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Holiday baking thread and questions!

WildflowerMom

By WildflowerMom,
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WildflowerMom

WildflowerMom

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I keep seeing on FB where people are already starting.   They're freezing a lot of stuff.    I really want to make cutout cookies again this year.   I'm guessing I put them between wax paper and cover tightly with Saran Wrap?   Does that sound right?   
 

What Christmas-y desserts can I start making in November that will freeze well?  
 

I'd love to do a Bunche de Noel this year.  That's not going in the freezer.  However, can I do some of the decorations (like pine cones) and freeze them?  

 

This is the cutout sugar cookie recipe I use and it is wonderful!

 

 

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barnwife

barnwife

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With sugar cookies, yes, I wax paper between layers and in a tightly sealed container in the freezer. I take them out the day before I need them to decorate. 

I generally start my Christmas baking on the day after Thanksgiving. Some people go shopping, but I bake. We make sugar cookies, molasses (my grandma's recipe), no-bake cookie dough truffles. PB blossoms, butter pecan cookies, the pretzel/ Hershey's kiss/m&m things, PB and Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate, eggwhite cookies (with peppermint and chocolate chips), and probably some others that I'm forgetting. 

We also try to try a new (to us) recipe each year. Yes, that's a lot of types of cookies/treats. I go all out for Christmas. The rest of the year, I probably make cookies 3 times, quite possibly not even that. While I love making cookies, I don't love always having treats around, so I get it out of my system during this holiday season. 

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WildflowerMom

WildflowerMom

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17 minutes ago, barnwife said:

With sugar cookies, yes, I wax paper between layers and in a tightly sealed container in the freezer. I take them out the day before I need them to decorate. 

I generally start my Christmas baking on the day after Thanksgiving. Some people go shopping, but I bake. We make sugar cookies, molasses (my grandma's recipe), no-bake cookie dough truffles. PB blossoms, butter pecan cookies, the pretzel/ Hershey's kiss/m&m things, PB and Ritz crackers dipped in chocolate, eggwhite cookies (with peppermint and chocolate chips), and probably some others that I'm forgetting. 

We also try to try a new (to us) recipe each year. Yes, that's a lot of types of cookies/treats. I go all out for Christmas. The rest of the year, I probably make cookies 3 times, quite possibly not even that. While I love making cookies, I don't love always having treats around, so I get it out of my system during this holiday season. 

Are thes the crunchy, airy cookies?   I've not seen them with chocolate chips, so maybe I'm thinking of something different.  
 

Doing it the day after Thanksgiving is a wonderful idea!  

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barnwife

barnwife

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10 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said:

Are thes the crunchy, airy cookies?   I've not seen them with chocolate chips, so maybe I'm thinking of something different.  
 

Doing it the day after Thanksgiving is a wonderful idea!  

Yeah, some people call them merengues. My family makes all kinds of variations: coconut with choc. chips, just choc. chips, rice krispies, cornflakes, etc...They are super easy and you can fold in lots of different things.

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Tree Frog

Tree Frog

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1 hour ago, WildflowerMom said:

This is the cutout sugar cookie recipe I use and it is wonderful

I looked at the link on my phone and can't find the recipe! I see the table of contents, the ingredients, and lots of info about salted, unsalted, and softened butter, but no recipe. I must be missing something! I'll look at it when I get to my computer. It looks like the one I use from Family Fun magazine. The ingredients are very similar.

I don't do much baking anymore, though I enjoy it! Dh and I are the only ones at home and we definitely don't need them! Maybe I'll make some and send them to the kids as a surprise between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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PeterPan

PeterPan

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2 hours ago, WildflowerMom said:

I really want to make cutout cookies again this year.   I'm guessing I put them between wax paper and cover tightly with Saran Wrap?   Does that sound right?

Is there any test data on freezing the *dough* ahead vs. the already baked cookies? 

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WildflowerMom

WildflowerMom

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19 minutes ago, wilrunner said:

I looked at the link on my phone and can't find the recipe! I see the table of contents, the ingredients, and lots of info about salted, unsalted, and softened butter, but no recipe. I must be missing something! I'll look at it when I get to my computer. It looks like the one I use from Family Fun magazine. The ingredients are very similar.

I don't do much baking anymore, though I enjoy it! Dh and I are the only ones at home and we definitely don't need them! Maybe I'll make some and send them to the kids as a surprise between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It's all the way down at the bottom (and the page is so long!!!).   

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Faith-manor

Faith-manor

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All ears. We have several GF breads to make for Smorrebrod Christmas Eve, and it is just going to be too much yo try to make it all the day of. We have no experience with freezing dough, but hope we can make them up throughout the week before and freeze, then thaw the morning of. Thankfully the new house has two wall mount convection ovens so we can bake two loaves at once. One type of Danish cookie actually is made about a month in advance so it can come into full flavor. But, there are some others that I worry about having enough time to make if we don't do it well in advance. Do all of you just freeze dough, and then bake on the day, or do you actually bake the cookies and freeze so you only need to thaw them and decorate if required?

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WildflowerMom

WildflowerMom

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57 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

All ears. We have several GF breads to make for Smorrebrod Christmas Eve, and it is just going to be too much yo try to make it all the day of. We have no experience with freezing dough, but hope we can make them up throughout the week before and freeze, then thaw the morning of. Thankfully the new house has two wall mount convection ovens so we can bake two loaves at once. One type of Danish cookie actually is made about a month in advance so it can come into full flavor. But, there are some others that I worry about having enough time to make if we don't do it well in advance. Do all of you just freeze dough, and then bake on the day, or do you actually bake the cookies and freeze so you only need to thaw them and decorate if required?

Do you mind sharing what the name is?  Thanks!

I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm seeing baking then freezing vs freezing the dough to be pretty equal in results, though that's probably dough dependent.  I would think a wetter dough is probably better off being baked and then frozen, but that's my (extremely) amateur guess.   I think I may try both since it's so early and see what happens. 

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Faith-manor

Faith-manor

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On 10/24/2021 at 9:38 AM, WildflowerMom said:

Do you mind sharing what the name is?  Thanks!

I've been doing a lot of googling and I'm seeing baking then freezing vs freezing the dough to be pretty equal in results, though that's probably dough dependent.  I would think a wetter dough is probably better off being baked and then frozen, but that's my (extremely) amateur guess.   I think I may try both since it's so early and see what happens. 

Hi Wildflower, the cookie is Pebernodder which is, I think similar to Pfeffurnesse, but this one is baked until really hard. The original recipe handed down from Mark's great great grandmother Mette Christiana, did not contain anise. But, her later grand daughter in law, Grandma Marie, added Anise to it, and would put them in a pillowcase or muslin bag, tie it up, and hang them for three weeks to flavor after baking, then distribute them to family members in decorative tins or glass jars. I am not sure they are real food,  😁, because they last for something like six months if kept in something with a tight lid.

The other cookies handed down were Danish Butter Cookies, Brunkager, and Vaniljekranse. I have decided not to make the butter cookies because the Royal Dansk ones in the nice tins are readily available.

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Ditto

Ditto

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20 hours ago, WildflowerMom said:

I do one or the other.   I'm thinking I've done vanilla and almond.   (Hard to remember).   I don't care for lemon, so I know I didn't use that.   

Lemon is tricky to me.  Artificial lemon flavor is just gross.  Using fresh lemon/lemon zest tastes much better.    If you have only tasted artificial lemon foods, that may be why you don't like it.  Just a thought I had.  

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