It’s the best time of year — my holiday baking list is ready!
Holiday baking is a long-standing tradition for me that began with my grandma. I love hearing what others bake during the season — it’s honestly the only time I truly enjoy baking. Last year I scaled back a lot, so this year I’m excited to assemble festive platters and boxes to share with friends and family. It’s one of my favorite holiday activities.
For years, Lacy and I have baked together. Every holiday we make a bûche de Noël — usually late at night — and it always takes longer than expected. We love the Bon Appétit version. We also always make candied citrus peels and homemade amaretto; those treats are staples we’ve been making for a very long time. When I make amaretto myself, I tend to gift most of it to friends. We also make my version of whiskey pretzels, which are a popular snack to share, and a big batch of caramel chipotle Chex Mix to gift.
For soundtrack while baking, I have a favorite holiday playlist on Spotify. If you follow me there, you can find several of my holiday playlists.
MY 2021 HOLIDAY BAKING LIST
Below is my ideal list of what I’d love to make this season.
Always on my list are the chocolate crinkle sprinkle cookies from The Pretty Dish — they’re unbeatable. I also have a new sprinkle cookie coming soon.
Royal cookies are a relatively new favorite from a couple of years ago and we adore them.
I like making cashew butter buckeyes and sometimes regular buckeyes too — some years I’m all in, other years I’m over them.
Peanut butter blossoms are an all-time favorite and a cookie I never tire of.
Lemon crinkle cookies are another crowd-pleaser; everyone raves about them.
I rotate between soft snickerdoodles and chewy chai snickerdoodles because I can’t ever decide which I prefer.
Soft gingersnaps are a recipe I sometimes multiply by four — we love them even though I’m not usually a gingersnap person.
Old-school Oreo balls always make the list — nostalgic and easy.
This year I’m excited about bourbon-soaked cherry oatmeal chocolate chip cookies; they’re a favorite for their flavor and texture.
Mother Lovett’s pink and green thumbprint cookies are essential — my family can’t have the holidays without them. Her orange cookies are also a huge hit every year.
Peanut butter M&M cookie bars made with red and green M&Ms are a fun, festive option.
Peanut butter fudge is something I make each year, usually trying a different recipe even though Mother Lovett had one I remember fondly.
Pretzel-peanut-butter-stuffed chocolate bark is another treat I love to include in boxes.
I’ll likely make peppermint bark and chocolate-covered Oreos too — the simpler hacks are to buy white fudge-covered Oreos and drizzle them with dark chocolate and sprinkles.
Finally, I rely on a perfect cut-out sugar cookie recipe that’s foolproof. I often use cream cheese frosting or a dip-icing technique (marbled or plain). For some cookies I’ve sprayed on edible glitter to make them extra special.
HOW I MAKE MY COOKIE BOX
I keep the same approach to cookie boxes each year, following the tradition Mother Lovett started. Her cookie tins and boxes were her signature hostess gifts, and everyone eagerly anticipated them. I’ve enjoyed carrying that tradition forward.
She used cookie tins, and I’ve found similar containers at places like Target, The Container Store, and even the Dollar Store. My favorite big box option is a sugar paper gift box I find at Target; they come in rectangle and round shapes and work well for a large assortment. To organize the box, I often cut pieces from another box to create compartments for different cookies. That’s what I did for the boxes pictured above.
I don’t mail these cookie boxes — I deliver them to friends and family within driving distance — so I can’t offer extensive mailing tips. If I were to mail cookies, I’d use a lot of bubble wrap; past mailed homemade boxes I’ve received usually arrived with broken cookies.
So tell me — what are you baking this season?