Christmas Baking 2024

Dec 19

Maria and Gerald Anthony came over. She brought a double batch of Cornstarch already mixed..we let it sit out for a while to come to room temperature. She rolled them into fingers, just like Mom used to do. Then she flattened them with a fork. She decided not to ice them to make them travel home easier.

I had already mixed a double batch of ButterBalls. Gerald used a scoop to make them, but the scoop was too big. We didn't get very many. 

I also had pre-mixed the dough for Kipfuls. I rolled out one or two and then Gerald Anthony took over. He did a great job.

Maria then did the chocolate icing for the Neopolitans. I didn't give her clear directions so she cut them in one inch squares instead of bars as we usually do. That meant she had to dip them individually. They didn't look as well as usual, but they certainly tasted great. They always do.

I had the Basic Dough and Ricotta filling pre-made and ready to go. 

Maria divided all the cookies. Half for her and half for us. She's going to take some to Mary and Geriann on Sunday when they celebrate Christmas early

Of course, Maria cleaned up the kitchen like nobody else can. God Bless her.

On Dec 20, lots of kids showed up. Georgia, Margot, Maggie, Lane, Easton and Rhett. Hayes was also there but Jered kept her occupied mostly upstairs.

I had ButterBalls mixed that Lane and Easton rolled and baked. Lane did the double sugaring for them.

Margot and Rhett rolled the pizzelles (I used Mom's dough recipe). Rhett rolled the balls in red and green sugars to coat them. Maggie used the four cookie iron to make all the pizzelles. They were great. Those kids did a fabulous job.

Joan mixed a batch of Chocolate Chips. Georgia and Gram spooned the dough out,. They finished cookies disappeared before we could even pack them up for later.I guess they were pretty good, huh?

I had some Basic Dough left over so I had Georgia fill them with jam and roll like a Kipful....not bad.

The blessing of course, was to spend the time with the kids..I just absolutely loved it.

On Dec. 23. Denielle and Tumeca along with Lynden made their Christmas cookies.

We did one recipe of Cornstarch(40). Nellie rolled them and stamped them with colored sugars. 

We had a double recipe of ButterBalls(102) that Tumeca and Lynden rolled and then Tumeca sugared them.

Nellie really wanted Thumbprints so we made a double recipe. We ended up with only 32. I guess we made them too big.

Joan and Lynden made the recipe of Chocolate Chips. We hoarded them so Nellie would have some to take home.

Joan made a double recipe of Sugar Cookies that she and Lynden rolled, cut and sugared.

Tumeca really wanted Neopolitans. I supervised her making it that day and then next day we iced it with chocolate.

So, about three days of baking.

WAIT...I really wanted Spritz cookies, so I squeezed an hour out of Christmas Eve and made wreaths and green Christmas trees.  I haven't made them in years, but Mom made them every year. It was a secret, nostalgic joy to do them and they were great. I used Martha Stewart's recipe from TV.