Christmas Baking

 We did a little bit of baking over Christmas break. I, for one, am still paying for it at the gym! Luckily we gave away quite a few cookies, or I'd be in even worse shape!

We did keep the baking and treat-making to a dull roar this year because there are so few of us around to eat the stuff. Bailey made Oreo Balls (YUM!) but we skipped the wonderful Peanut Butter Balls we made last year. They're just too irresistable!

I always make gingerbread, and this year I even made a batch at Thanksgiving to take to Bailey in Texas. If you're looking for a fail-proof gingerbread cookie recipe, I'd definitely recommend this one. I've been making these cookies for years -- with no fatalities! :)

 

 I usually don't go to the effort of making cut-out sugar cookies, but for some reason I wanted to give it a go this year. Bailey and I baked a batch one night, then the three of us frosted them the next day. I made a point of using some of my grandma's old cookie cutters.

 

 

I can say that it's been a very long time (if ever) since we all sat down and frosted cookies together! As you can see, we needed all hands on deck to frost all of these cookies!

 

I'm fortunate to have the sugar cookie recipes that both of my grandmas used each year. This is my maternal grandma's recipe, written out by my mom. Mom had a habit of only writing parts of recipes and very sketchy directions, but this one is complete. The cookies were great!

I mixed up (way too much) powdered sugar icing and then we set to work. As you can see, the icing was not elaborate! We did not get out my other grandma's frosting "squirters" which might have yielded fancier results. No matter...the frosted cookies were quite tasty!

I made a LOT of yellow frosting (why???) and put myself in charge of all the bells and stars. We had a lot of yellow bells and stars. :)

The next day, I packaged up some cookies to give away using these cute little waxed paper bags I found at the grocery store this fall. I had been looking forward to making these treat bags!

After adding a few cookies, I stapled a folded and decorated cardstock "topper" to the top of each bag. This was a fun way to use a few Christmas papers and embellishments.

Next year, I hope to start earlier so that I can make many more of these treat bags. In addition to being a festive little gift, it's a great way to get a few cookies out of the house! :)

jp