Lately: Creating Holiday Traditions (Sponsored by Nestle Toll House)
Lately, I have been contemplating holiday traditions. Some of my fondest memories of the holiday season took place in my grandmother’s kitchen. We spent hours each day in that kitchen all year round, but Christmas time was especially fun since it was the only time we really got creative. That creativity came in the form of decorating cookie cutouts. The tin cookies cutters were a very special thing. We used to beg and plead for the cutters to trace the shapes onto construction paper for art projects. Now that I think of it, we never did rinse them off so we probably also enjoyed ingesting some pencil graphite. Rolling out the dough and stamping out our shapes was rather therapeutic, even 35 years ago. Looking back, I can understand why grandma never seemed to mind the baking. Although, perhaps she didn’t mind because we were her grandkids and her own kids were out of the house for a long time by then. It is easier to enjoy those moments when it isn’t part of the daily drudgery.
I find the daily drudgery to be a challenge when I am trying to help create fun memories for my own kids. Life with a four year, a two year old, and three month old can be hectic. The thought of rolling out dough in my tiny kitchen with very minimal workspace, while diapers and bottles need washing, sounds more chore than treat. However, I was determined we would make some sort of holiday treats this year to kickoff my hopeful goals of continuing on the cookie tradition. My mom already owns the gingerbread house tradition, so I can settle for cookie cutouts.
Now, up until this most recent baby was born, I was still a cooking and baking dynamo if I do say so myself. Those days are temporarily over. These days it is all about being realistic. So, I have no qualms about using pre-made cookie dough. After glancing at the ingredient list of Nestle Rolled & Ready Cookie Dough Sheets, I came to the conclusion they were made with the exact same ingredients I would have likely used anyway, so away we went with our new/old tradition.
We spent our “quiet time”, (AKA the nap time that never really happens) laying out cookie dough sheets and stamping out little gingerbread men, snowmen, snowflakes, and Christmas trees. While sprinkling colored sugar and decorative candies on the unbaked master pieces, I regretfully though about how old the decorative colored sugar could possibly be since it so rarely comes out of the cabinet. Thinking of it, I grabbed leftover candies from the Halloween bucket to add some fresher ingredients! Lucky, being four, really loved this project. Of course he loves any art project judging by the 1500 or so he has brought home from preschool. Wyn is more of a tornado inspired mess maker. What can I say, she is hyper and two.
We ended up with two dozen cookies and a near stress free afternoon.
Things I learned:
1. It doesn’t have to be made from scratch to be good and fun.
2. Convenience is a mom’s best friend.
3. My oven has to be seriously off because once again, I had to bake something for twice as long as the instructions indicate. Add another reason to the list of reasons why I need to save up for a kitchen renovation. I need a new oven anyway! Right?
4. Don’t leave cookies unattended when a kid can just push a chair up to the counter and grab what he wants and eat them all. Tummy aches ensue. Sugar highs get wild. The chocolate goatee under his mouth was rather cute though.
The chocolate cookie sheets were a fun twist. You can also find Rolled and Ready Cookie Dough Sheets in sugar cookie and gingerbread. The gingerbread sheets seem like they would be awesome for making gingerbread houses. Checkout more Nestle Rolled and Ready Cookie Dough Sheet recipes. Make sure to checkout the #TollHouseTime hashtag on instagram and twitter to see what other people are doing with their Nestle Rolled and Ready Cookie Dough Sheets! I personally suggest taking those leftover candy bars from Halloween, cutting them into slices, and wrapping the slices in the chocolate dough sheets. It makes a super rich cookie chocoholics will love.
*This article is sponsored by Nestle Toll House