Christmas Baking with the Kids

Every year, we do Christmas baking. I like the end result, but the process is challenging. 6 kids in the kitchen, flour flying, fighting over whose turn it is, trying to make 5 different things and messes everywhere. All of these factors are a recipe for bad memories and grumpy muffins. So, this year, I changed it. I decided to bake one item with each kid. They could pick what they wanted to make. It gave us one-on-one time together. Each kid got to do way more than if we were all baking together, the mess was easier to manage, and it was much more enjoyable for me. I think this is a tradition I will keep!!

Cody was first. He chose to make fudge. We made a plain batch and a batch with walnuts.

We like to bake in our jammies.

Yummy!

The finished product!

Sam chose chocolate truffles. These are the most time consuming of our treats, but they are definitely my favorite!

Mixing the ingredients

Forming the truffles

The best part: enjoying our hard work.

Abby chose to make Chocolate Oatmeal No-bake cookies.

Working at the stove

Mixing it all up

The finished product

Lauren's favorite Christmas treat is Peppermint Snowball Cookies.

Crushing the peppermints

Cooking with my girl

Lovely, artsy photo

The finished product

I decided to let Isaiah and Laila help me make the sugar cookie dough for our cookie decorating contest. We needed 2 batches so they each got to do one.

We all have on our aprons for baking

Isaiah is a serious baker

His ball of dough completed

Just had to share their cuteness

Laila's turn

Mixing the dough

Meltdown in the middle of the baking.

She got mad and scratched Isaiah.

Laila's batch of dough

It was fun!! I can actually say it was fun. That is good. I enjoyed baking with them, and the whole family has enjoyed the treats we made.