Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Making Christmas Cookies with Toddlers

For the past week or so, I've been busy baking making dough. I found an easy recipe from Martha in one of my Everyday Foods that is for a Basic Butter Cookie Dough that has three options for completion. Of course what caught my eye was the option for icebox cookies with instructions for freezing or gifting.

That's why when my friend Kelly mentioned having a cookie exchange with our playgroup, I immediately had a plan. You see, the thing about fresh cookies is you have to eat them within a few days for them to be at their best. The thing about icebox cookie dough is that you can take your time, make a few, and make a few more later. Plus, if like me, your kitchen is bursting with holiday goodies, you can always just stick the dough in the freezer for a less ample time.

So, I started making dough. Tomorrow I will take each mom a log of dough that will make a small batch of cookies whenever and however they choose to use it.

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Of course, I didn't just want to give away dough I hadn't tried out. On Saturday, Linus and I broke out one log for a little test run. Cutting little 1.5-2 inch chunks of dough, we got busy.

We smooshed the dough.




We rolled the dough.




We cut shapes from the dough.




And, we baked the dough.




After nap, we decorated our cookies.




The small size really helped me keep a handle on the process while still allowing Linus to be actively involved in all the fun.

The process wasn't without tears though. When it was found that Linus was doing more eating of frosting (and cookies) than he was decorating, he was warned that his decorating time would end.




Only seconds after the warning, Linus found it impossible to resist his icing-covered popsicle stick, and stuck it in his mouth. The resulting parental follow-through was ugly with big wet tears and bellows of "Becorate!"

We weren't truly evil as we let him rejoin the fun after a brief break; the tears still glistening on his cheeks.



Here are some of our creations. It really did make quite a bit.




5 comments:

Chimpsea said...

Haha I love the sad snowman. Those look so tasty!

Tiffany @ Lattes And Life said...

You are so brave. I've yet to introduce my toddler to the wonder that is cookie decorating.

Anonymous said...

I'll be honest with you--your post title made me shudder with fear! But those final cookies look fantastic--love those little stick arms on the snowman!
Frosting is a powerful force, isn't it?

Marty, a.k.a. canape said...

The grumpy snowman is the epitome of how I feel these days. I'm about to call myself Scrooge and give up. I gave it a good effort . . .

@sweetbabboo said...

Ha, ha! That grumpy snowman is the one my husband made while the kiddo was having his fit. Can you tell which cookies Linus decorated? I'll give you a clue: he made a candy cane, a reindeer, and a small circle.

-Abby