I know it's early but has anyone gave any thought to what you will make for your holiday treats this year? I'm not making any treats for Halloween or Thanksgiving (except apple pie and a few cakes for upcoming birthdays in the family) so I'm thinking ahead. There are things I've always wanted to try like cake ornaments, cake balls, decorated sugar cookies and a few holiday treat recipes I've been collecting. So now is the time for me to start experimenting and practicing.

I'm curious to know what you all are planning? Pictures of your past treats or links to any sites for inspiration would be an added bonus. I LOVE visuals. Thanks

I don't thinks it's too early to start planning. I've had my list planned out since this summer. I absolutely LOVE the Holidays. This year I plan to make baskets to give away which will include:

Walnut chocolate chip pecan cookies
Oatmeal Explosion cookies
Chocolate dipped shortbread
White Chocolate Macadamia nut cookies
Homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate
Decorated Gingerbread cookies
White Chocolate Dipped Gingersnaps
Decorated Eggnog Cookies
Homemade Turtle candies
Eggnog Truffles
Peppermint Truffles
Decorative Chocolate Dipped Pretzle Rods

Hope this gives you some ideas that you can use.

Im making english Toffee...snowballs,sugar cookies,cupcakes,rum balls....


Hey Lita829....I like some of your choices...Mmmmm

Just downloaded a recipe for Homemade Twix Bars. May have to try that one out on my co-workers. (They never complain!)

I'm going to do some of Bakerella's cake pops....santa hats, trees and snowmen. Too cute!

Speaking of which..I just ordered Bakerella's cake pop book for me for Christmas..Yipee!!

These sound great. Keep them coming; I'll be back with my list shortly.

I'll be keeping it simple this year since we're in temporary housing, and the kitchen is very small. So far I've decided on:
Sugar Cookies (old-fashioned, not decorated)
Decorated sugar cookies
Stuffed Cookies (grandma's recipe)
Oatmeal Carmelitas
Pumpkin Bread
Buckeyes
Fudge

Scarlet, I just looked at those they are too cute. I'm going to have to try those. Thanks for the suggestion.

Excuse me... did someone say stuffed cookies? Um...do tell! I love baking for family during the holidays, I guess I need to get on it. You guys are 10 steps ahead of me!

There is a big tradition of baking TONS of cookies for Christmas in my family. It started with my grandmother when I was a child (I'm now 29), and possibly even before that. As my grandmother aged, my mom started helping her ... they would do somewhere upwards of 26 different varieties of cookies ... some double and triple batches! They would spend the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas baking off all these cookies ... old family recipes, some new, some revised. They'd pop the baked cookies in the freezer until it was time to put the cookie trays together ... and those there would be about 30 of, if my memory serves me correctly. After my grandmother passed away, the tradition belonged to my mother. I'd help her from time to time, on the more labor intensive ones. There were still the tried and true favorites that if they weren't present, it just wouldn't be Christmas. She would also do more than 2 dozen varieties. Everyone would say she did too much, but if their cookie wasn't there, they'd be disappointed. hahaha. In March 2005 my mother passed away at the age of 55 from cancer. When the holiday season rolled around, a friend of mine came to me and said "there has to be Christmas cookies, it isn't Christmas without them, but I don't want you to do them alone this year". And so she helped me. Oh we made a complete mess. Cookie dough flying around. Ingredients going missing. Forgetting ingredients. I even dropped a tray of scalding hot cookies INTO the oven because I picked the tray up with my bare hand. But what remains most prominent, was that the tradition remained ... even with a grief-stricken 24 year old. I've since made the tradition my own. I do my own thing. Have since learned to balance my time and ingredients and now I can whip out those cookies like no one's business. I don't do the 24+ varieties, but I usually get about 15. And like my friend said to me 5 years ago, there has to be Christmas cookies because it's just not Christmas without them.

To get back to the actual original post ... I have indeed started making my list so that I can start gathering ingredients. Haven't completely nailed down the exact 15 I'm doing, looking to rotate in a couple of new ones.

Thanks for this post, it's a nice change of pace.

Jamielc that was a nice story. This will be my first Christmas doing something like this. I've been redecorating the house and I can't find my book with my list of recipes I want to try; I'll post it when I find it.

Thank you so much, Lita829, for your kind words. I learned to bake at my grandmother and mother's apron strings. It was a natural course of action that I would pick it up as well. They were both also tremendous cooks, that doesn't interest me as much, though I can hold my own. Baking is my thing, my passion. My decorated cakes often are birthday cakes for my younger cousins (ages 15-21) and serve as my gifts to them. Our family is very big on tradition. It was my mother's legacy, and a duty I take very seriously and love every minute of.

We usually buy gifts for my DH's Dad/Stepmom, Mom, Grandma, and his 3 siblings and their spouses. This year, money is tight, so I'm making HUGE baskets for everyone, and so far this is my list:

Peanut Brittle with Mini Hammer
Soup Can Breads
Cinnamon Rolls with Maple Icing Containers
Chocolate Covered Oreos
Vanilla Caramels
Frozen Christmas Cookie Dough

I MIGHT do some cookies, but I'm just not sure. I'm actually wanting to make them a little more fancy, that is why I'm including cookie dough (homemade) with a tag that has the instructions on how to bake them.

I've just taken a batch of mini fruit cakes out of the oven (2 inch diameter) which i will be covering with marzipan and sugarpaste and lots of festive decorations. They are ridiculously cute and smell divine! Last year i did mini gingerbread houses which were very popular too.

(I've tried to do a link but these things rarely work for me!)
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4099857&l=46a84b3208&id=640671833

I have often wanted to bake and give this as a gift, but I just need to ask a question. What do you do with all the cookies that are baked until it is time to pass out your goodie baskets? Are they stored neatly in a freezer?

Some of your list include like 10+ recipes - thats a lot of cookies.

Thanks, Teresa

Wow! Ok - so how long do you leave them or could you leave them in their baskets before passing them on to their new owners. I guess I am a little paranoid of mold and stuff like that.

My DH and I will actually be on vacation, and are using a friend's kitchen. We will be making everything the day of handing one off, and the day before giving out the other 5.

I have started thinking about Christmas baking but haven't even started gift shopping yet, haha! I made some basic cookies, fudge and peanut butter balls last year for my DHs coworkers and want to do the same but better this year. I plan on making some cake pops, especially the santa hat ones in Bakerellas new book. I am going to include some fudge, peanut butter balls, sugar cookies, snickerdoodles and who knows what else. I have been cruising the recipes here looking for some other goodies to add to the list and may just heist some of the suggestions listed here.

This is one of my favorites at the holidays;

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pecan-Lace-Cookies-II/Detail.aspx

Last year, I did gingerbread cookies & oatmeal cranberry cookies for my coworkers.

I made mini red velvet cakes, mini almond pound cakes and mini banana breads for my closer friends.

For family, I did my trademark pineapple upside down cake, each family got two 10 inch rounds - one for each uncle (I have 5) and one for the rest of their family. Each of my uncles can eat an entire cake in one sitting and LOVE my cake because I'm the only person in the family that can make it like how my grandmother does! Doesn't sound very Christmasy, but on an island, pineapple upside down cakes are a staple!

This year, I'm actually working on creating my own fruit cake recipe. I'm combining elements from a traditional English style cake (which tends to be brandy based cakes), with a traditional Caribbean style cake (which are extremely dark, almost black in colour and rum based). I know in the US fruit cakes are sort of like the cake everyone hates, but in the Caribbean and in the UK, they are delicious, moist cakes that are almost like a steamed pudding. They are REALLY delicious!

This year the plan is to do fruitcakes, sugar cookies with mmf, eggnog cakes, peppermint pattie cakes (chocolate and mint cakes), and "christmas wreaths".

I definitely have Christmas on the brain though! Every time I have some leftover cake or cupcakes, I'm decorating it with Christmas stuff! You can see some of my Christmas "practice" in my photos.

You guys are impressive with your long lists! I would like to be neighbors with all of you so I could get a taste of each and every delectable mentioned! I'm a more simple gal myself - mostly to keep my sanity. Last year I made cake pops for family and friends. They were a HUGE hit. This year I think I'm going to do filled cupcakes with the little melting snowman figure on top of each one. However, there's a good chance I'll change my mind 10-20 times before the holiday season hits. It's a girl's perogative, right?

Caymancake, i've come up with a wonderful fruit cake recipe you may be interested in - it's based on a british rich fruit cake with lots of extra flavours added: zest and juice of lemon / zest and juice of orange / grated nutmeg / cinnamon / all spice and instead of brandy i use courvoisier (more mellow than brandy). Can't wait til christmas to eat it!

Emmar308, that sounds heavenly; would you mind pm'ing the recipe to me please? Thank you.

Do you guys put all your baked cookies together when you package them as gifts? Don't the flavors mingle and not in a good way?

You all must have some serious willpower to have so many cookies in the house.