With just a few more days until Christmas our home is buzzing with holiday baking. Because we will be sharing with others, we were able to make not just one but a few of our all time favorites. This wasn’t the time to hold back, instead we embraced a day long adventure of mixing, baking, decorating, and packaging while all the time listening to our favorite Christmas crooners.
Time and tradition weave their way into each of our hearts so differently. I think this is one of the best things about Christmas, that we get to experience it through the eyes of others: hearing of their time honored traditions and stories of years gone by.
For me Christmas brings back wonderful memories of my childhood. All through my growing up years my sister and I slept in the same bed on Christmas Eve. My parents would tuck us in (before midnight of course), kiss us goodnight, and then start a Christmas tape for us to fall asleep to. We chose the same one every year, Christmas Is by Percy Faith. When my sister and I grew up, married, and moved away from home we each bought one of these in a new and exciting CD format so that we had them always on hand to listen to and enjoy. Now, when we listen to these songs we are reminded of all the Christmas Eve’s we spent trying to fall asleep but instead spent talking about the gifts we would receive and the fun that to unfold the next morning.
Our memories are sparked by so many things: sounds, smells, textures, and flavors. This is why food means so much to many of us at Christmas. It is what makes us want to bake certain types of desserts on Thanksgiving and others on the 4th of July. Each one seems to have their place.
While I was pulling together our baking list I not only wanted to make a great presentation of flavors, but also wanted to create some fun memories for my children. So, I included things that were simple to prepare, weren’t too stressful for mom (hint hint), taste great, look festive, and “feel” likeChristmas. For this post, I didn’t want to cut any of them out, for they are our family’s favorites and deserve a special place here. If for no other reason, so that I have a safe place to keep them and hopefully my children can find them here when they are grown and want to make them with their own children!
Corn Flake Christmas Wreaths
These are really nothing more than a fancied up Rice Krispy treat, but they are my absolute favorite. I can’t remember the first time I made these as a child, but I do know that they were made often and most likely at my request. These cute little wreaths make me feel like Christmas time is here.
Corn Flake Christmas Wreaths
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
- 3 Cups Small Marshmallows
- 1 Tbsp Green Food Coloring
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 4 Cups Cornflakes
- Handful Cinnamon Red Hots
- 1 tsp Unsalted Butter
Instructions
Prepare your work surface by placing a large piece of parchment paper on the counter. This will be where your assembled wreaths will cool.
Marshmallow and Cornflake Preparation
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Melt 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter in a large saucepan over low heat.
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Add marshmallows to the melted butter, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth.
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Add food coloring and vanilla extract to the butter and marshmallow mixture, stir to combine.
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Add cornflakes, stirring constantly until all of the Corn Flake pieces are evenly coated.
Assemble Wreaths
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Remove the saucepan from stove and quickly dish out the cornflake mixture into mounds. I was able to get 24 mounds from this recipe.
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Once you have all of the mounds dished out, grease fingers with butter and gently make a small hole into the center of each mound, forming it into a wreath.
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While Cornflakes are still warm garnish with Red Hots. I like to put them in clusters of 3. You can do this in multiple places or just one.
Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies
My mom has made these molasses cookies for years. They have a beautiful crinkly top and are soft and chewy, unlike store bought molasses cookies. She included this recipe in a family cookbook she created a few years ago and it is not hard to see why, they are delicious.
Soft and Chewy Molasses Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Brown Sugar
- 3/4 Cup Butter (softened)
- 1/3 Cup Molasses
- 1 Egg
- 2 1/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
- 1 Small Bowl Granulated Sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350º
Prepare Dough
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With a blender, cream together in a large bowl: 1 Cup sugar, butter, molasses, and egg
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Sift and Combine together in a medium bowl: flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves.
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With a blender set on low, slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the sugar mixture. Blend well.
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Once the mixture is combined scoop out a rounded teaspoon of dough, shape it into a ball, then roll it in the bowl of sugar. Continue this process until all dough is made into a ball and coated with a fine layer of sugar.
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Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
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Bake at 350º for 12-15 minutes. Until a light, golden brown.
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Remove cookies from sheet and place on a wire rack to cool.
White Chocolate Dipped Molasses Cookies
If you are interested in adding just a little more flavor and festivity to your molasses cookies you can take it just one step further. My children love any cookie with sprinkles. When I invited the to help add a few finishing touches to the molasses cookies they were excited to find that they were going to get to add sprinkles.
For this we simply melted 2 cups of white chocolate chips. You can do this slowly on the stove (low heat) or on medium power (50%) in the microwave. Stir often and when all of the chips are melted remove from heat. We quickly dipped half of each cookie in chocolate and garnished with sprinkles.
Golden Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam
Is there anything sweeter than a thumbprint cookie? They are such a fun addition to the dessert table. Again, this is a long time family favorite. My family likes them with strawberry jam, but they are just as delicious with raspberry. If you have a hard time deciding or want a little bit of both flavors you can combine the two.
Golden Thumbprint Cookies with Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 1/2 Cup Butter (Softened)
- 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Cup Flour
- 1/4 Tsp Salt
- 1 Small Bowl Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Cup Strawberry (or Raspberry) Jam
Instructions
Preheat Oven to 375º
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Cream together in medium sized bowl: butter, sugar, egg, vanilla
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In a medium bowl sift flour and salt together
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With a blender on low slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Blend until fully combined.
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Dish out 1 rounded tsp full at a time. Shape into balls and then coat in granulated sugar.
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With the tip of a wooden spoon handle, or gently with your finger, make a small bowl shape at the top of each ball.
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Dish strawberry jam into a Ziploc sandwich bag and push down to the botton. Cut a small diagonal tip in a bottom corner of the bag and slowly squeeze into the bowl shape of each cookie. Do not overfill
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
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