Christmas holiday traditions often include baking for Christmas dinner and/or for thoughtful gift giving. In an era when fewer and fewer people bake, home baked treats are an especially poplar gift. Grandparents can get involved with their grandchildren’s shopping by having a baking day with the grandkids and helping the little ones package the treats in attractive tins ready for gift giving to teachers, parents, babysitters and neighbors.
I bake with one grandchild at a time. We discuss what we will bake from the list of recipes in this article. I alternate baked recipes with no bake recipes. I also assemble the house ready for decorating for the smaller ones who find construction and waiting for it to “cement” hard to do. I might spend every Saturday for six weeks baking the same recipes if that is what my grandkids choose but every experience is different and the conversation that arises is priceless!!
We put gramps to work packaging cooled cookies and keeping an eye on the oven so nothing burns. He is also a big help washing our cookie bowls so we can reuse them.
Cooking activities are great opportunities to teach reading, math, and art skills. Measuring, counting, reading recipes, vocabulary building, temperature, following instructions are all there.
The following recipes are simple enough for kids to help collect items, measure ingredients, set oven temperature, mix, combine and put batter into pans or on cookie sheets. They can also set the timer and help with the decorating. In combination or as a single item these make a great fancy tin of gifts or an attractive tray of goodies for Christmas dinner. Make sure you have all the ingredients on hand so you and your junior baker can make whatever he wants. I also buy attractive tins from the dollar store so we have everything we need to send Christmas treats home.
Sealed with a Kiss Christmas Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup margarine
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups white flour
2 tsp. baking soda
16 oz. of Hershey kisses
Set oven at 375. Cream sugar, margarine, peanut butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add dry ingredients gradually, with milk stirring as you add. Mixture should be stiff. Shape dough into 1″ balls. Set timer for 8 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and quickly insert an unwrapped Hershey’s kiss into the center of each cookie. Set timer for 3 minutes. Put cookies back into oven. When timer goes off, take cookies from oven. Let cool. Package for gift giving!
Monster Cookies
1 cup margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups white flour
1 tsp. soda
1 1/2 cups M&Ms
Set oven at 375. Cream sugar, eggs, vanilla, and margarine. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Flatten each with a fork, dipping it in water between cookies. Have children decorate tops of cookies with happy faces or designs. Set timer for ten minutes. Bake 10 – 12 minutes until cookies are lightly browned.
Christmas Cookies
2 1/2 cups white flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 cup margarine
1 egg
1 tsp. almond extract
chocolate sprinkles
red and green food coloring
Set oven at 375. Mix flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Cream margarine into dry ingredients with a fork. Put egg into quarter cup measuring cup and add water to fill. Beat. Add to dry mixture and mix until smooth. Split the dough into different bowls. Add red food coloring to one bowl and green to the other. Set timer for sixty minutes. Chill dough in fridge.
Spoon dough into cookie press. Squirt out Christmas shapes onto cookie sheet being careful not to squirt too generously. If you don’t have a cookie press you can roll out dough to ½” thickness and use cookie cutters in Christmas shapes. Sprinkle cookies with chocolate sprinkles. Set timer for 10 minutes.
Chocolate Crackle Cookies
½ c. cocoa
4 ounces of chocolate chips
3/4 cup flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp. vanilla
Set oven a 375°F. Mix dry ingredients. Cream margarine, and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Gradually beat in dry ingredients until well mixed. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Set timer for ten minutes. Cookie surface should crack when baked. Cool. Package for gift giving.
Cranberry, White Chocolate, Macadamia Nut Cookies
1 cup white flour
1 T. cinnamon
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla
4 ounces white baking chocolate, chopped in blender
6-8 oz. macadamia nuts, chopped in blender
1 cup dried cranberries.
Set oven at 350 degrees. Mix dry ingredients. Cream sugar, margarine, egg, vanilla. Add dry ingredients gradually mixing after each addition. Stir in chocolate, nuts, cranberries. Drop by heaping tablespoonfuls 2” apart on cookie sheets. Set timer for twelve minutes. Bake cookies. Cool two minutes. Remove from pan. Place on wire racks to cool completely. Box for gift giving.
No-Bake Chocolate Macaroons
3/4 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil
1 T. vanilla
3 1/2 cups shredded coconut
2/3 cups cocoa
1/2 cup oatmeal
Green and red candied cherries or dried cranberries
Mix honey and coconut oil. Warm to melt in microwave for a minute. Add rest of I ingredients except candied fruit. Mix to make uniform. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto tin foil. Decorate with candied cherries. (I snip mine into crescents with scissors and put one red and one green on each cookie.) Let cool. Package for gift giving.
Cheerios Christmas Trees
3 cups marshmallows
3 T. margarine
Green food coloring
3 cups Cheerios ( I use chocolate cheerios to be really decadent)
Mini red and green ones M&M’s
In a bowl, place the marshmallows and margarine. Melt in the microwave on high for 40 seconds. Mix well. Add green food coloring drop by drop until you like the colour.
Pour Cheerios into the marshmallow mixture and stir well. Let cool until the mixture becomes sticky. On tin foil sheets shape Cheerios mixture into cones. Set timer for 20 minutes to firm up.
Take trees out of freezer and decorate with red and green M&M’s. You can add icing garlands with a piping tube or other decorations if desired. Let the kids get creative.
Christmas Cupcakes
Now I am no martyr! The fun is in the decorating. So choose your favorite cake mix and make cupcakes as directed. This is a good time for Christmassy paper cups. Ice cupcakes with vanilla or chocolate frosting and give kids a variety of toppings to decorate the cupcakes. Suggestions? Chocolate sprinkles; silver balls; gumdrop pieces (I precut these with scissors) licorice pieces, red and green sprinkles; mini M&M’s…….
Reindeer Cupcakes
1 package of chocolate or Mud cake mix
Mix and bake chocolate cake mix as directed on package. Pour batter into foil muffin cups and bake as directed. Cool. Ice cupcakes with 1 tub chocolate icing
M&M’s, gumdrop pieces (I buy large ones and cut with scissors for reindeer noses.)
1 pkg. pretzels
Use a gumdrop piece for reindeer nose, M&M’s for eyes and broken pretzels to make the antler shapes. Push antlers into cupcake.
Christmas Chocolate Spoons
1 c. white chocolate
1 c. milk chocolate
Chocolate chips
Plastic spoons
2 Ziploc bags (one for each chocolate)
Christmas ribbon
Lay spoons out on a tray covered with foil. Prop the end of the spoons up so they are level.
In a glass bowl, heat the white chocolate for 30 until it is melted and smooth. Pour into a Ziploc bag. Repeat with the milk chocolate.
Snip a small corner of the bag and fill half of the spoons with white chocolate and half with the milk chocolate. Tap each spoon so the chocolate is a level spoonful. You can get artistic and mix the two chocolates swirling with a toothpick.
Garnish with chocolate chips or???. Let spoons set. Tie ribbons around the spoons. Package for gift giving. (I include hot chocolate mix with the spoons.)
Speedy Gingerbread Houses
Don’t be a martyr! Buy the kit with pre-baked gingerbread walls!!
When ready to assemble sides of house on heavy cardboard covered in tin foil. “Cement with vanilla icing. Add roof pieces “cementing together with vanilla icing. Let dry a half hour between constructions to make sure walls are solid enough to support roof.
Decorate house with M&M’s and gumdrops and??? Iced in place. Put icing in a Ziploc bag. Snip off a corner and pipe trim around roof and base of house to resemble snow.
Kids love decorating these and grandparents look like such heroes!!!
No Bake Rice Krispy Nut Bars
1 bag of miniature marshmallows
1/2 stick margarine
6 cups Rice Krispies (I use the no name brand)
2 tablespoons peanut butter (If your kids have nut allergies use peanut butter replacement or Nutella)
Grease a 9×13 pan. In large glass mixing bowl, place 1/2 stick of margarine and marshmallows. Microwave for 3 minutes. Stir well. Add peanut butter stirring constantly. Add Rice Krispies coating well. Pour mixture into greased pan. Let stand for 10 minutes. Ice with red or green icing for Christmas and decorate with sprinkles or ice with vanilla icing and add green and red sprinkles or gumdrop pieces. Cut into squares. Package for gift giving.
Bird’s Nest Cookies
4 cups chow mein noodles
3 cups miniature marshmallows
3 T. margarine
Small red and green jelly beans or M&Ms or chocolate covered raisins or candied cherry pieces or gumdrop pieces…
Line a cookie sheet with foil. Pour noodles into a large bowl. Melt the butter and marshmallows over medium heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in noodles and mix well. Rub some butter on hands and form noodle mixture into six round balls. Place balls on tin foil sheets. With the back of a teaspoon, press the center of each ball to make a nest.
Let nests set until they are firm. Fill each with small jelly beans or M & M’s, or small gumdrops, or chocolate covered raisins, or candied red and green cherry pieces.
Cooking with your grandkids is a great social as well as an educational activity. You can also help kids discover the pleasure of making gifts for their parents, siblings, teacher and neighbors. Great lessons in measurement, time, reading and following directions are learned while you and your grandkids get to know one another in the kitchen.
Don ‘t have grandkids? Do yours live too far away? Adopt a neighbor child or family. There is no better way to get into the Christmas spirit!
