Baking Weekend 2025

This past weekend Two weekends ago was our annual Baking Weekend. Baking Weekend started as Baking Day twenty-five-ish years or so ago. It became quickly apparent that just a day wasn't going to work, and we expanded to Friday night for dough prepping, then baking all day Saturday. Then, that wasn't quite enough time to get everything done, and we expanded to baking on Sunday as well. Every year, it's a production, and I'm so thankful that Mom has the beautiful lodge and hosts our craziness.

This year, we had a little surprise! My Staci's daughter, S, joined us for the first time since she was a wee one. It's been 15 years and she's now in college! On top of that, my nieces and nephew decided to join us (usually one or two come up, but to have all three is a treat). AND ... the day before Baking Weekend, this little video popped up in my Facebook Memories:

The kids were so little! Now, they're (almost) all grown-ass humans, Asset being the exception, but she's a senior in high school. With all four of the not-so-littles at the lodge together for the first time in 15 years, we had a brief thought of re-enacting the video, but we were way too busy for that. Instead, we made them pose for pictures around the magic window cookies.

The pictures of the four of them were taken on Sunday, as we were wrapping up, so the pictures are out of order, but I'm just so excited and thrilled by this happiness, I had to share it right away.

After almost 30 years of doing baking weekend, you'd think we would have it all sorted out and we'd be a smooth, cookie baking machine, right? The truth is, we always get it done, but there's usually a lot of chaos involved. This year, however, we made a couple of changes that did turn us into a nice, smoothly running machine.

Annual group picture with my girls.

First, instead of piling ingredients onto the counter in the corner of the kitchen, we set up a six foot table outside the kitchen and piled everything there. That eased up congestion in the kitchen - we went out to the table to get the ingredients we needed for specific projects, then returned everything back to the table when we were finished.

A moment of brilliance that made everyone's life so much easier.

Several years ago, we started to prep the doughs that needed to chill on Friday night so that they'd be ready to go Saturday morning. For that, we are a well-oiled machine. We've had years of practice. We can crank out six batches of magic window cookie dough and a batch of gingerbread in less than an hour. Three of us got bowls, two of us measured out everything and dumped them into the bowls, and Mom supervised and washed bowls between batches. It works like a charm.

It's also the perfect time for us to catch up with each other before the real craziness starts Saturday morning. 

Mom keeps our tally board from year to year, and it's always fun to look back to see what we did the previous year. It looks like we were slacking a bit in 2023 with only 936 (78 dozen) cookies made. I'd have to look back at my memories to see why we did so few. 2024 was more of a normal year for us, with 1,420 (118.3 dozen) cookies made. That's pretty much our average, I think.

On Saturday, we usually jump right into our baking projects after breakfast, but this year, I suggested that we knock out the easiest projects first before moving into the more involved ones, and to leave the magic window cookies and gingerbread for later in the day when there were more hands to help. Nebalee's crew always comes in on Saturday afternoon and stays through Sunday.

Robs always comes up with fun projects, and this year she made peppermint Grinch cookies that were super easy and so very tasty.

These Grinch cookies were a hit!

We hit our groove pretty quickly and cookies started flying out of the kitchen. Not many action photos were taken, because we were having fun and cranking out the cookies. About noon, though, hunger for actual food, not cookie dough, kicked in and we paused long enough to munch on some real food.

The table filling up quickly.

After we recharged our batteries with lunch and a brief sit-down, we were back at it. We put S to work crushing the jolly ranchers for the magic window cookies. It was a lot easier for her this time than it was when she was just a four year-old and the mallet was as heavy as she was.

Nebalee and her boo showed up in the afternoon, followed by her kids, and their energy invigorated us. By the end of the day, we had quite a list of cookies completed, a full table, and we were dog tired.

Us, too, Reba. Us, too.

Saturday night's cookie-laden table.

Tally as of the end of day one.

Breakfast on Sunday was lively, with everyone there, which made my heart happy. As a raging introvert, it's not often that I jump into and relish chaos because it's absolutely exhausting in a family of extreme extroverts. However, a couple of times a year, my heart overflows with happiness at the chaos.

Sunday was primarily finishing up magic window cookies (the magnetic tally board stayed in the kitchen for easier tallying) and gingerbread. This year, our first batch of gingerbread refused to come together, so we whipped up another one and added water until the dough started looking and feeling "right", even though the recipe doesn't call for additional liquids.

Mid-morning, it was time to start packing up everyone's cookie bags/boxes/trays. I neglected to get a full table picture, but even after the packing up started, there were plenty on the table.

The table looked decimated, and we panic-baked a batch of Christmas M&M cookies that we'd forgotten to bake on Saturday. Once those hit the table, everything looked much better and we resumed packing up.

One of my jobs is the official tally nagger. We all love to know how much we baked each year, and I nag everyone to write their tallies down. This year, we had a record-breaking year! All cookies. Some years, we've counted any non-cookie items as well, such as fudge or chocolate-covered pretzels. This year's tally was strictly cookies.

Yes, that says 126 dozen!

There were a few left for Mom's cookie gift trays, and for her to put some magic window cookies up on the tree.

The biggest question we get every year is, "What do you do with all of those cookies?!"

We give them away. Every last one finds a home with friends/family/co-workers. Even with 126 dozen split between all of us, I realized that I forgot to make a box for a friend of ours, so Jay and I quick whipped up more Aztec and pumpkin spice cookies last night for today's deliver.

It's Almost Time For Baking Weekend!

Just a few more days and my girls (minus Staci, who is living the life on her boat with her family) will be joining me for baking weekend!  We are a cookie baking factory over the weekend and I can't wait.

However, there is one thing I can guarantee I won't be baking this year and it's these puppies (or should I say cubs?).

(Reposted from 12/11/11)

My girls came!

Robs, Sue, Staci, Me :)
I love my girls.

They did lots of this...

This is Robs' double batch in a single batch bowl -
I was super impressed she managed.

And this...

Which resulted in these...

They were baking machines.
(Yes, SGG, there was alcohol involved)

I did zero cookie baking.  Zero.  I kinda felt bad about it, but I was focused on a project I've been contemplating for two years now.  I don't even know where I first saw these Snow Globe Coca-Cola Cupcakes, but ever since I saw them, I've been wondering if I could pull something like that off.


I mean, look at them...

Photo cred: Bakerella

In fact, I was pretty sure I couldn't pull them off, but I've been getting braver in the kitchen.  Last year, we had success with the bococcini.


So I gathered up my courage and hit the stores looking for what I would need: Coke in the "ornament" plastic bottles, rolled fondant, an edible pen, and a red sugar sheet. I followed the directions that I found on Bakerella.

I used the bears on the wrappers as inspiration.

Beel even got in on the act...

See the bandaid on the back of his hand?
Yeah, I wasn't sure that I should allow him to use a knife.
I'm happy to report that he still has all of his fingers.

I even tried the Cola Cake recipe that Bakerella linked to.  It was one jacked up recipe.  I've never baked cupcakes from scratch, but I'm a direction following fool.  I read the recipe a couple of times, and then obsessively referred to it while I was making the cake stuff.

Butter, veggie oil, cocoa, and Coke.
It's not quite as gross as it sounds.

I brought that crazy concoction to a boil and added it to the dry ingredients, which included a cup and a half of marshmallows...

It didn't taste too bad,
for a diabetic coma in a bowl.

I then baked up a batch of the cupcakes.  They were awful.  They fell, which was a bummer.  But they didn't taste so wonderful either.  Plan B - store-bought Devil's Food cake mix.  Win!!


While I was waiting for Nebalee to come up to the lodge with my Plan B, I worked on the fondant.  Oh God, what a disaster that was.  The store must have put out last year's fondant, because it was a brick.  I had to break it open and scoop out the inside just to have any to work with.

I lost easily half of the fondant I bought - the outside was unuseable.

Staci and Little Miss 'Mantha helped make the fondant bears.

Staci was a bear making fiend!  I made two.  She whipped out the rest.  Wait...Nebalee made the little cub.  Aren't they cute?

I used the red sugar sheet to cut out their scarves,
instead of the fondant recommended by Bakerella.

Auto Bot and Kyzzer helped me prep the snow globes...

We sprayed the inside of the bottles with sugar water
and then the kids sprinkled them with sugary thingies.

Mom and Nebalee put snow on the cupcakes after I frosted them...

And then I got to assemble...

Oh. My. God.
I can't tell you how thrilled I am with them!

They're not quite as polished as the ones at Bakerella, but then, neither am I.  I'm so not a professional baker - I'm pretty sure that once-a-year baking doesn't count - but I am beside-myself-excited about these cupcakes!

I'll post about the rest of Baking Weekend when I come down from my cupcake success high.

Baking Weekend

I'm a little late posting this, as Baking Weekend is always the second weekend in December and here it is, just two days before December ends.  Yikes.  I always have grand plans for getting my blogging done and then it just doesn't happen. I've been off from work for a week now and I'm just now feeling like turning on the computer.  I guess it just goes to show how badly I needed a "brain break".

Before we could head up to the Lodge to start baking, we had to celebrate Ashinator's 21st birthday (how did that happen?!) at the Rio so she could have her first (legal) marg.  Rumor has it that the Rio margs are the most potent in town.  I'm not certain about it, but they do have a 3 marg limit, so maybe.

Happy Birthday, Ashinator!

Staci is still on her boat with her family, so we missed her again this year.  It did work out, though, that she was some place with WiFi and we could FaceTime with her.  It was so good to see her and the kids and have them join us for a bit, even if it was via computer.  Robs was even kind enough to sample all of the cookie dough for her.

Sue and Robs with Staci

It's actually kind of hard to bake and hold a phone at the same time.

While I didn't have any big new recipes planned for the day, Robs did.  It's a chocolate cookie sandwich with a peppermint filling, rolled in crushed candy canes.  It's essentially a diabetic coma in cookie form.

Spreading the peppermint filling

Don't they look amazing?

But, seriously, check your blood sugar after eating one.

My girls.  Don't know what I'd do without them.

Some of the fruits of our labor.

Mom's "pretty" Christmas tree

Nebalee's family went Christmas tree hunting in the morning, so they were a little late getting up to join us.  Mrs. Junior and her son also joined us later in the day. That way, we can work in "shifts" in the kitchen.

The Lodge is so beautiful in the winter.

Robs and me

Jay and me.  He's such a goober :)

We had planned on having the triplets with us, but Robs let them stay home with her wife, which freed us up to do more baking.  Let's be honest, if we'd had the babies with us, there wouldn't have been much baking going on.  The "aunties" would be too busy playing with the girls.

It seemed like we really scaled back on what we baked, but we still ended up with a ton and a half of cookies.  Our final cookie count for the weekend was:

Magic Window Cookies: 106
Gingerbread Cookies (Mom's recipe): 47
Peanut butter Cookies: 37
Aztec Cookies: 180
Oatmeal-mint chip Cookies: 130
Chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies: 38
M&M Cookies: 90
Peanut Butter Kisses cookies: 50
Mini-gingerbread cookies (mix): 50
Medium gingerbread cookies (mix): 12
Butterballs: 152
Chocolate-dipped Coffee Cup Cookies: 40
Fudge: 10#
Magic cookie bars: 72
Plus some toffee and a couple hundred pretzel/kisses/M&M thingies.

Ashinator did the math, it's something like 1004 cookies (okay, maybe it's only half a ton).  Since we still have some left, I'm guessing we over-did it a tad (we didn't mail as many out this year - mailing has gotten expensive!).  But, as usual, it was a blast and I can't wait to do it again next year.