy alternative to Russian Tea Cakes, I will love you forever. If not, I will be more than happy trying a few of these.
I’m an Italian Christmas cookie fiend. I plan on making my grandma’s famous struffoli, which is basically a giant mountain of little fried dough balls absolutely covered in honey and tiny sprinkles.
I need to come up with some new recipes, though. I need to get crackin’.
I’m in LOVE with Mexican Wedding Cookies! I made a Gf/Vegan version last year! http://glutenfreegidget.blogspot.com/2009/12/feliz-navidad.html
Butter cookies with chocolate frosting! I have made these every year with my mom for as long as I can remember. We make one red (which always ends up pink) dough and one green dough, get out our holiday cookie cutters and go to town. They are the best and just scream Christmas to me!
So many of those cookies sound so, so good. I wish I could make them but unfortunately I will eat them all! One thing that I always make around Christmas is chocolate peanut butter balls (I think some people call them Buck Eyes?). They are so delicious!! Peppermint chocolate bark is always a good (and super easy) Christmas treat as well.
Happy baking!!
Yes, we love buckeyes!
Pingback: Tweets that mention Holiday Cookies | How Sweet It Is -- Topsy.com
Pinwheel cookies were my dads favorite at Christmas though no one could make them like my grandmother. She just had that touch.
Love your list. I’ll definitely need to try some of them this year.
Every time I bring these black forest cookies to some sort of get-together, I get requests for the recipe:
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/black-forest-cookies
I use Ghirardelli dark chocolate chips in place of the chocolate chunks and the semisweet/bittersweet chocolate. These are always a fave.
Yum. It seems so early for holiday baking to begin in earnest, yet I have a holiday cookie exchange party next Sunday so I guess not actually. :-) Holiday baking runs counter to my usual behavior in that I tend to feel sad unless I’ve tried the family favorites vs. experimenting and trying something new. There is something about holiday baking where I long to make the things I remember from childhood when in everyday life, I hardly make a recipe twice. That said, I do introduce a few new ones into my repertoire every year, like the cookie dough truffles. I too made them last year. I was introduced to them by my aunt and added an orange twist to them to make them my own:
http://pink-apron.com/recipes/chocolate-orange-cookie-dough-truffles/
I loved making them last year and am considering a new variation this year. Maybe a brownie batter version? Gingerbread? Candy cane? I cannot decide. Thanks for the reminder to get my beaters ready.
This is EXACTLY how I feel. I need the older cookie recipes in my life for nostalgia’s sake and some new ones too.
I love the orange twist!
Wow these sound and look amazing! I started practicing my holiday baking yesterday but since I’m new to this I kept it simple with chocolate chip yesterday and oatmeal raisin this morning. They both came out really well so I think I’m ready to try something a little more complex :)
You can’t go wrong with those classic cookies!
I think the baking will have to start for me this weekend too. I can’t help but notice there are no gingerbread men on that list! It’s a Pea Family tradition…not for eating but for tree trimming. And the dough balls will be a new eating tradition for sure. Enjoy your baking fun!!!
I am not a gingerbread gal, except for the soft gingersnaps. But I do remember making gingerbread men as a kid for the tree. That was one of my favorite times!
The dough balls will be happening here too… except I will probably end up making a batch every week until Christmas.
It’s so funny that you posted your list today because just last night I started going through my cookbooks to make my own list of cookies I must bake this holiday season. On my list are peppermint swirl refrigerator cookies and chocolate snowflake cookies, plus basically all of the ones on your list!
How about Russian teacakes and Austrian chocolate balls? I make those every year. Also, mini nut cups. Yum!!
Oh, what about ginger snaps too! Dipped in white chocolate!
That is a GREAT idea!
This list makes me SO HAPPY. Every year I made HUNDREDS of cookies. Half of them go stale and end up getting thrown away, but I don’t care because Christmas baking is the best.
PB blossoms are my favorites too. I think they’re everyone’s :)
glad to see I’m not the only one whose been going over her cookie list for weeks now!
mine isn’t quite as long as yours…
Zimtsterne aka cinnamon stars
Butterplaetzen aka glazed butter cookies
Vanillakipferl aka vanilla crescents
kokos macronen aka coconut macaroons
new items are trying are oreo balls, peanut butter truffles which I think also go by buckeyes, lebkuchen, a cherry stollen, and eggnog bundt cake.
http://www.thruthinandthick.com/2010/11/holiday-baking-calling-all-cooks.html
That is an amazing list! I bought the Cook’s Illustrated Cookie Recipe magazine the other day. I tagged so many recipes, but we have a super tiny kitchen. I think I may only be trying a few of them, but when I DO have a kitchen to bake in, I will totally be making a list like you. Makes shopping easier.
I’m looking forward to your holiday posts! I used your buffalo chicken dip recipe last year and looking forward to what you come up with this year. Bookmarking this page too!
my favorites are actually old family recipes…i have to call my mom to find out what’s in them!
What a great list!! I may have to steal a few of those!! A couple of our staples are white chocolate cherry macadamia nut cookies and mint chocolate chip cookies (dyed green, of course). As much as I love all the cookies, nothing compares to a perfect batch of peppermint fudge. I LOVE the holidays!!
Your list looks amazing! I want to try the Oreo balls this year. My top favorite Christmas cookies that I MUST make every year are cookie dough truffles and molasses cookies :)
I love, love baking as well!! It’s one of the best parts of the holidays. :P
it looks as though you and I share similar dilemmas…I’ve made loads of christmas goodies and cookies since I was a little girl….and the tradition is still alive and well…so much fun….but a little scary for the waistline! :)
love,
cathy b @ brightbakes
Gingerbread men!!!!! That’s what I’ll be baking as soon as we’re settled into our new house! :)
You have to be SO excited. I couldn’t wait for the first Christmas in our new house.
Delicious! I have like 10 of your cookies on my list to make :) I need to find some more of those mint & dark chocolate chips so I can make the thin mintish cookies
Ummm, where is the shortbread? That is a must make in our family!
These look soooooooo gooooooood! If I ever lived around you I think I would weigh at least 5409853420853 lbs
Gingerbread men? They are a holiday staple. I would love to know if there is a gingerbread man recipe out there that is actually soft or chewy. If there was one, I would love to know it!
You may be able to make the soft gingersnap recipe up above with cookie cutters, but it’s a bit different from gingerbread!
I love those little wedding cookies. My grandmother makes a version of those every year (ONLY at Christmas). Wish I could share the recipe, but she hasn’t even shared it with me . . . yet.
prewriting my post for tomorrow and my question is about holiday baking.
omg. girl.
i cannot even imagine your list??! Seriously if I make a couple desserts, that will be it. Granted we are gone and traveling but still. Wow. You amaze me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peppermint bark! I loooove cookie dough truffles! YUM!
Surprisingly simple but sugar cookies with our homemade cheesy sprinkle and gold and silver ball decorations scream Christmas to me the most.
But my mom always used to make this delicious graham-cracker-based-pecan-brown-sugar-bark type treat at Christmas that i love…and come to think of it, haven’t had in QUITE some time.
I was inspired by your salty chocolate caramel turtle cookies to try the Baked Sweet and Salty brownie today….needless to say, I should’ve stuck with your recipe. That’s on my Holiday baking list!!
Homemade cheesy sprinkle? ON sugar cookies? I am so intrigued! Please tell me more.
hahah oops! I should have put a comma there! By cheesy I meant corny…our decorations are quite unprofessional, and by that I mean it looks like a bunch of 4 year olds decorated them, but they’re cute none the less!