Easy Christmas Cookie Baking Tips

Baking and eating Christmas cookies are some of the greatest moments of the holiday season. Cookies that have been absent for a year suddenly return to the table. Our friends share their favorite recipes with us and coworkers bring treats into work for everyone to sample. If you want to bake Christmas cookies this year, you’ll want to get off on the right foot. Prepare early and you’ll have a fun and productive time.

Dig through your pile of recipes, magazines, and look online for cookie recipes that interest you. Read through the entire recipe to make sure you understand the timeframe involved and the steps. If it seems too complicated, leave it for another time. Christmas cookie baking is about ease and family time. If you’ve got kids who want to help out, let them select a recipe or two that they can accomplish with a little guidance from you. After you’ve got all your recipes picked out, narrow it down to five or six varieties. Any more than that and you may get flustered and give up on the whole process. Don’t overdo it. Just concentrate on a few delicious recipes that you can make several batches of.

Make a list of every single item you are going to need. Don’t leave anything out. There’s nothing worse than having to run to the store for ginger because you thought you had it from last year. Put each ingredient called for down on your list. Then, do a big run-through of your pantry. Cross off any ingredient that you see that you have enough of. But be mindful that spices do go stale and baking soda and powder do lose their punch. So if you’re planning on using ingredients that are more than a year old, don’t.

Fresh is always better!

Now that you have your shopping list, head to the store. Go at a time when it’s likely to be less crowded, like a weekday morning or after 8pm. You’ll have full run of the aisles and you won’t have to wait in long lines.

Check your list twice. Nothing’s worse than getting halfway through a cookie recipe to find you forgot the eggs.

Now the fun begins. Lay out the ingredients for one recipe only. Do two at a time and you may confuse the batters. Concentrate on using each ingredient and then putting it away immediately. That way, you’ll know it’s been added to the mix and you’ll have less to clean up later. Bake till your heart’s content. When you’ve made it all the way through batter, baking, and cooling for one recipe, start another. Or leave it for another day. One batch a day is enough to keep it festive. If you feel pressured to make five batches of different cookies in one day, your holiday spirit may start to sag.

Place cooled cookies in airtight plastic containers with lids and freeze. They’ll last a few months in the freezer in case you have extras.

When you’re ready, start making plates up for family and friends to enjoy. Hand the cookie arrangements out to colleagues at work and neighbors. Teachers and babysitters love to get a fresh tray of Christmas cookies as a thank you gift.