8th Annual Christmas Cookie Baking Party Has Finally Arrived!

My 8th Annual Cookie Baking Party was on Saturday, December 14.  I almost had to cancel, but everyone was up for the challenge of getting to the party even though the weather outside was frightful.   A winter storm was looming and dropped about 5 or more inches of snow on the ground.  Then to make it a little more chaotic, the storm turned to freezing rain. THAT, resulted in a few over night guests on Saturday night (I told them all to pack their PJ's) which made the day even more fun.  I loved every part of that day.  This was a first time, for some of my family and friends (faces have changed over the years) and it was enjoyed by all.  Hard work, but having fun at the same time, took the edge off the aches and pains.  We made 19 different kinds of Christmas cookies, over 100 dozen, resulting in over 1300 cookies! Everyone worked well together, and I can not wait to repeat it again next year and for years to come.  Thank you all, and I love you all, for making it such a wonderful event!  The list of cookies we made is below, check it out.

The party is always very organized, because I am crazy that way.  All the ingredients are lined up and ready for use.  Whatever you need is right at your finger tips.  Makes mixing the batches of dough so much faster.

Every cookie cutter imaginable. There were over 100 different cookie cutters to use for cutouts, pressed  and stamped cookies.   My sister so generously offered to be cleanup crew, lining pans with parchment, and also decorated some of the cookies.  A BIG shout out to my sister G!

 Another table had baking utensils, baking sheets, spatulas, measuring spoons, measuring cups, whisks, sifters, bowls, potholders, rolling pins, food processor, egg separators, hand mixers and cooling racks.

 And all of the KitchenAids (6) were lined up with care, in hopes that all the cookies....soon would be made!

 After 11 long hours of mixing, rolling, cutting, decorating and then baking, they were all made.  Hundreds and hundreds of cookies for all to share.  There were more on the kitchen table too!  Crazy good cookies.

Christmas Cookie List

Chocolate Chip

Oatmeal Raisin

Vanilla Bean Shortbread

Cucidati

Gingerbread

Pizzelles

Pignoli

Sugar

Chocolate Sugar

Butter Balls (Tea Cakes)

Santa's Whiskers

Peanut Butter

Chocolate Drop

Jam Thumbprint

Butter Spritz

Coconut Macaroons

Bow Tie Fruit Filled Cookies

Butter Cutouts

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

Home on the Range

In case you are wondering where all the recipes on this blog evolved from, here is the place.  My beloved kitchen.  It's my favorite place to be.  I sit in here half of the day thinking of recipes, working recipes and trying them out on my family. When we built our home almost 8 years ago I paid close attention to how I wanted my kitchen to work for me.  I worked with the builder and the kitchen contractor and designed what I wanted. After moving walls and resetting appliances I hope the next family who lives in this house will love it as much as we do.

All appliances - dishwasher, 6 burner (propane) cooktop, warming drawer, double Trivection oven , and refrigerator are GE Monogram.  The range hood is a Kenmore.

This is my baking station.  I had the builder install a cabinet just for the KitchenAid mixer.  We all love the mixer, but it's big, heavy, and takes up alot of room on the counter.  The mixer sits on a spring loaded shelf. You lift it out of the cabinet and it self locks into place.  When you are done using it, unlock it and it slips right back into the cabinet.  The cabinet also came with a bottom pull out shelf for storage. Right next to this cabinet is a drawer where I keep all of my baking utensils. Under that drawer is a double cabinet, with pull out shelves, where I keep all of my baking pans and bowls.  Everything is organized and in one place.  I had a sink installed on one end of the 11 ft counter for cleanup.  On the other end are bookshelves for cookbook storage.

A closeup of the cabinet.  I also had baskets installed for towel storage, I use a lot of towels!

So this is where it all happens. I hope you liked the photos.