The Start of Cookie Season

Sunday

Nov242013

Hello, Christmas Cookie season!

I know. Not everyone likes to start this early, but I do. There's a good reason for it, of course. I give cookie trays as gifts to a whole bunch of people, so I need to make at least 10 different kinds of cookies. I guess I could knock that all out in one weekend if I had a intense bake-off of sorts, but I prefer to space things out a bit. I start with the cookies that freeze well and are easy to make, and then I work my way up to the more complicated ones. That means I will have a large quantity ready to go after about three or four evenings of baking. Even if I flake out and don't make as many as I originally plan to make, it works out.

The very first cookies I bake ALWAYS are Seven Layer Bars.

They freeze REALLY well (I've tried them as much as three months after freezing and they were still fine) and I can knock out a batch with about five minutes of effort. If I throw a tray in a couple of nights the first week I bake, I'll have a solid base of cookies to give as gifts.

The recipe is over here. That recipe makes two dozen decent-sized bars.

Another one that I make early is the Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies. They also freeze well, plus they give me a chance to use up some leftover Halloween candy.

I posted the recipe for them last year over here.

Another cookie recipe that gets used a lot in the first few weeks is the Dreamy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies. Again, they freeze well. As an added bonus, they look pretty and festive and all of that stuff.

That recipe is here.

The last easy recipe I like to knock out are these Sugar Cookies.

If I make them early and stick them in the freezer, I can take out a dozen or so at a time for Alexis to decorate. It keeps her busy while I'm baking other things, and it brings her much joy because I truly don't care how she decorates them. She comes up with some fun stuff in lots of different shapes. When she's done, I toss them back in the freezer and I've got some very obviously homemade Sugar Cookies to throw on those cookie trays.

And that's Phase One of the Annual Christmas Cookie Insanity. We'll see how far I get this year. My mission is to get all the way to the Linzer Cookies. If I do, that means I have achieved all of my cookie goals. That hasn't happened in like four years, though.