linders Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 (edited) DS18 invited about a dozen friends, high school seniors, over next Sunday to "make Christmas cookies." I have a single oven, which limits the number of cookies baking at one time, so I need ideas for keeping everyone busy (although this gang could do nothing but talk for hours). I do have two large tables and an island. My thoughts: - Precook some cutout sugar cookies - have icing and sprinkle stuff to decorate - Premix chocolate crinkle cookie dough - it needs to chill for a few hours before making; maybe another chilled dough? - Recipes for other cookies that do not require long chilling times? - Any no-bake cookies/treats? Thanks bakers!! Edited December 17, 2018 by linders Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 candy cane cookies. sugar cookie dough - plain and dyed red. rolled and twisted together. you can also fit more on a cookie sheet, and it will give them something to do. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Premade gingerbread houses to decorate are what we do to keep idle hands going during our Christmas making event. I buy the "village kit" which makes 5 mini houses. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Stage the order of things to make best use of the oven. Make chocolate crinkle dough the night before so it can thoroughly chill overnight. When the guests arrive, they make a batch of bar cookies (these bake for about 25 minutes or so). I recommend 7 layer cookies. Then they all make chocolate crinkle balls while the bars bake. Then they mix up sugar cookie dough and put in the freezer. Check every 15 minutes, move into the fridge between 'chilled' and 'frozen'. Bar cookies come out. Chocolate crinkles go in. 12 minutes to make another tray of chocolate crinkles. If there is time, make another batch of bar cookies. I recommend the chocolate chip bar recipe on the Hershey's morsels bag. Bake the chocolate crinkles. Cut up the first batch of bar cookies. Transfer them and the baked chocolate crinkles to racks. Bake the second batch of bar cookies. Take a break and have some hot cider and cookies, sing some Christmas carols, make up a wish list for presents. During the break, when the bar cookies come up, pop in the next sheet of chocolate crinkles. After the break roll more of them (big recipe for sure). By now the outer layers of the sugar cookie dough should be ready to roll out. Do the cookie cutter thing. BTW, pro tip--use powdered sugar rather than flour as your release agent. Your dough will not toughen then. Keep doing sugar cookies for the rest of the day. You can decorate them if you want. Royal icing and those colored sugars are especially good for this. Tubes of frosting also work. To send the cookies home, if you don't have tins, biggish oval Chinette platters hold quite a nice amount, and you can cover them with foil or plastic wrap. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linders Posted December 16, 2018 Author Share Posted December 16, 2018 17 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said: Stage the order of things to make best use of the oven. Your order-of-events is just what I needed!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 I would melt some chocolate and vanilla bark in 2 different crockpots and have pretzel sticks, potato chips, marshmallows, etc...to dip. Have sprinkles and sugars to decorate. have slice and bake cookies with edible paints (I think it is egg yolk and food coloring) and brushes. Draw pictures on the cookies then bake. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Oreo Balls are super easy to prep in advance and get in the fridge or freezer, and the white chocolate can be melted in the microwave. https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/oreo-balls-52035 Ditto with cereal clusters. https://spoonuniversity.com/recipe/how-to-make-white-chocolate-cereal-clusters 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
displace Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Rice Krispie treats and decorate. No bake bars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zebra Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 I've done this a couple of time with my dd and her friends. IMHO, keep it simple! They just want to get together, talk, and listen to "their" music. They will get burned out after an hour or two on any activity. I would pre-bake a bunch of sugar cookies, (and make sure I had containers to send some home in) and PLENTY of decorations/icing options. Between the talking and decorating it will most likely take them A LONG time to decorate cookies. If you want another "cookie" I would mix something up (like the chocolate crinkle), and bake it when they get there, so they can snack while they decorate. A big hit at our house was the "ugly sweater" cookie cutter. I bought a kit one year, and have kept the plastic cookie cutter ever since. The girls LOVED this because it is so easy to decorate, and hilarious to them. FWIW I've done regular sugar cookies, and gingerbread which we prefer. If you're worried about it not taking enough time, I would plan a Christmas-y movie, or a card game or something as a back-up. YMMV 🙂 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 Yup, go ahead and bake all the cookies so they're ready to eat and decorate. If they actual do want to cook, let them do no-bakes or the cornflake wreaths. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vmsurbat1 Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 2 hours ago, PeterPan said: Yup, go ahead and bake all the cookies so they're ready to eat and decorate. If they actual do want to cook, let them do no-bakes or the cornflake wreaths. @PeterPanWhat are Cornflake wreaths? They sound intriguing and possibly doable where we live (Montenegro). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trulycrabby Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 A neighbor who hosted a cookie-baking party had a gingerbread house station set up so the kids could assemble and decorate their own mini-gingerbread houses. I think she used graham crackers instead of gingerbread, and ready-made frosting to hold the crackers together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 33 minutes ago, vmsurbat1 said: @PeterPanWhat are Cornflake wreaths? They sound intriguing and possibly doable where we live (Montenegro). I'm not her but they are like rice krisp y treats but with corn flakes and green food coloring https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/christmas-cornflake-wreath-cookies-153446 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unsinkable Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 11 minutes ago, trulycrabby said: A neighbor who hosted a cookie-baking party had a gingerbread house station set up so the kids could assemble and decorate their own mini-gingerbread houses. I think she used graham crackers instead of gingerbread, and ready-made frosting to hold the crackers together. Supermarket frosting from a can is way too soft to hold gingerbread or Graham Cramer houses together. A royal icing is needed...the kind with egg whites or meringue powder. It dries quick and hard. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted December 16, 2018 Share Posted December 16, 2018 I'd probably prebake sugar cookies for decorating. Then have some easy things to make: https://showmetheyummy.com/christmas-crack-recipe/?m https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/pretzel-turtles/ https://www.thecountrycook.net/no-bake-preacher-cookies/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 1 hour ago, unsinkable said: I'm not her but they are like rice krisp y treats but with corn flakes and green food coloring https://www.geniuskitchen.com/recipe/christmas-cornflake-wreath-cookies-153446 Yup! Maybe it's a midwest thing? They're kinda normal around here. You put red hots (cinnamon dots) on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TABmom Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 I would dip pretzels in melted chocolate. You can also dip Oreos and put peanut butter between two Ritz crackers and dip those. Super good. Easy to do while talking! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippen Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 At ages 12-16 I would let them choose a few recipes to actually mix and bake themselves! My daughter got together with her friends for baking and they could handle it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HS Mom in NC Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 (edited) I just did these tonight with the neighborhood kids and we went caroling.https://tastykitchen.com/recipes/holidays/holiday-mice/ If you can't find cherries with the stems like me, just break the curved part of a regular pretzel and insert that into the cherry for the tail. Edited December 17, 2018 by Homeschool Mom in AZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 (edited) 11 hours ago, TABmom said: I would dip pretzels in melted chocolate. You can also dip Oreos and put peanut butter between two Ritz crackers and dip those. Super good. Easy to do while talking! Ooo, or decorating the fat pretzel rods is festive but easy. You dip them in the white chocolate and add sprinkles. Reindeer pretzels are fun too. When I take them to family parties my horde of teen nieces and nephews gobble them up! they're just pretzels, rolos, m&ms... Edited December 17, 2018 by PeterPan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktgrok Posted December 17, 2018 Share Posted December 17, 2018 Invest in a cookie press! The kids can be pressing out new cookies (with new shapes) while waiting for the others to bake (and they bake FAST). Also, you can melt candy melts and drizzle them over the cookies and then sprinkle on sprinkles. Or, if you google you can find a recipe for cookie "paint" for them to use. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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