does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

any fun tips and ideas on how to do this with my 1-3 year olds?

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

I made Christmas cookies a couple of times with my 3.5 year old. We keep it simple & use the ready cookie dough - I shape them on the cookie sheet & have little plates of toppings for her to put on them to decorate (m&m's, walnuts, sprinkles). She loves doing this & asks me to make cookies all the time. I wouldn't even attempt doing this with my almost 2 year old since he would just try to eat all the m&m's!

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

Me!

Last year (2yrs old) she helped move the gingerbread men from the board to the cookie sheet. she pushed the button on my timer and helped hold the cookie still so i could ice it.

This year (3yrs old) she helped push the cookie cutter down and put the raisins in. I have a photo of her 'cookie' lol I call it reindeer droppings. Just a round cookie (left over dough) with lots of raisins kinda in the middle. Like poop on the ground. We died laughing at it, as only parents can. She helped tell me HOW to decorate the cookies. She was allowed to pick three cookie cutters. So we had gingerbread men, women, snowmen/women, hearts, christmas trees and candy cane cookie cutters.

She also helped 'sift' my flour and dry ingredients. She does all this at her table (toddler size) its in our kitchen so she's able to get a good angle on the stuff. Daddy helped with the sifting but she turned the dial.

Best part of the holiday.

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

Anyone care to share their recipes for cut out cookies? I made them last year from the recipe that came with the cutters but they were kind of dry and tasteless....is the pre made dough okay? I have never used it.

TIA

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

I haven't yet, but I'm thinking about doing some on Saturday with him! Can't wait!
I'd probably just do some cutout cookies & have him decorate.

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

yes we have. i baked them ahead of time. Decorating is the most fun.

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

i do with ready made dough. we did it for halloween and thanksgiving, too. it's really just for fun. the shapes came out funny, and there was a true overload of sprinkles, but we had fun making them :)

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

Yep, I do. (My DD is 3 but we've been doing it since she was 2). I let her do the easy stuff.............she stirs the cookie/cake mix, I pre-measure the ingredients into little bowls so she can dump them into the big bowl, and I put her in charge of decorating (icing, sprinkles, etc) She LOOOOOOOOOVES to cook and bake, and I do mean LOOOOOVES it!!! She's ALWAYS in the kitchen with me. I think it's so much fun to include her in the cooking/baking process and she really enjoys it.

This year we made gingerbread men (she cut them out and decorated them), popcorn balls, chocolate covered pretzels (she did all the sprinkles on them), sugar cookies, chocolate chips cookies, toffee, and fudge. She also helped me make the sauce, meatballs, and stuffed shells. She also like to help prep all the apps........put the cheese on a the plate, open the crackers, etc. etc. The more you include them, the less stressful it is because they really learn what to do.

Message edited 12/22/2011 1:23:25 PM.

Re: does anyone make christmas cookies with their kids

I have been baking with DD since she was a month shy of 2.(her second Christmas). Although it is more clean up, I have found it easier to premeasure all the ingredients so we don't have to stop and she can easily pour them in. Now that she is older I can give her harder jobs like rolling the dough or coating the cookies in sugar. Sometimes I'll give her her own dough so she can make her own cookie. I love that it is something we can do together.