Well it is official, I started baking our Christmas cookies yesterday. I think this is probably the earliest I have ever started but this is also the first time I have a full time job and a half at this time of year and knew I needed to get a head start on things.
Saturday night I stocked up on groceries, so I'd be prepared and wouldn't run out flour or sugar in the middle of a batch. Of course I got home and realized I forgot some things, which reminds me, I'd better write those done. I also spent some time Saturday cleaning my kitchen and removing un-needed appliances from the counter top so my Kitchen Aid and I had plenty of work room and I had plenty of places to store the cookies.
I decide this year instead of trying to bake up all the cookies as soon as I make the batter (and we usually do a double recipe at a time) I will make several different batters then put them in bowls in the fridge. Each night I can bake up a few dozen of this and a few dozen of that and have less dishes to wash every night. Plus it means less cookies sitting around in containers.
So far I have baked 9dz Reeses Cups (the easiest of the ones I do), 4dz Kiss cookies (I think they are usually called Peanut Butter Blossoms), 4dz Bufflo Chip, and 4dz Sand Tarts. I also made a pan of fudge, and had it set up right for the first time in all my tries.
Im trying to decide if I want to finish baking from the batters already in the fridge or start some more of them. I still have M&M cookies, Sprizt cookies, Sandies and the butter cookies that get the Jelly and Nutella in the middle. Another item on the list is Jam cakes, which is from a recipe that my great grandmother, but those take an hour and half to bake so I really have to carve time out for them. I was also looking online today for some other recipes to try (as if I dont have enough already).
Most of the cookies go to work, where the guys scarf them down (theyve already eaten a platter of them today) so at least I know they are enjoyed.
So has anyone else gotten a head start on their holiday baking? Whats going into your oven this season?
I cant believe December starts tomorrow. Where in the world has the year gone? I feel like if I blink too long it will be New Years already.
I haven't started baking yet, but today I did make the peppermint bark hearts I saw in another thread...cute! And, I made these:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pretzel-Turtles/Detail.aspx
I used caramel Dove candies instead of Rolos. If you make these, hide them QUICK! Delicious!
Those cookies sound so good. I always say that I'm going to start early and never do. Like last year Thanksgiving...I had about 30 orders to get out and me being a procrastinator (sp), I started on Monday and was up from that Monday till Thursday (Thanksgiving day) trying to get those orders out. The last order was picked up at 3pm. I was so exhausted, that I didn't even enjoy Thanksgiving...i slept the whole entire time while everyone enjoyed the holiday. This year, I paced myself and started earlier and I was done the day before with all my orders.
Hopefully I can start the Christmas baking early this year...so far I have a lot of orders for those Ornament Cupcakes (about 3 dozen) and about 8 Red Velvet Cakes and a few orders of the Christmas shaped cookies. I'm gonna try not to over do it this year.
Oh Ziggy, those look good! I'd probably have a hard time not eating those myself (and I'm trying to watch what I eat right now). 
KKC, don't forget to allow some time for sleep in there and eating!
I should have gone home (live next door to work) and set some butter out to soften earlier, but I didn't. The M&M cookies use Crisco, so at least I know I can get that batter made up tonight.
Those sound so yummy. Might have to try them!
Havent started yet but have an idea to try out tell me what you guys think.....
My co-workers are choc-o-holics lst year i amde truffels for everybody. Was thinking this year though going to set up a Truffel Bar @ work and let everybody fix their own to munch on at work and then make up to take home
"less work for me" 
so what say you ccr's?
KKC, don't forget to allow some time for sleep in there and eating!
And thats something that I didn't do last year, especially the sleep I didn't know it was possible to go 3 days without sleeping. I had so many coffee's and coca cola but it caught up with me in the end 
As far as eating I probably snacked on crackers and water here and there.
Trust me, I've learned my lesson 
Havent started yet but have an idea to try out tell me what you guys think.... .
My co-workers are choc-o-holics lst year i amde truffels for everybody. Was thinking this year though going to set up a Truffel Bar @ work and let everybody fix their own to munch on at work and then make up to take home
"less work for me"
so what say you ccr's?
That sounds super yummy!! Can I come to work with you? Hehe.
Havent started yet but have an idea to try out tell me what you guys think.....
My co-workers are choc-o-holics lst year i amde truffels for everybody. Was thinking this year though going to set up a Truffel Bar @ work and let everybody fix their own to munch on at work and then make up to take home
"less work for me"
so what say you ccr's?
Oh I agree, that does sound yummy! And I wouldn't mind working with you for a day. Are you going to roll the tuffles then let them coat them in what ever they want or make them do all the work?
I ended up not baking anything last night. 
I was just tired and worn out for some reason and ended up curling up on the couch with some thread, a little crochet hook and worked on my first doily I started back this summer.
I have class tonight so I don't know if I will try to make some more cookie batter after it, try to bake up a few more or just put it off until tomorrow night when I don't have class and more free time.
I want to start my Christmas baking but people keep ordering darn cakes! Maybe next week.
I was going to start a thread about what everyone is baking this year but TexasSugar beat me to it!
My list includes...Candy Cane Cheesecake (I need to make a few of these), Blueberry Cheesecake Squares, Sugar cookies, Peanut Butter Marshmallow Squares, some RKT for the kids, Cream Cheese Balls and a few others that I have to decide on soon!
Wow - do you think I like Cream Cheese?lol
LOL I will roll the truffels out and put toppings out for them to fix their own and also goodie bags to take some home for their families. I figure this will at least get me some orders for next year.
LOL I will roll the truffels out and put toppings out for them to fix their own and also goodie bags to take some home for their families. I figure this will at least get me some orders for next year.
Hope so. Of course if you do it early enough in the month maybe it will get you some orders for this year. 
Or you can comment about Valetines day coming around the corner.
Yup - I started two weeks ago. So far I've made twenty batches of cookies and most batches make between 4 - 6 dozen.
Cherry cream cheese cookies
Peanut butter cookies
spritz - mocha espresso dogs and cream de mint trees
coconut toffee bars
Sugar cut outs
Anise cut outs
chocolate carmel
strawberry daiquiri christmas slices
lemon christmas slices
vanilla butter christmas slices
apricot tea cookies
tunnel of fudge cookies
maple logs
and I still need to make my chocolates.
And here I thought I had a good start on my baking. That's alot of cookies!
I didn't get as much baking done as I wanted to last week. I had planned to spend yesterday baking but that didn't happen either. So right now the plan is to bake tonight. I cancelled my classes for the month (didn't look like I was gonna have any sign ups anyway) so I have more free evenings to bake.
So I am starting baking this weekend Now not only am I going to do the truffel bar but while I'm at it I am going to make mini bunt cakes chocolate ganache w/choc mousse, white chocolate ganache w/peppermint mousse, and red velvet w/ cream cheese I think I may hate myself by the end of the weekend but I am excited to try these bunt cakes as long as they dont turn out like the now infamous Kwanza cake
Happy Hoilday Baking to everyone
As of Tuesday night, I have baked 79 dozen cookies, made two pans of fudge and two jam cakes. This isn't counting the cut out cookies I baked for my cookie class, as well as the cut out cookies I helped my nephew bake for the cookie class.
I still have a few more I want to make, but have decide what isn't done by the end of the weekend is not getting down this year.
Oh and pretty much 2/3rds of the cookes, a pan of fudge and one and a half jam cakes have been eaten already!
I started today!
I made 26 mini banana bread loaves, with and without nuts.
oatmeal cookies
peanut butter cookies
reese's cookies
m&m cookies
I have no roll sugar cookie dough and chocolate chip dough in the fridge.
I still need to make NFSC, russian tea, coconut macaroons, oat meal raisin chocolate crinkle, and Ande's mint cookies. I think that's it.
Sounds like you have gotten alot accomplished!
I've been working here and there in the evenings, usually spending 3-4 hours in the kitchen. I'm trying to decide if I want to bake more cookies tonight or do it tomorrow when I have a longer time frame to do it.
I just re read my post. I have to correct myself on the banana bread it was 16 not 26.
This morning I baked chocolate chip and sugar cookies. I had my daughter helping so it went a little faster. She rolled all the dough into balls for me.
I would take a break for tonight and just work on your cookies tomorrow.
That's what I'm doing. I think my kitchen is the only room in the house I have seen in the past week!
I have a batch of NFSC in the fridge. I just don't have the energy to put into those right now. I need a break. I'll bake all day tomorrow.
My kids are anxious to finish because they love to pass cookies out to all the neighbors.
Mine aren't! I always bake a bunch of cookies at christmas because we normally have holiday dinners at our house. They go pretty quickly!
Last year I baked a ton of cookies and we passed them out to all of our neighbors. (there are only 10 houses in our culdesac.)
My kids loved it so much that they want to do it again this year. It's fun for them so I don't mind. We'll keep some and give some to friends and family.
I made Italian Lemon Cookies, Snickerdoodles, Earl Gray Tea Cookies, Rosemary Currant Biscotti, and Cherry Pistachio Biscotti. So good, and already almost gone. I'll probably make another batch of these before Christmas. Most of these went to teachers for gifts. Since we are snowed in, I'm not doing much of anything else, haha.
now, when you guys say you're making all of these dozens of cookies.... where are they all going?!?! are they all orders?
We have always baked alot of cookies for the holidays. They go to work and to friends. All of these dozens I have baked had been going to work, and let me tell you the guys there have been eating them. Which is why I keep baking them.
I've been baking some more today, was hoping to get through with all the ones I wanted to do, but it doesn't look like that will happen. Guess I'm baking again in the morning, because tomorrow night is my cut off for spending hours in the kitchen baking cookies.
Baked 39 mini-bunt cakes red velvet, dark chocolate fudge, and white cakes. Tommorow chocolate mouse,and white chocolate peppermint mouse "fillings for the bunt cakes, then dark choc and white choc ganache icing and cream cheese icing . Left overs will be made into truffles for all my lovley co-workers and the docs. What can I say I spoil them but DD has told me that I bake too many goodies for my friends and not enough for him 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%