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our cookie baking day: favorite family annual holiday tradition

home / Activities / holidays / our cookie baking day: favorite family annual holiday tradition
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Every year, one of our advent calendar activities reads: Cookie Baking Day! 

annual cookie baking day

And what that means is that no matter the day–it’s always a surprise!–the kids and I ditch everything (and I mean, everything. . . ahem. . . ), don our aprons, and bake.

All. Day. Long.

My mom did this for us when we were growing up, and it’s one of my most fond childhood memories. It was special. It was crazy. It was busy and fun.

I knew that when I had children I’d do the same. It’s not hard. And when the kids are really young, baking one or two kinds of cookies is all we did.

As they get older, their roles in the day become bigger, and they become responsible for a bit more.

It’s a favorite family annual tradition.

Here’s the skinny. . .

Our Cookie Baking Day–Favorite Family Annual Holiday Tradition:

Our Cookie Baking Day is a day we all look forward to.

It’s a lot of work, but in the end, we have dozens and dozens of cookies that we take to holiday parties and give to our neighbors as gifts.

photo of aunt pat's chewy chocolate recipe

open pages of kids cookbook

This day is a whole lot more than just a cookie-baking day!

The teacher in me looks at the day as an opportunity for some real-life reading, math, and science learning.

The parent in me knows that the day is an opportunity for the kids to spend one special, unexpected day together, making memories and working hard at something that is important to each one of us.

It’s important to temper expectations. 

Do the days always go picture-perfect? Um, no.

Do the cookies always look beautiful, taste scrumptious, and look bakery-fab? No, no, and no.

hershey kisses in jar

ginger bread cookies being cut in dough

dough balls on plate

Do the kids get along harmoniously, taking perfect turns and following instructions top to bottom? No and no.

Does the kitchen get totally rocked by the end of the day, like a small bomb exploded in our house? Absolutely.

three kids' hands cutting cookies

gingerbread ninja cookie in dough

So many funny memories!

There was the time that Maddy slid across the counter and sent the salt shaker splattering into our dough.

The many times, while the kids were learning to crack eggs, that eggs exploded like fireworks in tiny hands.

We’ve had milk spilled, cookies fall, and ingredients forgotten.

We’ve spilled bags of chocolate chips.

We’ve seen Brady steal aprons and oven mitts; we’ve experienced burns and power outages.

cookie toppings on white plate

Some years are easier than others.

How we schedule our day:

Light planning

Before our Cookie Baking Day, Maddy, Owen, Cora, and I talk about what kinds of cookies we’ll bake that year.  Some years we try new kinds, and other years, we stick to old faves.

Big shopping

I take their suggestions into account and do the shopping for ingredients. Because the day is a surprise for them, I make the general cookie-baking plan. I hide the ingredients so no one notices.

ingredients for cookies on counter

cookie-baking ingredients on counter

unwrapped hershey's kisses in bowls

Big surprising. 

The kids wake and get ready for the day as normal. Then whomever’s day it is opens the Advent Calendar and reads that day’s Advent Activity: It’s Cookie Baking Day! Let’s bake, bake, BAKE!!

Serious baking.

We start before breakfast, making one dough and refrigerating it. We make another dough and send the first tray into the oven. We continue all day long, through dinner.

child putting chocolate chips into cookie dough

child puts cookie tray into oven

child puts hershey kisses on top of cookies

melted hershey kiss on top of cookie

Some eating.

We break for meals while cookies bake.   Of course we test the cookies along the way. Come ON.

Light resting. 

Really, the kids only rest for one show after lunch, and even then, somebody takes a turn to stay with me in the kitchen. When I say we work all day, we really do work all day.

finished holiday cookies in box

three boxes of cookies

holiday cookie boxes and tins

Big sharing.

We put many of our cookies away in tins, but one thing we really look forward to is assembling small packages of cookies for our neighbors. Not everyone–that would be crazy–but for a handful of close neighbors, we put an arrangement of our cookie-creations together in a pretty tin or container, and we deliver our sweets one day that week.  So fun.

Do you want to give the Annual Cookie Baking Day a try at your house?

Sure you do! It’s totally not too late!

You can follow the recipe below for some kid-friendly recipe reading:

script async data-uid="b09aaada4f" src="https://teach-mama-media-llc.ck.page/b09aaada4f/index.js"></script>

And if you like this, check out our whole Holiday Baking with Kids eBook!  15 recipes your family will love.

holiday baking with kids eBook

Or check out some other fun recipes from our friends at Target–some new twists on classic faves.

How do you handle holiday baking? I’d love to hear:

  • what are your fave holiday treats to bake?
  • do your kids help in the kitchen?
  • who do you share your sweets with?

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About amy mascott

teacher, mother, dreamer. lover of literacy, fun learning, good food, and three crazy-cool kids. finder of four-leaf clovers | dc metro ยท http://about.me/amymascott
tweet with me: @teachmama

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jill

    December 16, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    This looks fun! Going to make the Hershey Kiss Cookies with my kids this week. I feel like such an idiot, but how do I print from Scribd?

    Reply
    • amy mascott

      December 16, 2013 at 3:43 pm

      Jill–if you click on another one of the links, you should be able to get the pdf of the recipe w/o going to scribd! let me know if you need help–and thanks a million for reading!

      Reply

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