I love this time of year. When fall rolls around I get even more excited about baking than I do any other time of the year. Summer ends and the real baking begins. The last months of the year are full of special reasons to spend time with family, share smiles, and bake sweet memories.
One of my favorite baking memories is making pecan pies with my uncle. We make them every year around Christmas but I thought I’d share the recipe with you again a little early this year. It’s too good to wait until December.
My grandmother used to make these pecan pies. Her recipe made three perfect pies at a time. She made them every year for family and friends. She loved it. And when she became less able to keep up with the same quantity of pies she liked to make, my uncle Ronnie became the official pie maker. He doesn’t bake and he’s not really a dessert guy but he makes a mean pecan pie. He’s been making them now for well over a decade since my grandmother passed away. He’s continued making them every year for friends and family to carry on his Mama’s tradition. And now I bake with him every year I can and if not I make sure to bake them in my own kitchen. It’s our family’s way of keeping her with us during the holidays.
And the pies are delicious too, so that’s awesome.
Of course, I had to put my touch on them and make them mini. Major cute. But I still wrap them just like she did. Simple and sweet. I love these refrigerated and I eat them like a giant pecan pie cookie.
Here’s the recipe how my grandmother made it and here’s a link to the original post with step-by-step photos demonstrated by my uncle and a little more about my grandmother.
And keep scrolling for a fun giveaway below…
Mama's Pecan Pies
Ingredients
Instructions
In a separate bowl, crack open six eggs. Remove the “roosters” and loosely beat the eggs with your spoon.
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And now, I’d love for you to share your favorite baking memory.
Holiday or any day.
You could be the lucky baker to win a KitchenAid Stand Mixer and a Williams-Sonoma Gift Card.
- Prize includes a KitchenAid Stand Mixer (valued at approximately $650) and a $200 Williams-Sonoma gift card. Approximate Retail Value: $850. Tasty!
- Giveaway runs from September 24, 2012 at 12:00 am ET through October 8, 2012 at 11:59 pm ET. Sorry, Time’s Up! Winner will be announced this week.
- One entry per person. You must live in the U.S. for this one (I’m sorry my international friends) and be 18 or over, too to be eligible to win.
- To enter for a chance to win the mixer and gift card, just leave a comment on the website and share your favorite baking memory. And if you don’t have one yet, the giveaway lasts long enough for you to bake one. : )
- One winner will be chosen at random and announced during the week of October 8th in a follow up post here on the site.
- Note that it may take a few minutes for your comment to display.
Good luck guys and I can’t wait to read your baking memories.
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This post is sponsored by Nestlé® Toll House® Morsels, the perfect special ingredient for all of your family’s favorite treats!
I recently started baking more cupcakes and the last time my three year old niece came to visit i decided i would let her help me during the mixing of ingredients and decorating and now she cant stop talking about putting sprinkles on her cupcakes and sing happy birthday while doing it!!
My favorite baking recipe was the time I attempted to make a pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving in Nairobi, Kenya. Things got a little crazy…
I always remember making “press” cookies with my mom at Christmas and decorating them with red hots and colored sugar. Mmmmm…
I have many wonderful memories of baking with my mum as a child. However, my most favorite memories are of baking with my sons whn they were very young. My boys all dolled up in their aprons and chef hats helping me make cookies, cheesecakes and other delicious treats. The yummy treats were only surpassed by the deliciousness of our together time!!
Making oreo truffles for teacher Christmas gifts with my BFF til 2am…let’s just say it was a comedy of errors!
Baking cookies at Christmas time nearly 5 years ago after my sister in law had a brain aneurysm and she was just grasping how to do things again. It’s definitely something I’ll never forget.
My favorite memory would definitely have to be learning how to make pie with my Mama. Like your Uncle, she’s not really a baker except for the holidays. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, she and I bake a Cranberry-Raspberry Pie. It’s not the holidays without one!
My favorite baking memory was the times I made sugar cookies with my mom. She would get mad at my Sister and I for snitching dough, even though she did it too. :)
Last Christmas while my fiance was visiting (we’re long distance), we decided to bake chocolate brownies together. We made a huge mess and the brownies left a lot to be desired, but we put on a comedy and enjoyed the brownies anyway. That same evening we had an incident where he accidentally got a booger in my hair… but that’s another story entirely. That and our goofy brownies did make that day all the more memorable though :)
Anytime my five year old asks to help me bake it’s always an awesome memory :)
One Christmas when I was in grade school, my mom had made several pies to take to my grandparents’ house where we would be visiting with extended family for a few days. We ended up getting stuck at home due to an ice storm, and we were all sad that we couldn’t spend the holiday with our grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. To cheer us up, mom decided we should have pie and ice cream for breakfast on Christmas morning. It has been almost 30 years, and we STILL do it every year!
My grandfather loved oatmeal raisin cookies. I remember hanging out with my grandmother and making them in the kitchen of the big, old house. Flour dust in the air, pans everywhere, and that smell! To this day I love the smell of oatmeal raisin cookies baking, they are my favorite..
I used to love making cinnamon rolls for my family and neighbors. I try to stay away from carbs now so I don’t bake like I used to.
I love that your uncle carried on the family tradition!
My mother used to bake spritz cookies with us every Christmas. We had an unbelievably ancient little cookie press and my little sister and I fought over who got to crank those soft little puppies out.
And then of course we essentially ruined them by covering them with approximately 4 pounds of sugar crystals apiece.
:) But it’s the memories that count, right?
My favorite baking memory is of my grandfather furiously beating together a cream cheese & sugar mixture for my grandma’s batch of Christmas cheesecakes. I was probably 6 or 7 at the time, and I got to help by licking bowl clean.
Making biscuits with my grandma. She never used a recipe but she taught me how to make the most fluffy and tender patty pan biscuits. In fact, I made them last night for the first time in ages and they were just as good as my dearly departed grandma’s.
Mu favorite memory… So hard to chose! The first thing I ever baked on my own were Snickerdoodles (still a favorite). I was 8 and my Mom let me experiment in the kitchen. The only downfall is we did no have any cream of tarter so they came out more like pancakes than cookies. Still yummy, but missing that crunch you expect in a snickerdoodle. I was very proud of my funny little cookies!
My favorite memories involve my little boy, River, using an entire bottle of sprinkles to decorate about 2 cookies. :)
I remember I would always look forward to my Great Grandmas Biscochitos she would always send them in a Christmas tin all the way from Albuquerque,NM to Houston ,TX.. Now shes 95 yrs young and isn’t able to make them so I continue the tradition by making them every Christmas…
My favorite baking memory is the cookie baking spree around Christmas time with my mom. Her gifts to all the adults in the family are always a box with an assortment of our favorite cookies. But being the next in line family baker, I started to help out when I was in high school and it is something I look forward to every year. Not only because I know I’ll love what I am getting for christmas but because I love baking cookies. Now I have added in, thought, cheesecake, so I help bake cookies then I make cheesecake for everyone. I am wanting to start a halloween treat tradition, but haven’t decided on what. Thanks Bakerella!!!
One my favorite baking memories is how my dad would treat my Snickerdoodles like such a treasure and make one batch last for a REALLY long time.
All of my baking memories are with my mom. She’s taught me everything I know, and to this day we still bake together. Whether it is making cupcakes for parties, cookies for a late night snack, or whipping up her famous whoopie pies, baking for me is a way to spend time with my mom even when she is far way.
Every year my mom and I make peanut brittle, factory style! Sheets and sheets cover all the surfaces on the kitchen, and we’re buttered up to our armpits and there’s usually a nasty burn or two and my hair smells sweet for days. I love it!
My favorite baking memories are the ones I am creating with my 4 yr old niece. Since she was 2 she has been at my side baking and decorating cakes with me. Now I have another niece that will soon join me. The time spent with them in the kitchen is precious!!
Last year around Christmas my daughter and her friend wanted to learn how to make homemade bread. We had so much fun. The bread turned out great.
Baking was never a huge tradition in my family while growing up, but when i got married it became an important part of my holidays. Our first year married we couldn’t afford a ton of gifts so instead i decided to bake french silk pies for every family on both of our sides. It was so much fun that i decided to keep doing them every year. I bake something different each year though and i love it. It’s the only major time of the year that i bake.
I have so many but I will have to say baking with my grandma. It’s because of her and the love for my family that I love to bake. My grandma and I would bake pumpkin pies together for.thanksgiving and once she had a hard time getting around I had her “help” me so that she could still be involved. She’s the best!!!!
My grandma used to come to our house on Christmas Eve and make cookies and candy with us. It was a tradition we looked forward to every year for a long time, and we continued to make the same treats after she passed away.
One of my favorite baking memories was very recent. Yesterday I tried to make cheesecake brownie bite cake pops, and as you can see from this photo, it turned out excellent (sarcasm): http://www.flyingpurplehippos.com/meme/NailedItCakeBites.jpg
I laughed, and laughed, and laughed at my terrible results. Oddly, my second favorite baking memory is also when I screwed up big time, haha. I tried taking a cute cupcake photo for my site’s 10th birthday and in five seconds the candle wax melted all over cupcake and was a terrible mess. I’m glad that I can laugh at such things now rather than get upset by them.
The day before Christmas last year my good friend and I spent all day long baking goodies for our friends. We made Santa hat cake pops, Christmas tree cake pops, gingerbread faces, shortbread cookies and it took us all day long. Despite the hard work getting to really spend time with her and just seeing the results made the 12+ hours worth it. We were glad that everyone really enjoyed them as well :)
My favorite baking memory is definitely baking and decorating sugar cookies at Christmastime. All four children in my family would make the dough, select our favorite cookie cutters, and painstakingly decorate each cookie. Our favorite cookies were always left out for Santa. Poor Santa – our house might have been responsible for that big belly!
My favorite baking memory is when my mom came over and taught me how to make my favorite pie, Banana Cream. She makes the best and it was great to see her wisdom in the kitchen!! I hope I can be as good of a cook as she is!
I loved baking cookies with my Aunt every year before Christmas.
Thanks for the giveaway!!
My favorite baking memory: in high school, my best friend and I decided to bake shortbread for the first time. And by the first time, I mean we were baking for the first time ever. The cookies ended up disastrous, like slightly buttery chunks of kitchen tile. We were pretty disappointed, but then my friend’s mom popped one in her mouth and said, “Not bad!” It just goes to show that…some moms have terrible taste. Hahaha. Also, I guess MAYBE it wasn’t a disaster.
My sisters and I attempted to make blueberry bagels. Our confidence was at an all-time high as the previous week, we had successfully make cinnamon-raisin rolls that were absolutely delicious.
After a couple of hours, we were finally at the “roll dough into ropes then join ends and drop in boiling water stage” when a yell was heard. “Oh no! We forgot the blueberries!!”
To this day, we yell out “Oh no! The blueberries!!” when we’ve forgotten something important.
Baking and frosting sugar cookies with my mom. We had sets of Snoopy cookie cutters for Valentines Day, Halloween and Christmas. We would make the cookies and my mom would detail every part of the cookies we would frost….Charlie Brown’s yellow and black shirt, Linus’ blue blanket, Lucy’s blue dress, Snoopy’s red dog house….it was a lot of work but I remember how fun it was to color the frostings and paint each detail. She would pack them my lunch for school and eating them was the best part of the day!
When i was a kid my mom and I used to make peanut butter balls (aka buckeyes) for Christmas. Now it’s my job every year and I always love doing it and bringing them to her house to share.
I bake things with my son now. I hope he has the same fond memories when he grows up.
I would have to say my favorite baking memory would be from when I was around 7 years old with my Nana (Great Grandma on my Mothers side). Nana was this wonderfully elegant old Italian woman who would bake Christmas cookies in ropes of old pearls, a cashmere sweater and Shalimar perfume. I can still see her taking out the antique Pizzelle presses she got from her Mother back in Italy, making the dough, cooking the cookies and telling me stories about how she used to make them when she was a little girl. She would always let me dust on the powdered sugar……….
I was probably about 10 years old and my cousin and I were staying at my grandparent’s house for a couple days in the summer. One night she decided to teach us how to make home-made fudge at mid-night! Not only was the fudge incredible, but we both thought we had the coolest grandma in the world for letting us stay up that late! She still is the best in my book! :)
My favorite baking memories is helping my grandmother make homemade buttermilk biscuits. The biggest biscuit would always go in the center of the round pan and it was by far the best biscuit of the bunch.
My favorite tradition is pretty recent. A bunch of girlfriends and I do a cookie exchange every year around Christmas time. We each bake a cookie recipe to share and have afternoon tea and just enjoy time with each other.
I remember learning to bake with my godmother from a young age, my favorite was baking chocolate chips cookies. Eating the dough was the best part! We always made tons of cookies for the holidays and gave them as gifts.
My favorite bakking memory would be baking cupcakes with my mom! :)
My favorite baking memory is when I baked my dad a cake for the very first time. I was about 9 years old. The cake came out awful but my dad still ate it. Ever since then, I have loved baking.
My favorite baking memories is baking various goodies for Christmas presents with my daughters. One day a year we spend all day baking and making gifts for neighbors, teachers, friends, or whoever. It feels great that they still want to spend that time with me. I hope we will continue to do it for years to come.
I adored sitting at the counter watching my mom as she mixed, kneaded by hand, and shaped loaf after loaf of homemade bread at least once a week for our large family. The smell of her homemade bread baking in the oven cannot be beat.
I loved making Christmas cookies and candies with my Mom. After they were all finished we would make up tray and drive around town delivering them to friends. Now that I have children of my own I love carrying on the same tradition. It’s so much fun spending time together doing something for others!
I made macarons with my best friend this summer! It was a wonderful way to catch up, eat yummy treats, and just have fun. First time making macarons was a success!
Baking and frosting sugar cookies with my mom. We had sets of Snoopy cookie cutters for Valentines Day, Halloween and Christmas. We would make the cookies and my mom would detail every part of the cookies we would frost….Charlie Brown’s yellow and black shirt, Linus’ blue blanket, Lucy’s blue dress, Smoopy’s red dog house….it was a lot of work but I remember how fun it was to color the frostings and paint each detail.
My grandmother and I used to make Christmas goodies together every year since I was old enough to hold a spatula. We continued that tradition until she passed away in 2000. Now I carry on that tradition using her recipes.
During this time of year my mom always canned fall fruits like apples, peaches and pears. We don’t live close anymore so now I have continued this tradition with my daughter. As Christmas gets closer, we use the canned fruits to make cakes, breads and cookies for family and friends.
Definitely baking our family brownie recipe with my mom- they are the best!
My absolute favorite baking memory I have is when I was sometime around five. My dad let me help him bake his apple pie for a contest he was entering. I got to mix the apples by hand with all the cinnamon and sugar. He’d catch me eating a slice of the apple and laugh while fishing one out of the bowl for himself. Our pie even won first place in the contest. But We wouldn’t have cared if we didn’t place at all.
My best memory is when I made a triple berry/ rhubarb pie for work and everyone said it was better then there grandmas.
Mine was in high school. During the Christmas season, I would make my friends assorted cookie gift bags. I loved being in the kitchen baking all day. The whole process was fun, baking putting it all together and delivering them to everyone. :o)
I have too many favorite memories, but as for back as I can remember my Mom always bakes 2 pies during Thanksgiving and Christmas; pumpkin and apple. When I started to get interesting in cooking and baking, she let me help out with them each year since. Now that I’m away in college, I hope I can make it back in time to bake with her and not miss out.
When my mother and father in law started dating, they created a baking tradition. Every year at Christmas, they bake over 15 types of cookies and goodies for at least 20 families. There are plates of cookies all over the house! It’s such a beautiful and delicious site. This tradition has carried on every year. This Christmas will be the 4th Christmas since my father in law passed away. So it makes the tradition that much more special. A new mixer would make the baking much easier for my mother in law!
Our family didn’t make the regular sugar cookies for Christmas. Our cutouts had nutmeg added to the dough..same recipe as when my mom made cookies as a kid. Me, my mom and granny would make dozens of them. Get sick from the dough. Dogs loved them!
Some of the cookie shapes were not christmassy..we’d add witches and lions, whatever we pulled out of the bag.. Then we’d brush them with egg whites when they were still warm and hurry up and add colored sprinkles or chocolate jimmies, never frosted.
Granny would tell stories of how grandpa would decorate some of the cookies. They had fun.
When I got married – she gave me her bag of cookie cutters, I would haul them to my mom and dad’s every year and all 3 of us would bake.
I still use alot of those today. – great memories!
My favorite memory was baking snickerdoodles and russian tea cakes with my mom. Christmastime was filled with tons of yummy things from her kitchen. The smell of vanilla extract takes me back to being a little girl instantly…. :)
My favorite baking memory has turned into an annual tradition. I have my niece over the weekend before Christmas and we do a marathon baking weekend. Cookies, breads & pies galore. We wrap them up in pretty boxes and deliver to family members and friends around town. We’ve done it since she was 4 and we have a blast!! Looking forward to many, many more years of baking fun!
Ive always had good memories baking Christmas cutout cookies with my mom, kids and now my two little grandsons. Fun yummy times!
My favorite baking memory would be making & decorating sugar cookies during Christmastime with my family growing up! It’s something that I do now with my husband & 2 kiddos :) There’s nothing like spending time with those you love & enjoying yummy cookies while you’re at it!
My favorite baking memory was when I was around 8 or 9 years old. I loved baking with my mom, and she finally let me bake a cake all by myself. Unfortunately, I had not mastered cracking eggs, so a few bits of eggshells got baked into the cake. My family was so sweet though and ate it anyway, despite the crunch. :)
My grandmother was blind, and she baked all the time. She would read the braille recipe to me, and I would help her measure things and pour into bowls, etc. My brother and I would get so excited if she messed something up (didn’t rise enough in her opinion or accidentally poked a large hole while testing for doneness), so we would get to eat it! To this day, I still haven’t tasted a better pumpkin pie :)
My mom made cake for the family when there,was a,wedding or even a birthday. My memory would have to be when she was mixing everything I would ask her if I can have a luck of the cake mix and sometimes she would say no. So when she wasn’t looking, I was take a luck anyway. :)
My very first (and favorite) baking memory was when I was 3 or 4 years old in my parent’s kitchen with my mom, aunt, and Nana baking Christmas cookies. My aunt brought me little gingerbread ornaments to decorate then bake for our tree (which I still have), and I also got to roll the Swedish nutballs in the powdered sugar when they were done cooling.
My memory is when I used to go to my best friends house and her mom would show us how to make all kinds of things. I really loved making sugar eggs with panoramas inside.
Every Christmas my family and our neighbors spend a night making sand tarts sugar cookies. We have been doing it for almost ten years, and it adds something special to the holiday season every year :)
Baking cinnamon rolls and Kulich bread with my Grandma Brainard every Christmas. I miss those days.
Even though I’m grown now, my favorite baking memory is learning how to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch. Kitchen ended up a mess, but the memory has stuck with me all these years.
My favorite baking memory is baking cookies with my children every year for Christmas. They love to help in the kitchen :) My birthday is in October and this would be an awesome birthday gift!!
My favorite baking memory is making cookies for Santa with my mom. It still is my favorite cookie recipe in the whole world.
My first and fondest baking memories are of my mom baking fancy wedding cakes. I still remember the smell of butter cream frosting and the amazing rosettes. I still have her old Wilton cakes catalogs.
The Christmas my husband and I were engaged we baked and decorated sugar cookies for all of our friends. This has turned into a tradition and now I LOVE making sugar cookies with our 3 year old.
My granddaughter loves to bake with me and a few months ago we made nazook for the first time. What a perfect treat to make with children! We both got our hands in there and mixed and rolled and sprinkled and cut. And they were delicious!
One of my favorite baking moments was when I was about 17 and baking with a family friend around the holidays and I decided to make cookies and instead of following the step by step directions I dumped all of the ingrediants in the bowl together at the same time and my friend was like “no you don’t do that you do different ingrediants at different times but don’t worry we can fix it” and we did, it was just so funny and we had a blast that whole day anyways!
I remember baking chocolate graham cookies with my grandmother. She taught me how baking is a science and fresh ingredients make all the difference.
My father never uses a cookbook of ant sort. I actually learned how to crack an egg one handed just by observing hiim. My favourite memory was baking his famous almond cookies. Just before they went into the oven he gave be the big job of placing the almond on the cookie and brushing it with an egg wash. Was a huge deal for a little girl! Till this day I still get butterflies when we bake them together.
Making hungarian kiffles with my dad every year. We’ve been making them ever since my grandma passed away because she used to make them. We ship them to our relatives too. Its a great way to celebrate the holidays with my family :)
ps- we steal my mom’s stand mixer to make the dough. Its pretty handy =)
I don’t have one quite yet, but I hope to make some now that I’m a mommy!
When my brother and I were kids, my Auntie would have us over every Holiday season to make Christmas cookies. Always a simple sugar cookie but she’d have all kind of cookie cutters, icings and decorations for us to use. I still remember the smells in her kitchen and the taste. Yum!
My favorite baking memory has to be the first time my sister and I made a batch of cake pops on my birthday a couple of years ago. Since then baking and making pops has become our special sister bonding time :)
my aunt lived with us when I was a toddler (and she was in highschool) and I remember how she would lift me up onto the counter and I got to help her and her friends make rice krispies treats and sometimes chocolate chip cookies. the funny part is she doesn’t remember it, but it was super important to a 3 year old to be included :)
Baking cupcakes with my younger sister and teaching her how to pipe frosting onto them.
My mom and I would make bread bears. I would sit on the counter and form my own bear with raisins for buttons, but I would really just sit there and pick out all of the raisin buttons from the other bears.
Making candy trains at Christmas with my mom!
My favorite baking memory was my Grandma Stivers teaching me all of her tips and tricks to make the most flaky delicous pie crust when I was first married. Now 15 years later I’m in charge of all our holiday pies, with the help of my 11 year old daughter.
Mine is a recent one. My 16 year old wanted to make cookies. My mom gave her a recipe to try. Now I’m not sure what happened….but…her brother who will eat anything sweet, looked at her finished product and asked “who made the cookie buscuits?” and took a bite and threw it away. LOL! We had to take pictures and everything. She did try again and they were great!
My favorite baking time was the first time I baked a peacan pie I was 15 and it was thanksgiving the pie was a simple peacan pie but I made the misteak and put the pie in thr frige and didnt let it cool. And it didnt set but my family was so thankful of me trying it they ate the hole thing. I am happy to say im a much better baker now
Favorite baking memory has to be with my easy bake oven. That’s when it all began :’)
I didnt bake much as a child, my favorite Baking memory is the first time i baked with my daughter! Chocolate chip cookies! The joy on her face was priceless!
My favorite baking memories are the ones with my 5 year old daughter! Was diagnosed with End-Stage Renal disease last December and I had REALLY wanted to start my own baking business but I’ve just been too tired to bake that much anymore, so anytime I do bake I love when my daughter helps me! She gets so excited and I let her take all the credit for the tasty things we make :)
Making peanut butter cookies with my mom is my favorite memory. She would let me pour in all the ingredients and mix it up. Then after she rolled the dough into lil balls I would flatten them with a fork and sprinkle some sugar on top. I make them today with my nieces the same way except we do taste testing when they are still warm with some milk :)
Making cookies with my sister in law
So sad I can’t enter the KitchenAid giveaway! (Live in Canada)
The pecan pies look wonderful though!
-Lindsey
http://ettu-tutu.blogspot.com
My mom was never much of a cook, nor baker, but we would always make chocolate chip cookies for the holidays. It was always the same way too, directions from the back of the Nestle chips and at least one spoonful of dough that we each ate and then the lecture on why raw eggs are bad :P
My favorite memory is baking ‘naan khatai’ with my mom. Its a traditional cookie with flour, powdered sugar and melting butter with a hint of freshly ground cardamom. We used to make the small patties together and then she would let us brush the tops with egg and then bake them. The cookies were always just delicious and the best time I spent with my mom.
When I was about 15 I desperately wanted to make pie crust from scratch, just like Martha Stewart. So my Dad took the time and taught me how. It was the first time we had ever baked together.
My favorite baking memory was one summer in my childhood spent on my Grandparents farm in Iowa. My Grandma had 2 boxes of beautiful, juicy peaches and we all helped make sooo many peaches ‘n cream pies! And sneak fragrant, sticky peach slices!
My favorite baking memory is memorialized in my favorite childhood photograph. I’m about 4 or 5 and I’m on the big stool in my grandmother’s wonderful (and red!) kitchen. She’s showing me how to roll out Christmas sugar cookies for the very first time. The look on my face (and the flour all over the kitchen) remind me how much baking with my grandmother meant to me. I love, love, LOVE this picture and I keep a copy of it in the giant recipe box she gave me when she found out she was dying. She called me to her dining room and gave me the box and said, “This is yours now, it’s full of really great stuff and I can’t think of anyone else who will appreciate it and nurture it as much as you will.” Fond memories of a very special gram!
My mom didn’t enjoy cooking or baking, but during Chnristmastime, she forgot that she didn’t like it. We would make at least 6 different kinds of cookies to share with the neighbors. We had a lot of fun together and the cookies were always delicious. I enjoyed delivering the treats as much as baking them.
I recently recreated your Mrs. Potts cake pops for my best friend’s baby shower. She absolutely loves Beauty and the Beast! I stayed up all night with my sister making these and adding all of the little extras that make them so cute and perfect for her big day! :) we had so much fun and even though it took all night it was all worth it to see the smile on her face!
Some of my favorite baking memories are during Christmas time. My sister and I spend a full weekend baking hundreds of cookies, cupcakes, bars, brownies… You name it. And we give them all away to family, friends, and some of her students. My other favorite baking memory is making decorated cookies for the autistic children I work with. I take their favorite thing and make it into a sugar cookie. Most recently, one of my kiddos asked me to make his made up superhero into a cookie (Kung Fu Guy, complete with his whole team, haha). I love making people happy through baking.
Baking bread/cinnamon rolls/etc with my grandma. She’d go on and on (every single time) about how you had to treat the dough like a baby (keep it warm, butter it’s “butt”, etc). Oh, how I wish she were still here to tell me how to do it right.
Making texas chocolate cake with my grandma and hearing the story of how her family moved from Texas to California after the great depression.
my favorite baking memory is making cookies in the kitchen, especially thumbprint jam cookies, while listening to Christmas music with and surrounded by family
My son is 3 years old and loves to bake with me. All of my favorite baking memories have him in it. <3
My childhood best friend’s mom loved to cook all the time. When my friend and I would get bored, we would ask her mom if we could help bake something, whether it was cookies, pizza, or cake. Once while making cookies, we asked her mom for clarification on a salt measurement. If I remember correctly, she wasn’t listening and either didn’t answer or didn’t answer us properly. Thinking we knew what we were doing, we dumped in a bunch of salt. I am not sure either one of us ever made that mistake again.
My favorite baking memory would have to be baking cake balls with my sister for our dad the night before Father’s day. We stayed up all night baking and decorating them, and of course our dad loved them :)
A few years back, I decided to bake a bunch of sugar cookies so we could decorate them for Christmas. My cousins and I had so much funny just laughing at the different designs we all came up with. I always look fondly back on this memory. It’s one of my favorite baking memories. :)
My grandmother was a baker and a chef. My Mom is a chef and im a baker. We both took over My grandmother and we both use her recipes. Mom does more tasting and i do more of The decor. 3 years back i was laid off and so bumped into your site and after some thinking of business name my business was born. So Thank you bakerella for inspiring all your readers.
Thank you for the giveaway.
Catarina aka Docerela
My boys & I bake cookies together every Christmas & Easter. This has become even more important to me now that one has moved out, 2 are teens & never wants to spend time together. At least I still have one young enough (for now) to love spending time with me. We still get together to bake cookies. They are not always the same kind of cookies but always cookies. When we’re done we share them with the neighbors & our friends. When they get married I may not get this time but I’m enjoying it while I’ve got it.
Thus far my favorite baking memory is cinnamon rolls with my 4 year old. He loves to help add the ingredients but his favorite part is rolling out the dough. He even made special ones for his cousins.
My best memories are making cinnamon rolls and brownies for my dad while he was working at nights so that when he would come home in the morning, they were waiting for him
My favorite baking memory is very old, but still so vivid in my mind. I remember baking with my grandma as a child, sitting on the counter stirring up chocolate cake mix for cake mix cookies. I was amazed at how delicious her frosting was and it didn’t even come from a can! She hasn’t been able to bake for many years, but anytime I make homemade chocolate frosting, I remember that day in her kitchen. :)
Baking apple pie with my mum during the fall is my best baking memory, i will be carrying that tradition when i have a daughter.
After reading about making doughnuts on bakerella, some of my friends and I decided to face the challenge one summer. But baking at my house is always an adventure because I have an innate inability to follow recipes exactly. So we added in substituted an ingredient here and there, but one thing stuck out to me from the post, which was to generously flour the surface, so we definitely did that, maybe a little too much. But it was a ton of fun just baking with everyone, especially since it was one of the last days we would all spend together in the same city, now that we’ve all graduated from college, everyone’s getting married, and/or moving away from home.
And in the end, the doughnuts were pretty successful, definitely not as beautiful and cute as bakerella’s, but still tasty nonetheless.
It’s a tough one to call but my fav is probably my dad (although this isn’t technically baking) making ‘camper’s stew’ during trips to the great outdoors.Rx
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One of my favorite baking memories is making cake pops *inspired by you of course* for the first time. I learned how fun & creative it is to make these cute little things!
My favorite baking memory was during a Thanksgiving while I was in high school. My parents had gone out of town to visit relatives, and my sister and I were going to meet them there a few days later. However, weather conditions prevented us from going and my sister and I were forced to stay home. At the last minute, we went to buy ingredients from the very much picked over grocery store and prepared a feast just for the two of us. We made everything from the turkey to the pies… it was a blast!
my favourite baking memory would be the one where i made my first layered cake. i felt so accomplished!
My favorite memory is when My mom and I decided to make pies from scratch. They were not very good, but we had a blast making them together.
My grandmas and I used to bake around the holidays. They had so many amazing recipes. Now I continue the tradition with my two little girls. So much fun!
My favorite baking memory was making an apple pie from scratch in my new apartment with my new apartment-mate that has never baked before! We had to improvise on things like a rolling pin, but the pie turned out beautiful and delicious! It was a great way to start our apartment life together!
Every year, my sister and I get together on Christmas Eve and bake chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes they’re just the Tollhouse bake-and-break kind, but after long, busy years apart, that hour in the kitchen together is exactly what we need to remember what family is about. When they’re done, we put on our PJ’s, watch Christmas movies, and eat delicious, oven-warmed cookies to our hearts’ content!
I don’t have a specific memory, but baking has always been a great way for me to bond and spend time with my mom. Between custard pies and cakes, she is always my partner in crime!
My favorite memory is of my grandmother baking the same 3 types of pies for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. She always said they weren’t her best, but they were always delicious!
Before my wedding seven years ago, my soon-to-be mother-in-law, sister-in-law and I baked two hundred heart-shaped cookies with a cherry filling peeking through for my upcoming wedding. It was a hot day outside and stuffy in the kitchen, but we did it, our party favor cookies were adorable!
My favorite baking memory is actually more of a sweet tooth satisfying memory. Fudge making with my Mom when I was younger and still lived at home.
Our fudge recipes usually just called for the mossssst basic ingredients, sugar, canned milk, and peanut butter. My favorite memories of making that tooth achingly sweet treat were on ordinary evenings, nothing much happening. And someone would get the idea to make fudge.
“Do we have the ingredients?” A quick check to make sure before our fudge hopes were raised too high…it’s funny how a pie plate full of something sweet could lift everyone’s mood, especially when it was winter and freezing.
It was wonderful, not just the treat but the excitement we’d build up, we weren’t just making fudge, we were making FUDGE!!!!
We’d eat the whole pan too, there were enough of us in the household that isn’t quite as decadent as it sounds but it was decadent enough. :)
Chocolate Chip cookies were the first thing I learned to cook/bake. I still remember my Mom teaching me, of course we used the recipe off of the Toll House package, just like I do today!
My favorite was holiday cookie baking time with my mom. I loved Spritz cookies, and having her teach me how to use her Spritz press was the best. I will never forget those times, and Spritz’s are my favorite holiday cookie!
I remember as a kid baking cookies from scratch a few times with my Nana. One morning I woke up early and decided to do it on my own. I was about 8 or 9. I found all the ingredients, made the dough (and I’m sure a terrible mess) and then had the good sense to wake my mom up to turn on the oven. She didn’t think the end result would actually be cookies but she humored me and to everyone’s surprise, my cookies were a success and a love of baking was born.
My Momma and I always did the pies together at Thanksgiving…her pecan pie was my favorite…now my daughter and I do the same…at her house EVERY year!
My favorite annual cooking event in my house is Cookie Day. All year, I look for new cookie recipes and think about my old favorites. Then every December, my mom and I spend a whole day baking 12 different cookies (along with pecan crusted butter rum mini cakes) and we make plates to pass out to all our neighbors and friends. The house gets warm and smells like Christmas all day, and my mom and I have hot mochas and bake!
Baking any holiday with my grandma, we always made the Easter Bunny cake from the two round cakes at Easter!!
I love getting together with my friends a couple weeks before the holidays and baking all day. Every year is another favorite memory!
One of my favorite baking memories was teaching my in-laws how to make pizza dough, granola, and other various yummies from scratch! I love when they come to visit! I also love baking with my mom. She taught me so much growing up! In elementary school I used to enter the cake baking/decorating contest. I always had so much spending that time with my mom! Families + baking = Love and good food! :)
When I was in Middle School I was baking Christmas cookies when my dad walked in to the kitchen and looked at the dough thoughtfully. Very carefully he asked me if the cookies could be better if they were….bigger. I was very confused but said “Sure, bigger is always better right?” He then went upstairs and brought down a WS bag with three giant Christmas cookie cutters in them. He bought them for me for Christmas but couldn’t resist giving them to me early!
Now, my son (who is a Middle Schooler now himself!) and I bake Christmas cookies every year with those cookie cutters and he always asks me to tell the story again (because it is so like my dad who cannot keep a secret!) :) It’s such a fun memory
My favorite baking memories involve baking cupcakes and decorating them with my younger sister when we were little. I remember dying frosting different colors and using our imagination to to make each cupcake different with different candies and sprinkles.
During the holidays… I enjoy taking my families traditional recipes and adding my own holiday twist! ;-)!
For my neice’s 8th birthday a few years ago, she was having a pool party so we made teddy graham beach party cupcakes. She was having so much fun (and was REALLY good at decorating btw) she proudly proclaimed “when you get your own bakery I wanna work for you… and you don’t even have to pay me!” It was the sweetest and most honest thing ever. Even though now she claims that verbal contracts aren’t valid … did I mention shes a VERY smart now, 11 yr old?
My favorite baking memory is the first time I baked sugar cookies with the kids I nanny for. They were about 4 and 8 years old. They fought over who got to add which ingredient, argued over who rolled more dough and cut out more cookies, spilled sprinkles and flour everywhere, and dirtied way too many dishes. The laughter and fun more than made up for the mess and fights. The cookies tasted great, looked hideous after the kids decorated them, and ended up becoming a favorite recipe/activity for us. I’m happy to say the kids fight less now and the cookies are more visually appealing these days.
My favorite baking memory was making pie for Thanksgiving with my mom, brother, and sister when I was little.
I don’t actually have an family memories because my mom is from Japan and they’re not big bakers and my dad ate sweets but never baked. So, I taught myself! There’s something almost therapeutic about it sometimes and when I get in a groove I just make new recipe after new recipe–I love trying new things and rarely make something again once I’ve perfected it.
I once had a Halloween party in middle school. My mom and me made tons of creepy inspired baked treats. Food that looked like body parts and Halloween animals. I had such a fun time baking them and decorating the the cupcakes, cookies, and various other treats. Though the best part was the look on my friend’s faces when they saw the delicious spread.
When I was a small child, I used to put on cooking shows for my Grandma and used muffin mixes. I stil think of my Grandma when I see those blue boxes at the store : )
I helped my Mammaw in the kitchen a lot growing up. We’d bake cakes, make fried apple pies, and every year for Thanksgiving I would help her make yeast rolls from scratch. Now that Mammaw is gone, it’s my job to make the yeast rolls every Thanksgiving and it makes me feel like she’s still with me.
My favorite baking memory is one that I have of my paternal grandmother and I making sugar cookies. She always used a unique recipe, one that I have yet to see anyone else use. She would tie my hair up and put Crisco all over my hands and then do the same to herself. She allowed me to help her knead the cookie dough and roll it out. We would use the open end of a cup as a cookie cutter. We used to take cotton swabs to make little indents in the middle, kinda like buttons on a shirt. Once the cookies were done, we’d take the cotton swab again, apply food coloring on it and paint the indents on the cookies. They were always such a simple design, but one my grandma was known for. In her later years, she lost her memory, and with that, her recipe and techniques were nearly lost. She has since passed away, but every time I try to replicate her cookies, I always think back to those days.
every Christmas holiday my mom would bake cookie plates for family and the neighbors. There were two cookies on the plate though that have always been my favorite because they were my grandpa’s favorite! Coconut joys and waffle iron cookies! Now I love making them every holiday and eating them in his honor! <3
I’ll never forget when I was in elementary school and was baking cookies with my older sister who was in high school. She was bragging about being the best baker in the house to all of my other siblings and really laying it on hard. Just then the oven caught on fire! Ends up it was from damage to the heating element and not her fault but almost 40 years later we still razz her about it. And yes, she really is one of the best bakers in the family now.
Growing up, my Mother, Grandmother, little brother and I would gather in the kitchen to bake cookies for Santa. My brother and I thought it was such a treat that we always got to munch on some of the same cookies Santa would be eating later in the night. The warmth of those moments stays with me quite clearly today.
When I was growing up, my mom would bake all of our bread. My first baking memory is sitting on the table and watching as she would grind the wheat, mix the ingredients and knead the dough on the counter top. This is where I learned to bake and where my love of baking developed.
My favorite baking memory was when I made bran muffins with my dad on Saturday mornings. We’d be singing/yelling “Do You Know the Muffin Man?”. I’m not sure if I was much help, but if there was a spoon to be licked… I was definitely there. Thanks for having this giveaway!
When I was a little girl, it was baking Christmas sugar cookies with my mom. Now that I’m the mama, it’s making Christmas sugar cookies with my own kiddos… and so much the better if my mom can join us!
My mom and I make orange glazed poppy seed cake every Christmas and pass it out to everyone. It’s a big hit and the holidays don’t start for me until I start busting out the mini loaf pans.
My favorite baking memory was being introduced to baking by my great grandmother when I was ten years old. She was the only person I knew in my family who enjoyed to bake. I am glad that I have been able to carry on her tradition and continue to bake for my family, what a sweet legacy to leave behind.
Making Christmas goodies with my Grandma!
She’s no longer with us so now I get to make goodies with my kids.
My favorite baking memory was making apple pies with my Grandma. She made the best apple pies, and my favorite part was when she would let my sister and me make cinnamon pinwheels out of the leftover scraps of pie crust dough. So yummy!
My favorite baking memory is my mom and I baking a triple layer cake for my birthday when I was a kid and using dry spaghetti sticks to make sure the layers didn’t slide off before the frosting set. I thought it was hilarious to have pasta sticking out of my cake! And pretty impressive of my mom to have baked a cake with THREE layers.
This doesn’t really involve me baking, but I remember my mom baked often for others when we were small. My sister and I could never figure out how there was always “just enough” batter/frosting for 2 extra cupcakes, cookies, etc. :) Now, I always seem to have enough extra for my nieces and nephews.
My sister is 10 years older then me and when I was younger I would go over to her house at Christmas and we would makes crafts and bake the most amazing sugar cookies you’ve ever tasted. Now that I live 3000 miles away from her I still make those sugar cookies every Christmas and think of her and make everyone drool over them. I keep the recipe though between me and my sister, it’s our secret. ;)
My Grammy bakes a delicious spiced applesauce bread for everyone at Christmas. When I was little we moved out of state. I miss baking with her but every Christmas she sends a loaf in a box with our presents. The box smells so delicious when opened! It’s not Christmas until we get that special box.
One of my favorite baking memories is from my kids were really little and wanting to help. Having them sit on the counter and help me was always a favorite time for me!
Baking cookies with all of my family around Christmas time and then making trays afterwards and each taking one home.
My Nena taught me how to make her secret family recipe Hungarian cookies (she brought the recipe over to the States with her on the boat) when I was 12. We spent the entire day baking and talking about what growing up in Hungary was like compared to growing up in the USA.
I love baking with my mother-in-law! She invited me to her annual Christmas baking party when my now-husband and I were first dating. We had an absolute blast! Now, 10 years later, we are still enjoying this tradition and adding my 2 toddlers in the mix. More great memories to come.
Baking with my husband… he’s creative and meticulous at the same time.
My favorite baking memory is actually the first time I ever baked. My dad was hosting a party and I decided I wanted to make dessert. I got a little too ambitious and made a huge guitar cake. It actually turned out better than I imagined and that’s what got me started in baking. Actually, that night was the first night I was introduced to your website 3 years ago!!!! Now, I have my own small business!!!!
Learning how to make my grandmother’s Christmas cookies. I remember making 20+ dozen cookies in a couple days with my her and then icing and decorating each one with my grandpa, parents and sister :)
My special memories…..baking a massive amount of cookies, transforming the orange crates I have collected over the years into holiday gifts baskets filled with home baked cookies for friends and neigbhors!
My aunt used to bake thousands and thousands of cookies to give away at Christmas. It was her favorite time of year, and she had Santas figurines and memorabilia literally blanketing every space of her house that wasn’t covered in cookie trays. I’m pretty sure she gave away every last cookie. Although she passed away eight years ago, I’m still reminded of her cookie generosity, and make cookies my gift of choice for family and friends. I’ll never be able to match her scale, but it means a lot to pay tribute to her just by baking up a batch of Peanut Butter Blossoms and giving them away to my college hallmates.
My grandmother taught me how to make the family bread recipe . The recipe and bowl that was shared with me is around 100 years old.
My favorite baking memories as a child are when I used to go over to my grandma’s house for the weekend and we’d get up early on Sunday mornings and spend time together baking blueberry muffins with a crumbly top. Those are some of my favorite memories with my grandma, just her and me, talking about whatever was going on in our lives, working together in her tiny kitchen.
Now that I’m a parent I’m really loving introducing my kids to baking and letting them help me out in the kitchen and hope that it’ll provide them with some good memories too.
My favorite baking memory is definitely decorating sugar cookies with my cousins at my Grandma’s house every year. It was my first exposure to baking and it truly was the start to a passion that exists to this day.
Each Christmas when I get to baking, I still pull out the old-fashioned cookie cutters that we used when we were little. It brings back wonderful memories!
I’m not sure of my all time favorite baking memory but my most recent would have to be on Friday. When I was a kid my mom would bake Butterscotch cookies all the time. I hadn’t had one since I was about 6 and decided to make them for myself and friends for the weekend. I whipped up a batch and they were a huge hit. All gone by the end of the night!
Every year I make many loaves of this German Christmas bread that has been passed down from my dad’s side of the family. I always make the first loaves of the season with my dad and it’s my favorite party of the holidays. Can’t wait!
The week before Christmas, my mom would bake up many batches of sweets for the neighbors in our cul-de-sac. It was a holiday tradition to exchange goodies before Christmas Day, and I loved to help her bake cookies and brownies and cakes, then arrange everything on plates and package them in pretty green or red cellophane, then deliver the goodies with my sisters and brother. In turn, we’d have a variety of sweets from the rest of the neighborhood to feast on come Christmas Day. That’s what I miss about my family – unfortunately, they live 1600 miles away now. But that means that I can carry on the tradition in my own way here.
My grandmother was my mentor in the kitchen. What I know, I learned from her. Nothing pleased me more than getting up on a Saturday morning in the fall or winter and breaking out the ingredients for Bread. She’d make loaf after loaf, but best of all? Toutons!! Little circles of friend dough covered in butter and sugar (or in her case molasses). She’d keep up the baking long after I’d grow board, always managing to have a hot loaf ready for the young ones who’d be frozen to the core from playing in the snow, slathered in peanut butter.
My favorite baking memories revolve around my mom — her sharing her world-famous recipe for cheesecake with me, or my baking her favorite ‘pudding cookies’ back when I was 13 for her. She inspired me then, as she still does now!
I would have to say that my favorite baking memory is Xmas cookie decorating … we did it every year, just cause. Not for Santa, but just to decorate cookies and give them away to my parents co workers and neighbors. It’s always fun and I still do it now with my daughter only this time its for Santa.
My best memories are of all the baking my mom did at Christmastime – that was such a big part of my childhood, and I think it’s why I love to bake so much today!
My favorite baking memory is baking cupcakes for my cousin’s husband’s grooms cake. It was a disaster in progress, but the results were spectacular!
When I lived at home, my mom and I would bake cookies for Christmas to give away as gifts to family and friends. We’d make huge batches of dough weeks in advance and bake cookies and other goodies late into the night the few days before Christmas. My mom still bakes, without me now, and I’ve kept up the tradition on my own with my daughter. :)
my grandmother taught me to bake. we started with her crumb cake recipe.
Baking for my friends – cinnamon rolls were my favorite to make and eat!!
I don’t have many from when I was younger but I’m making plenty with my kidlets :) They love to help me bake!
Making a funfetti cake with my roommate in college and eating it while watching The Omen.
Christmas cookie baking with extended family… 12 different kinds! Then giving them away.
My favorite memory is baking cookies in the kitchen with my mom while my dad and brother watched football in the living room. Perfect fall family days.
I just remember standing by my sweet grandmother, Evelyn, in her small, farmhouse kitchen in Iowa, watching her make homemade pie dough and delectable fillings. She lovingly made these pies every holiday, or just because for her family and friends. I have a love for baking, but even more showing others I love them by baking for them from my grandmother. She taught me more than just a recipe.
My favorite baking memory happens around Christmas time every year. Each year my mom, grandma, sister and I get together for a day full of Christmas baking. We always spend the day baking away and then package up all the goodies in beautiful containers to give away to friends and family. This day is one I look forward to every year!
My favorite baking memory is when my sister and I were growing up and we had no ingredients to make a pumpkin pie. So, we took a can of sweet potatoes and improvised. It turned out great!
My mom and grandmother were big bakers, so I have lots of wonderful memories of baking with them! My favorite now is making my grandmother’s pumpkin chiffon pie for Thanksgiving. I work off of her handwritten recipe that she mailed to my mom when my mom was in college. I made it the first year I was married and hosted a huge Thanksgiving gathering in our tiny house. I can’t wait to make it again this year!
My first batch of cookies, they were made from a pouch “just add eggs and water” and they came out flat!
My hubby and I laughed so hard, our first month of being newly weds, so fun, now I make amazing cookies ;-)
My favorite baking memory would have to be helping my mom bake applesauce cakes, licking the bowl, then passing the cakes out to neighbors for the holidays.
My favorite memory is of a spider cake I made one time when I was in high school. It was a recipe out of the Sunday newspaper and I think it cemented Halloween as my favorite holiday. I no longer have the recipe but would love to find it to make another!
Making tiramisu with my best friend in our college dorm kitchen. We had virtually no equipment and an almost-non functional oven, but it was so much fun :-)
When I was 5 I went to my uncle’s house and baked holiday cookies for the first time. Holiday baking has been a tradition ever since!
I loved baking Christmas cookies with my mom and my brother every year when I was little.
My mum and I use to bake and I remember the time that I learned the importance of differentiating between baking soda and baking powder.
I was helping my mum bake and grabbed her the soda when she needed the powder, everything came out tasting weird!
Now, I always double check.