Fun, Kid-Friendly Christmas Baking Tips and Recipes (Allergen-Free Options Included!)

It’s such a romantic image, two smiling children, standing on chairs, flanking you.  You are dressed in your most festive Christmas apron which coordinates with their pint-sized chef hats.  Happily you all cut, bake and decorate cookies that would rival anything Martha Stewart and Paula Deen could collectively whip up and the entire day will go down in scrapbook history as one of the best Christmas memories of all time.  Then you wake up.  The kids are fighting over the star-shaped cookie cutter even though there are five more on the table.  You and the kitchen floor are covered in flour and you cringe when you turn around to see that you have an entire second half of the dough to roll out and cut…would anyone notice if you just threw it in the trash?  Whose idea was this anyway?!

Baking, like any project with your kids, goes much more smoothly with some forethought.  Here are some suggestions and recipes for making cookie baking more kid and mommy-friendly.

• Choose your recipes carefully.  Some cookie recipes are very high maintenance.  There is nothing wrong with making intricate cookies at Christmas but let’s leave the kids out of it.  Recipes that allow the kids to sprinkle colored sugar, use cookie cutters and roll dough into cinnamon are all good recipes.  Recipes that require beating egg whites into stiff peaks and gently folding them into the batter are not.

• Read your recipe in advance.  Make sure you have all of the ingredients on hand.  Don’t assume that you have vanilla in the cupboard or butter in the refrigerator.  Gather your ingredients in one place to make sure you have enough of them to finish the recipe without unexpected trips to the store, flour-covered kids in tow.  

• Don’t try to do it all in one day; break up the process into steps.  After reading through the recipe, look for natural breaks.  For example, if the dough can be refrigerated try making the dough and then finishing the cookies the next day.  Kids have short attention spans and this will help to keep them out of trouble and interested in the task at hand.

• Decide where in the recipe that you want the kids to help.  If they are very young you might not want them around a hot oven or the electric mixer.  It may be best to make the dough yourself and then bring them in for the rolling, cutting or decorating.

• If you are baking with more than one child, give them each a job so that you aren’t crowded in the kitchen.  One child can be in charge of measuring and adding the dry ingredients, one can mix the wet ingredients, etc.

• Before you start, explain kitchen safety to your children.  For example, no one touches the oven, stove or microwave without an adult.  No one puts their hand in the mixing bowl when the mixer is running.  Always ask for help with pouring and carrying heavy containers.

• Don’t miss an opportunity for learning.  Use measuring cups to teach them about fractions.  Explain why you need to use the back of a knife or other straight-edge to level off the flour and why it’s important to break the eggs into a separate bowl before adding them to the batter.  Teachable moments abound when you are cooking with your kids.

• Most importantly, have fun!  The process is more important than the outcome.  Don’t expect your cookies to look like they belong on the cover of a magazine.  This is a chance for you to bond with your children and allow them an opportunity to foster their creativity in the kitchen.

Here are a few kid-friendly (and, consequently, mommy-friendly) recipes to try this holiday season.

Peanut Blossoms (with allergy-friendly suggestions)

48 chocolate candy kisses


1/2 cup butter or vegan butter spread


3/4 cup creamy peanut butter


1/3 cup granulated sugar 


1/3 cup packed light brown sugar


1 egg (or 1 T. of ground flaxmeal mixed with 3 T. of water)


2 tablespoons milk (or non-dairy milk such as soy, almond or rice milk)


1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or your favorite GF flour mix, such as Pamela’s*)


1 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
Granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolates. Beat butter and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt*; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in granulated sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Immediately press a chocolate into center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.
*When making the gluten-free version, add 1 tsp. of xanthan gum to the dry ingredients.  (GF suggestions modified from Gluten-Free is Life)

 
Reindeer Cookies

Using the Peanut Blossom recipe above, omit the candy kisses and add:
Red M&M’s 
Chocolate Chips


Small pretzel twists



Mix the dough according to the recipe above.   When placing the cookies onto the baking sheet, flatten the cookie balls into circles about ¼ in. thick using your fingers or the bottom of a glass.  While the cookies bake, break off the rounded edges of the pretzels, leaving the middle “Y” portion for the reindeer antlers.  After baking the cookies, immediately press one red M&M into the center of the cookie for a nose, press two chocolate chips above the M&M for eyes and place two pretzel “Y’s” on either side of the top of the cookie for antlers.

 
Classic Sugar Cookies
(from Cuisine at Home’s Holiday Cookie Book)


When making these cookies with kids, it is best to do them in three phases.  Phase 1 – making the dough.  Phase 2 – rolling, cutting and baking the cookies.  Phase 3 – decorating the cookies.  We did them in three days and it was a lot of fun, not at all stressful.

1 ½ c. all-purpose flour


½ t. baking powder


½ t. salt


½ c. butter, softened


1/3 c. sugar


¼ c. powdered sugar


1 egg


2 T. heavy cream


1 t. vanilla extract

Whisk flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.  Cream together butter and both sugars with a mixer until smooth.  Scrape down the side of the bowl.  Blend egg, cream and vanilla into the butter mixture.  Add half the dry ingredients, mix until nearly incorporated, then blend in remaining dry ingredients.  Shape dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and chill at least 2 hours before rolling it out.  (Dough may be frozen for up to 1 month.  Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Cut chilled dough in half and return one portion to the refrigerator.  Roll the other half on a well-floured surface to about 1/8 inch thick.  To prevent the dough from sticking as you roll it, flip it over often, especially in the early stages of rolling.  Re-flour the surface and the dough as needed, and work quickly to prevent the dough from warming and softening too much.  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  Transfer cookies to baking sheets, spacing about ½ inch apart.  Bake about 10-12 minutes, or until set and lightly golden around the edges.  Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.  See icing recipe and decorating tips below.  Makes approx. 2 dozen 3” cookies.

Allergy-Friendly Classic Sugar Cookies
(from The Gluten-Free Girl)
 
1 cup rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 teaspoons xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 eggs or 1/4 cup liquid egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup potato starch, for kneading
 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Have on hand 2 ungreased cookie sheets.
 
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour mix, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Set aside.  In the bowl of your mixer, cream sugar and butter. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients, mixing enough to combine. The dough will be a soft ball. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight.  With your hands, knead in enough of the potato starch to make the dough easy to handle and roll out. Using about half at a time and leaving the other half in the refrigerator, place a piece of plastic wrap over the ball and roll out to about 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut into desired shapes and place on pan.  Bake for 11-13 minutes depending on your oven temperature.  Cool very slightly before removing from the pan.  Decorate as desired (see icing recipe and decorating tips below).

Decorating Your Sugar Cookies
After the cookies have cooled there are several options for decorating them.  To save yourself some time and frustration, make and color the icing and have all of the decorations out and ready to go before the kids join you to help.
Royal Icing - Beat together for four minutes (until stiff peaks form) 1 lb. of powdered sugar (about 4 cups), 1/3 cup of water and 2 T. powdered eggs whites/meringue powder.  The powdered egg whites will allow the icing to harden so that the cookies can be stacked without ruining your designs.  To tint the icing, put a drop of food coloring on the end of a toothpick and mix into a small bowl of the icing until the desired color is achieved.  

• For background icing, thin the recipe above with a few drops of water until the icing is an easily spreadable consistency.
• For piping icing, use the thicker icing in a piping bag or make your own piping bag.  Scoop the icing into a plastic zip bag and squeeze it to one corner.  Cut off the tip of the corner and begin creating!
• For decorating with colored sugar - warm a small bowl of light corn syrup.  Using small paint brushes paint the cookies with corn syrup.  Working quickly, sprinkle colored sugar or other candy decorations on the cookies.  Allow them to sit until the corn syrup has hardened.
  

To store leftover icing, place in an airtight container.  Before closing the lid, place a piece of plastic wrap on top and press it into the top of the icing to prevent it from drying out.  Store in the refrigerator.