Host A Cookie Baking Party!

Food & Entertaining, The Holidays

While baking cookies can be fun, do you know what makes it even better? Host a cookie baking party with your friends and family!

Every year, I make over 20 batches of Christmas cookies for our family. This is a tradition that I picked up from my grandma who would regularly bake through November and December to make many different types of specialty cookies to give away for Christmas. There were Santa sugar cookies with coconut beards, mint meringues, and chewy oatmeal cookies with dried currants. When I got married and moved north, I continued making my own family’s recipes and learning my in-laws’ favorites. It became quite an undertaking with a full-time job, kids, and my RA so last year, we started a new tradition: a cookie-baking party!

My mom-in-law hasn’t really ever baked in her life but as she gets older, she wanted to try it out and learn how to make some of her mom’s recipes. I invited her to come down for a weekend to bake with me which turned into inviting my sister-in-law, brother-in-law, his girlfriend, and several other family members. We baked over 10 types of cookies and candy that day, many old recipes from both families. It was a magical bonding experience for all of us and saved me many long hours of trying to do it myself!

I’m not the best baker though!

My mom-in-law hadn’t baked something as simple as a chocolate chip cookie but you know what? Baking is a fun adventure and it’s ok to try new things. Don’t be scared that you’ll mess it up because it’s the quality time with people you care about that matters. Besides, even if they all end up as black hockey pucks, you’ll be able to laugh about it for years afterward. Grab some family recipes (or that one you found on Pinterest that claims to be like the Crumbl cookie you love so much!) and get to baking. It’s likely that someone in your family does know how to bake and we love teaching others how to make the recipes we love.

Ok, I’ll give it a try. How do I organize one?

Figure out if you want to do this with friends, family, or both. Put a list together of the people you want to invite and then ask each one to bring a special recipe with them to make. I prefer family recipes but it’s also fun to try new ones you’ve found online or in a magazine.

As for ingredients, you can either ask everyone to bring what they need to make their recipe or you can get a list of all the ingredients and make sure you have everything on hand yourself. I personally prefer to have everything on hand personally and if we run out of something or need an extra ingredient, we can always just run down to the store to grab it. It makes it easier for people to say yes to coming that way.

When we get together, we organize the recipes so that we can be baking some while others may be chilling or being mixed up. Things like dipped cookies (peanut butter Ritz dipped in white chocolate for example) can be used to fill the time while others are being baked. It’s also a good way to keep everyone busy so no one feels like they are just standing to the side since only so many people can be running a mixer or taking cookie sheets out of the oven at a time.

Conclusion:

Baking together is a wonderful way to spend time with the people you love. It can also be inexpensive and let’s face it, utterly delicious! Give it a try and before long, you’ll find yourself with a new tradition. This doesn’t have to be limited to Christmas either. You can do this any time of the year.

Have you ever hosted a cookie-baking party before? Do you have a favorite recipe that your family makes every year you’d like to share? Please share your stories and favorite cookie recipes below in the comments.