December 23, 2015

Easy Christmas Baking Day

Martie Food and Recipes chocolate chip cookies, Chocolate Scotcheroos, Christmas traditions with kids, Easy Christmas baking, easy Christmas treats recipes 2 Comments

Easy Christmas Baking Day

I’m all about easy Christmas baking…everything is so hectic this time of year, so why wouldn’t I want to keep things simple? Even though we’re running around like the Griswolds being chased by a squirrel, I still want to make our favorite holiday treats. I carve out a day each year to bake, because it’s such a huge part of Christmas for us.

Today is my Christmas baking day, and my kids are still asleep. They said last night that they wanted to sleep all day, so they wouldn’t have to be so tortured waiting for tomorrow and Friday! I told them not to wish their lives away, as any good adult would do. They laughed in my face!

I bet if I start baking, the smells will wake them up and make them like it…don’t you think?

Christmas Traditions with Kids

You guys all know about my love of Pinterest. I can kill many an hour looking for recipes, craft ideas, makeup looks…you name it. I recently started a board called Christmas Treats, because I make the same things every single year, and thought it might be nice to do some different goodies this year. You should check out the great stuff I pinned! However, the girls would have none of it. They are steeped in tradition, just like their mother.

When our kids came into our lives, I wanted so badly to instill all of the Christmas traditions that I grew up with, as do most Moms. We just don’t realize what we’re setting ourselves up for! Once my girls got a little older (and my Pinterest addiction began to grow), I started thinking about mixing things up a bit and trying new things. Well…my traditions had become their traditions by then, so they balked. “But we NEEEEED to have this, and it’s just not Christmas without those!” I remember all too well whining the same things to my own Mom. Sigh. Once you start Christmas traditions with kids, there’s just no turning back.

easy christmas treats recipes

So, I’ll be making our staples. Chocolate Scotcheroos,

and Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies.

Those photos are compliments of RiceKrispies.com and VeryBestBaking.com, respectively. I can’t show you mine because I haven’t made them yet, silly! I’ll post some later on Instagram. If you click these photos it will take you to their recipes on those sites. The recipe links above are the recipes I use, and always have, to make these two Christmas staples. I went ahead and pinned these two recipes to my Christmas Treats board, so if you’re following me on Pinterest (which you should be!), you can just re-pin.

easy christmas baking, my way

I have mentioned those Nestles Toll House cookies here before, which you may remember from my post Best Football Food Ideas. There are some really great tips in that post for my cookie baking method…they come out perfect every time!

Okay, and I fibbed a little on the Chocolate Schotcheroos…I do those a little differently than the Rice Krispies recipe. I use a whole 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips and a whole 12 oz. bag of butterscotch chips. We’ve been making these little treats since I was a child, and that’s how we’ve always done it. I don’t even respect that silly, thin chocolate-butterscotch layer that’s pictured.

A tip on the Scotcheroos: cutting them in to small, candy-sized bars is great for sharing. I love to cut them huge, as shown, but they’d be gone too quickly if I gave away big ‘ol chunks like that. Also, it’s imperative that you eat them all up in about 3 days, because they get hard as a rock after that. The only reason I know this is because one year Madre and I both made a batch…mine never last more than 2 days, anyway.

sneaking in some newbie recipes

I might experiment with some other fun goodies, but only after these important ones are done and cooling. My girls have left Chocolate Scotcheroos and chocolate chip cookies for Santa every year, and they aren’t about to change it now!!

What are you baking for Christmas? Do you love to make candies and cakes and treats? Are you a fan of easy Christmas baking, or do you like more elaborate, labor-intensive recipes? I’d love to hear about your favorites, and what you leave for Santa! We also love to make chocolate peppermint milkshakes on Christmas Eve night to enjoy while we prepare Santa’s plate. If I’m being honest, I really love our traditions as much as Pooh and Tigger.

Here’s an update: The results of my Christmas baking day. Yes, that’s real mistletoe, shot down out of a tree with a 12-gauge the way it’s supposed to be. As you can see, I snuck in some different easy Christmas treats recipes…cool, creamy peppermint fudge, and the simplest drop candy ever. That’s what I call easy Christmas baking! (**note the thick, delicious chocolate-butterscotch layer on my Scotcheroos!)