What do you bake every year?

[Melanie]

I learned so much from the Thanksgiving thread, I'm now curious what baked goodies everyone prepares for the holiday season.

Let's hear about those special cakes, cookies, candies, drinks, etc. that you only prepare this time of year.

:candy::ornament::santa3::deer::stock:

[BrerGnat]

Easy: Christmas cutout sugar cookies! We elaborately decorate them too, with icing, sugar, sprinkles, the whole nine. It's almost hard to eat them after all the work we put in...almost.

[SBETigg]

My cookie routine varies, but I do bake my homemade sticky cinnamon rum rolls every year for Christmas morning. When I was a kid, we had the Pillsbury rolls. As an adult, I decided to bake my own, which is time consuming but easy and so much better than the Pillsbury (though I still enjoy the Pillsbury version on other occasions).

[meldan98]

We typically make goodie boxes for our friends, family and neighbors (about 40 boxes). We make divinty, fudge, prailines, and a variety of cookies, and this year we are adding salted carmels.

[Disneymom4ever]

Cookies, lots of cookies! I do same every year- peanut butter with Hershey's kisses on top, Butterscotch noodles (with chow mein noodles), No bake chocolate oatmeal, and chocolate pnt btr Ritz sandwich cookies. I also do fudge, rice crispie treats, and homemade toffee. Sherri, you're rum cinnamon rolls sound wonderful! I might just have to try something like that, we usually do Pillsbury rolls that morning. Gosh, I'm getting hungry! :mickey:

[SBETigg]

Sherri, you're rum cinnamon rolls sound wonderful! I might just have to try something like that, we usually do Pillsbury rolls that morning. Gosh, I'm getting hungry! :mickey:

You can make them in advance, refrigerate them in the pans, and bake them Christmas morning. The house smells amazing. All the cookies sound so good, too. And candies. Love the holidays!

[Mousefever]

I have a recipe passed down from my mother for kolachi, and I make it every year. To be honest, I'm not sure that kolachi is the correct name, but that's what's written on the recipe. Others might call it nut roll or poppyseed roll. I actually don't like the Solo poppyseed filling, but I love the Solo brand apricot, cherry, and raspberry fillings, so those are the kind I make. They are labor-intensive, so I only make them at Christmas.

Amy

[alphamommy]

We make a lot of cookies, and freeze whatever is left over to eat through the year. The usual list is Toll House chocolate chip, M & M cookies (Toll House batter with Christmas M & Ms), Hershey Kiss cookies (butter cookie dough wrapped around a dark chocolate Kiss, forming a ball with a chocolate center), peanut butter (not normal ones - these are made with Eagle Brand Milk), and magic cookie bars (sometimes called 7 layer bars).

The other two things I always make are chocolate pound cake and pecan pie. These are family recipes, and are part of the holidays for me!

[laprana]

My sister and I go all out at Christmas time and spend an entire day baking up a storm! It's a tradition that my mom started when we were really young and we've continued it every year and always have a blast! We give away most of the cookies and treats we make to friends, family, and co-workers. We always make:

Chocolate chip cookies (with and without pecans)
Peanut butter cookies
Monster cookies (oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips and M&Ms)
White chocolate macadamia nut cookies
Chocolate covered peanut butter balls
Chocolate covered coconut balls
Ritz cracker/peanut butter sandwiches dipped in almond bark

And this year we're going to add oreo balls, double chocolate chunk cookies, and snicker doodles. Can't wait! :tasty:

[Mickey'sGirl]

I will be making a lot of the dough this weekend ... I make it in advance and wrap it in plastic and keep it in the fridge, baking small amounts as needed.


Shortbread
Cardamom biscuits
Chili Chocolate shortbread
Thumbprint/Hershy Kiss cookies
Gingersnaps
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mincemeat Tarts
Gingerbread
and I make the Christmas Pudding and a Trifle for Christmas dinner and Homemade Cinnamon buns for Christmas morning, which can be rolled and wrapped and refridgerated too. Just bring them up to room temperature in a warm place before baking them!

I do NOT make sugar cookies though. All the rolling and baking and decorating etc. AND YOU GET SO MANY!!! I tell the boys I don't know how to bake them. :secret:

[Dulcee]

We do lots of cookies, and usually the same ones every year.

Chocolate chip
Butter cookies
Candy Cane cookies
Lakvar Cookies
Peanut butter cookies
Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Rum balls (mmmmmmm)
Chocolate Truffles
Chocolate shortbread

I think thats all of them, haven't pulled the recipes out yet this year...

[RockinRobin]

We do things a little different we make Chex mix and cranberry bread to give out as gifts. We put the Chex mix in plastic buckets with lids and they are always returned to be refilled for next year.

[lynnek]

Has anyone tried making the chex mix, instead of seasoning, cover in white chocolate and add M&m's--colored for the season? We call it white trash. That stuff goes fast!! I also bake about 30 kinds of cookies. DS says, "when Mom is stressed, she bakes"--sooo true!!! I love to give baskets of cookies and fudge to neighbors etc. We like the "poofy" (soft) sugar cookies--secret ingredient, sour cream to make them soft, nutmeg to keep them guessing!

[coloradowendyl]

Non diet years I bake up a store lol! This year, the only baking will be shipped to several college dorms next week as I don't want anything in the house!

White Fruit cake...no icky candied fruit, just apricots, dried cranberries, currants, etc

Hermits, apricot sour cream horns Snickerdoodles, and traditional stuff like oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip,etc.

But what this house is known for at Christmas are Cheese Balls! I make 3 different kinds each year, about 75-100 of each and that is what we give neighbors, etc for gifts! The kids deliver the "cheeseball 3 pack" a few days before Christmas!

wendy

[Zippy 1]

We bake, bake and bake some more! I make lots of different cookies and fudge.
Sugar Cookies
Gingerbread cookies
Pizzelles
M&M cookies
Russian Tea Cakes
Chocolate Fudge
Peanutbutter Fudge
Peppermint Bark
Speriment Bark
Hershey Kiss cookies

Can't remember the rest.

[retiredfigment]

I always say that I am only going to back a couple kind of cookies, then the 'but you ALWAYS make....' starts. Christmas Cherries, Merry Cherry Cheesecake, Peanut Butter and at least one kind with caramel. Also my kids would disown me if I didn't make potica - Slovenian nutroll. What a fun thread!! Maybe we should share recipes:mickey:

[coloradowendyl]

Forgot the Gingerbread brownies! Think homemade brownies with gingerbread spices added!

[MNNHFLTX]

Only one thing--spritz cookies. They are a lot of work (to get them right), but I have wonderful memories of making spritz cookies with my mom, using an old-fashioned cookie press. So I always make them and share them with neighbors. :)

[AHOTE]

I started baking way back in September. I bake the dreaded "holiday fruit cakes". The cakes are baked in September, wrapped and placed in their tins after being splashed with brandy. Every two weeks the tins are opened and additional brandy is poured over the top of each cake and the tins are resealed. By Christmas they have developed a wonderful flavor and aroma that the mass produced cakes cannot even attempt to match. The only store bought fruit cake that comes close is from a bakery in Texas and they don't add brandy.
Once in season I bake fruit stollens. I also bake a variety of traditional German cookies including Springerles and Pfeffernusse. :)

[luvdiznee]

Me and DD love to make our Sugar Cookies then she decorates them. We also make Dark Chocolate Chip with M&M's.

And this year we will also make Red Velvet Swirl Brownies!

[princessgirls]

All sounds so yummy, yummy, yummy!!

You guys are all baking mavens!!

My mom and I make the Italian Wine cookies that my grandmother and great grandma made, that's always a tradition, and my husband is dutch and we always try to make some Almond tarts, and buy butter letter (delicious almond pastry), because I can't make it as good as others.
There are some friends that I have that LOVE to bake bake bake all day long, and when in a pinch, I will pay for a few batches of cookies, so that I have a platter for Christmas day to put out with the desserts...don't think less of me:cool:
Merry Christmas!
Julie:mickey:

[Mickey'sGirl]

I started baking way back in September. I bake the dreaded "holiday fruit cakes". Once in season I bake fruit stollens. I also bake a variety of traditional German cookies including Springerles and Pfeffernusse. :)Last year I made Stollens too ... Such a tasty treat! My husband's father is German, so we try to throw some German traditions into our baking too. We also make the almond crescents which are rolled in icing sugar and vanilla.

[SBETigg]

Only one thing--spritz cookies. They are a lot of work (to get them right), but I have wonderful memories of making spritz cookies with my mom, using an old-fashioned cookie press. So I always make them and share them with neighbors. :)

We used to make these growing up, too. I loved decorating them. I tried to make them for a few years with my kids, but so much work and some ruined batches left me discouraged. Then I lost my cookie press in a move and just never replaced it. But good memories of those cookies and making them with my mom. Maybe I should look into doing it again.

[jennbunn]

For us I make cream chesse sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, corn flake wreaths,white chocolate pretzels, and fudge. Can't wait to start baking this weekend. :)

[Mousefever]

One other thing I do is host a cookie swap every year. It is always a fun occasion! It's amusing to try to fit everyone into our townhouse. I prepare a nice spread for everyone to eat and we hang out and chat before swapping. It's a great way to add variety to your family's baked goods.

Amy

[azdisneymom]

I always make:

Chocolate chip cookies
White chocolate chip cranberry cookies
Boma's Pineapple Upside Down Pineapple cheesecake
My grandmother's homemade chocolate cake with buttercream filling and chocolate gnache frosting - topped with pecans.

I would love the cinnamon roll recipe. They sound amazing.

[IloveDisney71]

I only bake once a year and I pretty much bake the same thing every year:
coconut, oatmeal cookies
chocolate chip, pecan cookies
fudge
hidden mint cookies (Paula Deen recipe)
hard candy - variety of flavors
I baked most of this today. I'm exhausted! :eat::dizzy: