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!
Baking chocolate chip cookies with my mother. We always ate the raw dough and licked everything clean because we didn’t worry about raw eggs the way I do with my children all the time now.
One of my fondest baking memories, was when my friend moved back to Rochester, NY. She had a moving out party and invited all her friends to come and take mementoes she wasn’t taking along with her, but before we left we all baked sugar cookies to take home to share with our families. They were the best sugar cookies I remember eating because it was done with love and a sharing of fond memories of her. I miss her every day and I also can’t eat a sugar cookie without comparing it to them.
Watching my mom bake pies at Thanksgiving. I helped a little but mostly watched and had some great talks. The smells were amazing!
Every Christmas I ws in charged of the baking since I enjoyed it so much. I would make my specialty flan and cheesecakes and sometimes pineapple cake while my mom would make dinner. What wonderful memories :)
Baking is my passion and great stress reliever for me. I have a teenaged son, who is “too cool” for his own good sometimes. Well, his favorite item for me to bake are chocolate chip cookies. So one night, we both home, watching a movie together (rare that this happens), he looked at me and ask me to teach him how to make the chocolate chip cookies. Needless to say, I was shocked, and a little flattered. But we had to the best time that night baking cookies, drinking milk and talking about the “good old days”, which is quite funny, because they seemed like yesterday to me.
Great giveaway! My favorite baking memory: my great grandfather was a baker and as a child he would pick me up from school to keep me busy. We would head down to his baking area in his basement and he would “train” me – he would use pie dough scraps to make mini-strawberry pies for me, fill pastry bags with vegetable shortening and let me practice piping “cakes” (overturned cake pans), and send me off with modeling clay to roll out swan shapes and roses as practice for cake decoration. I will never ever forget the look of his hands as he rolled out bread dough with the finesse of a master while humming funny ’40’s music. He lives on through my memories!
Every year on Christmas Eve my mom always made homemade cinnamon rolls. We would set them out to rise over night next to the wood stove (my parents still heat with wood!). Then they would cook while we opened presents. A few years ago the roll making passed to me. I look forward to continuing this tradition with my new husband this Christmas.
I don’t have a memory of a specific thing I baked. My favorite baking memories come simply from the happiness that homemade treats gives to others. I love to bake simply for that reason…..there’s few simpler ways to share love. Corny but true.
A few times when my kids were young I would invite some of their friends over and decorate Christmas cookies. Now, I am doing that with my grandkids. My daughter and daughter-in-law seem to have the most fun though! Such great memories.
When I was a little girl my grandmother came over to watch me near Christmas and decided we should make gingerbread cookies. She asked me if we have a gingerbread cookie cutter and I said yes we had one(I failed to tell her it was a mini two inch tall playdoh one!) She went on about how much fun it would be to make the cookies and then we could decorate them with raisins and such. Boy did she get a surprise when I brought out that two inch cookie cutter. I also wouldn’t let her off the hook on decorating them so she ended up cutting the raisins in quarters! I was the first grandchild she baked gingerbread cookies with….and her last!
My mom always made cinnamon bread at Christmas for my teachers. As the youngest of 6 that had the same teacher as my siblings, my teachers were always anxiously awaiting their still-warm loaf of cinnamon bread at Christmastime. I love that smell, and that bread, and those memories!
I loved baking with my Mom in the kitchen…I used to help her from when I was little, although I probably wasn’t helping very much! But I can remember her putting me to work as we baked and frosted cookies for the holidays…those were wonderful times!
Baking Christmas cookies with my mom and grandma on Christmas Eve to leave out for Santa. :)
I recently opened a bakery and my grandma’s recipe is the one we use for our sugar cookie cut out cookies. Keep her with me all the time while I’m baking!
My favourite memory is baking Christmas shaped shortbread and sugar cookies with my two children – it is always a challenge to make sure more mix goes on the pan than in their mouths! I love serving them up to friends and family later and I can tell who decorated each cookie depending on how many and which kind of sprinkles are on them!
I am excited to try out these pecan pies!
My favorite baking memory would be making Portuguese kale soup with my grandmother, every winter I always look forward to it!
my favorite baking memory is when i was a kid and my mom would let me cut shapes out. The cookies never tasted that good but we had so much fun making shapes and kneading dough.
one of my favorite baking memories is more of silly one than a special one! My husband and I had been married about a year and a half and we were having Thanksgiving away from both of our families with a few friends. He really likes pumpkin pie so I thought this would be the perfect time to make one. Well, I misjudged how much filling there was and poured it into the wrong size pie dish. I used a deep dish instead of a regular one. So I quickly whipped up another batch of filling and poured it in to the original one! It took quite a bit longer to cook since it was so much thicker but it was delicious and my hubby was so happy that I made one of his favorites! I always enjoy making new desserts for the hubby and even if they turn out a mess, he loves every single one.
My sister and I didn’t always get along when we were growing up. The first time I remember making christmas cookies with her is a favorite baking memory of mine. We used recipes from a betty crocker cookbook, but winged it a bit with the flavorings. The cookies weren’t the best, but I really enjoyed the time I spent with my sister while making them.
My favorite memory is making my grandmothers homemade dumplins with my 2 year old daughter. I think there was more flour on the table, floor, and on us than there was in the dumplin mixture. She thought she was so big rolling out the dough. I think the rolling pin was as big as she was! It took weeks to vaccum the flour out of the carpet but it was worth it.
I remember every holiday season as my children were growing up we would start a couple weeks before Christmas and bake dozens of Christmas cookies and cookie tree ornaments together. I loved watch their faces as they decorated them and then we would package them up as our gifts to friends and family. I am looking forward to continuing the tradition this year with my 4yr old grand-daughter.
My grandma and I have many baking traditions, but my favorite is homemade doughnuts on Halloween! We are not sure how the tradition started but it started with her grandmother. When I was younger and in school I would come home and shake them in powder sugar as grandma fried them. But now I go over in the morning and we mix the dough, let it rise, cut out the doughnuts, let them rise and then it’s time to fry! At 33 I’m still not allowed to fry them because I may get hurt so my 88 yr old grandmother fries them and I still stand on the same little yellow step stool and shake them in powder sugar. We’ve only missed 2 Halloween’s in 30 years and I hope to have many more with her!
Making birthday cakes with my sisters.
My favorite memory is getting together with my best friend from childhood Janie and making all kinds of cookies for Christmas while our kiddos run around the house and grab some freshly baked goodies.
I remember baking with my little brother who was determined to make chocolate chip cookies without a recipe. We “ate” lots of flat cookies and eggy ones. Eventually he did come up with a chocolate chocolate chip cookie that I still bake to this day.
Favorite baking memory is making gingerbread men and women with my kids for their elementary school classes. We had so much fun. They are grown now, but we occasionally find time to still bake together.
My favorite baking memory is the annual spritz cookie extravaganza at Christmastime. When I was little, my mom would make all the dough and I would decorate with some sugar. Then the whole family would go and deliver to the neighbors. Now that I’m older, I probably bake half of the many dozens we bake when I’m home for Christmas. It’s one of my favorite family memories, baking or not.
I love baking with my girls, I learn to love baking from my mom and grandma and now I bake with my three girls, love when they help measure, and fight just to help me. They feel so good when they know that they helped make what they are eating.
Hi there! Thanks for the awesome giveaway. My favorite baking memory is when I was about 10 and four of my best girlfriends and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to give each other facials with cake batter. We set up a little “spa” in one of my friends’ kitchens (where were our mothers???) and we whipped up cake batter and slathered it on each others faces like some miracle clay from the Dead Sea. Needless to say, we ended up sticky and gross and covered in yucky cake batter. Oh to be young again!
My favorite baking memory includes eating all of the baked goods everyone else would bring over! Pecan pies especially remind me of my dad as he generally does not eat sweets, but he can polish off a whole pecan pie by himself.
My favorite baking memory is making christmas cookies with my mom every year. It’d be an all day project and we’d end up with a kitchen full of amazing cookies!
My favorite baking memory is having a spring craft fair and making my cinnamon rolls…I suggested baking them at the start of the show and that the smell would attract customers…I was right…to my surprise they were a hit and I made $450 on those cinnamon rolls in 2 days. It was awesome! Now our tradition is that when my grandchildren come visit they know there will always be cinnamon rolls or I’m in big trouble!
Baking hamantaschen for Purim with my mom as a kid… then baking them with my husband… and this past year, baking them while my baby looked on.
My favorite memory was when my son decided he wanted to help bake chocolate chip cookies. He measured everything out so carefully and watched as I stirred all the ingredients together. To this day he still enjoys helping me bake up little treats for the family and I love that he wants to help even in his teenage years.
I love it that all of my kids (stepson included) have learned how to cook with me, have spent time with me on a daily basis in the kitchen – it’s our gathering place. It’s the heart of our home. The memories are endless.
I use to love bringing out my grandmothers cookbook and making her crumbcake. It was the go to dessert you would bring into school. We would dye the crumbs different colors depending on the holiday. These days, I still love making the cake, but wish I had that cookbook!
My sister and I baked cookies with my mom every year around Christmas, and now my 3 year old daughter joins in on the baking fun with us.
My favorite memory baking was baking my first real fancy cake. It was so difficult! I cried all night! Everything went wrong! I didn’t know how to level, didn’t make enough filling, worst of all: my fondant was melting. After a sleepless night the cake looked presentable and I have grown so much since then! Now I get orders left and right and am thankful I didn’t give up that night.
Every year my mom and I bake several hundred cookies to give to my husband’s employees as gift tins. We make a huge variety and everyone goes crazy for them each year.
My favorite baking memory is making Christmas cookies with a friends while our parents were out, boy were they sorry they left us alone. We had flour and sugar all over the kitchen floor, a huge mess, but the cookies were good and we hada great time. I love baking more now and I have got it down to a better cleanliness level.
My favorite memory baking was baking my first real fancy cake. It was so difficult! I cried all night! Everything went wrong! I didn’t know how to level, didn’t make enough filling, worst of all: my fondant was melting. After a sleepless night the cake looked presentable and I have grown so much since then! Now I get orders left and right and am thankful I didn’t give up that night.
My favorite baking memory would be making chocolate chip cookies with Mom, then trying to keep my Dad out of the dough long enough for us to bake the cookies. I still make the same cookies with my children and now have to fight them off from the dough to actually bake some cookies!!
Chocolate chip cookies wer my first baking experience, and I did it with my mom and our next door neighbors – Carolyn was my mom’s best friend and her daughter Jean was my best friend. Jean and I made lots of chocloate chip cookies and had a lot of fun over the years (almost 50!). We lost sweet Carolyn this summer, but have lots of precious memories.
Every year my mom would make sugar cookies for Christmas – we would use those cookies cutters that you HAD to dip in flour or it would stick.
One of my fondest baking memories is making Christmas cookies with my family. We use to make a whole weekend out of it. My mom would pick out 3-4 recipes and my aunt would pick out 3-4 recipes and we would bake all day. There was always something to be doing, cutting dough, making dough, taking cookies out of the oven, eating cookies, and decorating cookies. I remember decorating gingerbread men with my sister and cousins and getting frosting everywhere, but the gingerbread men. For me baking is the best when done and shared with family and those you love!
Last year my son who was 4 at the time saw the little pumpkins at the store. He wanted me to make him a pie but I had never used a fresh pumpkin. It was really fun roasting the pumpkin in the oven and using it to make the pie. I probably wouldn’t have tried that if he hadn’t asked so I’m really glad he did.
My mom and I always made sugar cookies during the holidays. I remember the agony of waiting for the dough to cool before we could use it. I would peek in the fridge a million times like that would make it goe faster. They we would whip out my grandmother’s rolling in which I still use and contend that the everything made with that rolling pin tastes better. We always made tons of cookies and always had lots of love and laughs.
Definitely baking peanut butter cookies with my mom when I was little. I used to get a huge glass of milk and eat my full share of cookie dough while rolling out the dough into “snakes” with chocolate chips eyes!
I loved watching my grandma bake Christmas pies every year :)
Any time spent baking with my Grandma, but especially making Christmas cookies for the family. She’s the most wonderful woman and a fantastic baker, and any time we spend together is a favourite memory!
Making homemade cinnamon rolls every Christmas Eve to have for breakfast on Christmas morning! Some years we bake extras to deliver to friends and some years my dad is on call so they end up being Christmas lunch by the time he gets home!
Growing up my mom never baked, so I am creating my own memories with my 3 year old daughter. Every opportunity I can, we will bake something together. She loves it and I cherish these memories forever and hope she does too.
My greatest baking memory was with my BigMomma, every summer my family would drive to texas and me and my BigMomma would bake chocolate chip cookies and make pot pies. We had a lot of fun and I cherished the special time bonding with my Big Momma. Today I bake with my nieces, keeping the special memory of my BigMomma alive:).
One year my Dad helped mix up the multiple batches of Christmas cookies we baked. Turned out he forgot to put the molasses into the gingerbread cookies. Every year after we always remind each other to put the molasses in the cookies.
My favorite baking memory is Grandma’s baking. She always had baked goodies at her house. She made the best pie crust. She’s been gone for 6 years, but there are so many goodies that bring her memory back sharp and crisp.
For me personally, my favorite baking memory is creating decorated cakes with my best friend. We always had some mishap. One time she was fixing the buttercream and dumped the confectioners’ sugar in the mixer and then flipped it on high. She was covered head to toe in white powder.
My favorite baking memory was baking cookies with my Mom while snowed in . . . lot’s of snow growing up in Nebraska.
Baking 1… i have wonderful memories of my parents stirring a huge copper pot full of plums they were turning into jams during the last month of the summer at my grandmother’s house.
Baking 2… another memory is of myself when I was about 8, preparing the same cake over and over with very mixed results – as I regularly forgot one ingredient or another (it would turn my chocolate cake into either a custard, or a piece of wooden chocolate). My family would receive it with encouragement (and laughter).
I have great memories of baking with my mother as a little girl. Nowadays I still make time to bake in my mother’s kitchen once or twice a year. Now that I have kids of my own I like to set aside a baking day during every vacation be it midwinter vacation, holiday vacations, summer break. My Children look forward to these baking days as much as a trip to Disney. In fact next week I plan to have a ‘cupcake decorating class’ with my 3 children ages 5-9. Shhhh….. don’t tell them, it a surprise!!
I always loved baking with my sisters and mom when we were little. It didnt matter what we were making, the kitchen was always a disaster but we had so much fun! I cant wait to do the same thing with my children.
Every year around Christmas (my favorite time of the year), my aunt and cousin come over all day to bake traditional Sicilian/Italian cookies with my Mom and I. The 4 of us take a day off of work and go to the grocery store around 6-7 am. We are in the kitchen until 7-8pm and bake hundreds of cookies that we bring to work and give to family and friends. We make Italian Nut Cups, Croissant Rolls (with Nutella or Nuts), Lemon Glazed Cookies, Almond Biscotti, Fig Cookies, Cassateddi (Ricotta Pastry), Peanut Butter Kisses, and a few others. It’s one of my favorite days of the year. Girl Time + Baking + Holidays… there is nothing better!
My mother would also make small pecan pies. I really enjoyed making this with her and sitting down and taste testing all batches that came out of the oven. I miss that and I need to start this tradition up with my daughter.
One of my favorites is when my sister-and-law and I decided to make a Pecan Pie. We were getting ready to add the pecans. My sister-and-law said “this is the biggest pecan I ever saw!”. I replied “that’s because it’s a walnut”. We were hysterical for hours, and still laugh about it today.
on the day before thanksgiving, the whole family baking pumpkin pie galore! Last year was a record, no matter how much we make we never have left over!!! It’s and old family recipe the whole family absolutely loves!
My favorite baking memory is making cookies when I was around 11-14 years old and my 5 younger brothers and sisters were all still little enough to think I had authority. They would all beg to lick the spoon or the bowl and I would magnanimously divvy out who would get what–if they had been good and not bothered me too much while I was baking. Now they are all teenagers and can make their own cookie dough. But those were fun times. :)
My favorite baking memory wasn’t all “rainbows & butterfly’s”. It was one of an “epic failure” that still makes me chuckle today. My Mom wasn’t the best cook, she wasn’t even the best baker, but she sure did have FUN in the kitchen. I’m so glad to have a pecan pie recipe that’s good. My Mom & I tried to make it together once and we couldn’t even use what we made as a topping for ice cream. Thanks so much for this post!
My favorite baking memory is when my mom let me make the Pumpkin Pie for Thanksgiving one year. I was around twelve-years-old and for whatever reason, my mom thought it was okay for me to make the Pumpkin Pie all by myself. Long story short, didn’t think it would matter if I used tablespoons or nutmeg and cinnamon instead of teaspoons. More flavor right? My mom still served the pie and just told everyone that I really liked cinnamon and nutmeg as she piled on mountains of whipped cream on top of their piece as if that was going to save them.
I remember making cupcakes with my Mom when I must have been no older than 3. She’d give me my own set of cakes to frost, even though most of the frosting always ended up on me instead.
A close friend of mine had come over to catch up after a LONG time. Near the start of our conversation, she told me how she had been busy over the last few days consoling a friend who was going through a series of hard situations.
Instead of just chatting, I asked her if we wanted to send her some extra love. We caught up with each other while baking chocolate chip cookies. I got her address and the next day, I went over to her apartment and left her the cookies with an anonymous note of support, a smile card and love. I had a smile on my face the whole way home.
Two days later, my friend sends me an email. The friend who we gifted the cookies to and had posted an amazing note on her friendster just expressing her shock and immense gratitude for this kindness that she received from strangers when she needed it the most.
I am always looking for ways to use my baking to cheer people up because there is so much comfort associated with it.
My favorite baking memory is baking with my grandma at Christmas. We would be baking all day! We would bake from my great grandmas recipes. And now I keep the tradition going by show my childern and grandchildern the recipes.
I loved baking oatmeal raisin cookies in the fall with my mom.. I was in charge of mixing by hand, my mom would measure it all out. They always came out flat, but tasted great anyway!!
What a great memory and family time together. My Grandma always made chocolate cookies with fudge icing every Christmas. I remember have boxes and boxes of these cookies stored in our extra refrigerator waiting to give to friends and family. Just as you do we continue to carry on this tradition even though my grandma has passed away. My dad now lives with us and we make these together every year!
My favorite baking memory is making “Christmas Balls” with my grandmother. I still have her handwritten recipe card that I take out every year.
We used to take turns spending the night at my grandma’s. The routine always included “helping” to make what is truly the best apple pie. We would use the extra dough scraps to make jelly filled cookies. Vivid and great memories!
None of my college friends thought I could make, I mean i once added too much water to a cake mix, but I had learned how to bake in grade 7 home ec class years ago,
One summer while I was doing an internship, most of my close friends were studying for the MCAT. On the way I got an idea – I wanted to make study care packages for them all. So I planned a dessert menu and go all the supplies. I spent the whole night baking – puppy chow, lemon cookies, chocolate chip cookies and a cake.
The next day I walked all over campus delivering these packages to my friends. Everything came out delicious and since then I’ve been hooked on baking again!
I think it was making cookies from scratch at my best friend’s house–I was 7, so holding that hand mixer by myself was a big deal! And we got to lick the bowl, of course =D
Apple crisp after apple picking
Growing up, my mom and I would make tons of delicious Christmas cookies – some years we made around 1,000! This really inspired my love of baking. Of course, now my mom sits back and relaxes while I get put in charge of all of the holiday desserts!
We always make cream cheese sugar cookies as a family at Christmas time. We would inevitably end up with flour all over as us kids could hardly resist throwing it at each other. After all the cookies were cooled we were allowed to decorate as we saw fit. Our designs and skills have definitely improved through the years!
My favorite is just from last year: In my past life, I was married to a good guy but one that did not offer to help with any of the preparations for family gatherings (pretty much just watched TV and let me do everything). Well, I am now remarried to a wonderful, helpful husband who wouldn’t dream of letting me do everything alone. Anyway, last Thanksgiving, he was elbow deep with me turning out pies and cookies for our big family dinner with a smile and appreciation for how much works goes into such a task. That will always stay with me.
I have so many fond baking memories, but my most favorite are, of course, all centered around Christmas-time… baking cookies for Santa, learning to make my grandmother’s famous rolls with her, etc.
my favorite baking memories took place during the two years i lived at home with my parents after college. my mom, not a baker, would be my sous chef as i would bake bake pops, cupcakes, and other treats! she did more of eating the sugar and sprinkles than helping out, but we had a lot of fun..
The time my brother confused the amount of salt and sugar when making gingerbread cookies. They were the prettiest ornaments :)
I remember my mom baking a nut cake similar to a brownie texture that was to die for. She didn’t make it often as the pecans were expensive. We could smell and salivate over it to find it was for a friend or a family member, she always had to make another. Shelling pecans was so worth it! She is 82 yrs old now and she doesn’t remember the recipe!
Mine is actually a fairly recent memory. It was just a few months ago, watching my 2 year old son and my husband bake cookies (well, attempt to bake cookies – they ate most of the cookie dough) :)
My mom and I bake Mexican Wedding Cookies every Christmas. It’s a wonderful time for the two of us :)
My memory is not specific. My favorite part of baking is when I try out a new recipe and it’s completely delicious. When my family and I love it and we sit around eating and talking about our super yummy food.
My favorite baking memory is making holiday cookies with my mom. She made my younger sister and I both aprons we could wear when helping It was great fun to cut out cookies and sprinkle them (and most of the kitchen with colored sugars)! I also loved cutting through the cake batter with a knife!
I have many fond memories of baking with my Grandmother and my Mom, but the the fondest memories I have are of my Mother baking bread and other deserts at Easter time. She would start the day off making the dough for the bread, and then bake other goodies throughout the day! We had a blast!
One of my favorite baking memories is of my 3 year old granddaughter helping me make and decorate sugar cookies for Christmas. Although she was only 3 at the time, I let her break the eggs into a cup then pour them into mixer bowl. Did she ever think she was a grown up! When it came to decorating the cookies with the colored sugars, the child in her (and me!) shined! We had sugar everywhere, yet managed to get lots on the cookies!
my favorite baking memory has only been going for about 3 years, but it is still great! I bake cookies every year for the girls who work for me, and now my son has joined in and helps me every year. It’s a great time for us to spend some quality time together, plus he is learning more things about the kitchen!
I used to bake with my Dad before pancreatic cancer claimed his life several years ago. He taught me mostly everything I know about cooking, and I miss him terribly. It would be great to make one more meal with him.
My favortie baking memory was when my Sister and I made my Mom a birthday cake. We were 9 and 11, and we worked so hard on it. I still remember the look on her face when we surprised her with it!
my mom wasnt much of a baker but my sister is. she is 8 yrs older than me and when she was in university she would bake to relieve stress. so she would randomly turn to me to help her bake chocolate chip cookies (we would only bake half a batch so the raw dough we could put in the freezer and either save it to bake another day or to pick at when we wanted cookie dough), pies, cakes, and any other inspiration that she had!!
My favorite recipe story is the one of my first time baking with my son. He was only 4 but we spent hours cutting out Christmas cookies and “painting’ them with colored icing. Of course, by we I mean, mostly me since he was spending most of the time eating the decorations. :)
September 25, 2012 09:30 AM
Baking apple crisps with my sweet mother many, many years ago. We would make one every day in the summer for dessert!
Making caramel rolls with my mom for all of the holidays!
I love all the baking that comes from recipes that are handed down. The recipes one person is known for that you dare not to make while they are still here, but love that you have for the future. I also love that I have recipes my boys and hubby beg for because they love it, and then teaching them to make it so they can make it for their kids. It’s a beautiful cycle.
I bake sugar cookies every year. I used to bake them for my dad because he loves them, but now that he has passed away I still do it to remember him. Fortunately, my nephews love the cookies too, so now I pass them on to them.
Christmas is filled with such sweet smells ! Our family makes biscotti . Everyone looks forward to receiving it each year. We make 9 different kinds. My favorite is the peanut butter chocolate chip…yummy !
It is hard to choose because my daughter who is 10 always bakes with me, and since we do that so often I try not to take it for granted. I know so soon she will be older and may not want to bake with me. I get my baking passion from my Grandma who passed away when I was pregnant with my first son. She is the one who taught me to bake.
one of my favorite baking memories from when i was a young girl baking with my mom. She woudl decide to make dozens and dozens of monster cookies. We didnt have bowls big enough to mix the dough so we would mix it in big tupperware containers. She even let me use my hands to mix them. It would take all weekend to make the dough and bake all the cookies.
Every year at Christmas my mother and I make peanut bars for the school cookie walk. With the frosting and rolling it is a two person job. Through the years my sons have also got their fingers in the action to help – but mostly they just want to eat!
My grandmother was a wonderful baker. We went to her house every Christmas and we always made sugar cookies, cakes and a different kind of pie for each grandchild! It was always a treat to help make so many delicious goodies, plus we got to eat as much as we wanted since we were at Grandma’s house!
I have started a tradition of baking every weekend with my children. They each have their own apron and are 5 and 4. I love having them in the kitchen with me and measuring and stirring together and hopefully passing on my love of baking to them. It is our memory in the making.
share your favorite baking memory. – my dad baking with my mom
I remember how busy it has always been during Christmas. My mom would be baking this cheese brioche that requires a lot of dough kneading and rising. As I was still too young to help out in the kneading, or should I say beating of the dough, my brothers were always the first to be called to help out. And the funny part when we all talk about this, they say they all want to be nowhere when this season comes up.
Now that my mom has gone, I am making them on my own and now I do understand why this bread is only made once a year… but worth the sweat. Looking forward to that day again….
For sure, it was baking Christmas cookies with my mom. We would bake SO many different kinds, and make tins for everyone we knew. My favorite was always the peanut butter thumbprint cookies (which I never understood why they only cake out at Christmas time!) – my job was to roll them in the sugar and to be the “kiss sticker” :) Now I host all the holidays at my house, and treat her. Maybe I’ll make her the kiss sticker this year ;)
There is just something about pies and the holidays! My favorite memories will always be baking apple pies from scratch with my mom. Thirty years of baking pies and I still can’t get them as perfect as hers!!
My favorite baking memory is making ginger bread cookies with my mother on Christmas Eve when I was a child. I can here her Johnny Mathis Christmas album playing, smell the pine scent from the Christmas tree and taste the soft spicy cookies we left out for Santa when I think about it. I especially remember the best part, applying the “red hots” for eyes (and eating more of them than got put on the cookies!)
After my grandma passed away, my grandpa wanted to make the same Christmas cookies that she always did. I read him the recipe for our favorite chocolate press cookies, but made a mistake. Instead of 1 oz of chocolate, I read it as 10 oz. The cookie dough was so thick that he had to roll them all out by hand. It’s a good thing one end gets dipped in chocolate, otherwise they wouldn’t have been edible!
One favorite baking memory was making Halloween cookies with my mom, sister and brother. We cut out pumpkin shapes from my great grandmother’s sugar cookie recipe and then decorated using licorice and candy corns. I can taste them now……magical!
My favorite baking memories are the ones I created myself. My mom never enjoyed baking, but she would reluctantly make two types of Christmas cookies (magic cookie bars and chocolate peanut butter bars) just so my family had some sweets around for the holidays. When I was in high school, and I saw how she viewed baking as a chore, I decided to take over. I continued using my mom’s two recipes, and over the years added others I’ve collected. By now, my Christmas cookie catalogue includes classic chocolate chips, chocolate chocolate chips, pistachio biscotti, hazelnut shortbread, orea truffles and red velvet cake balls (thanks Bakerella!), espresso/honey truffles, lemon curd tartlets, and candy cane Parisian macarons. All that is overkill for my family, so they get shared with relatives, friends and coworkers!
I feel like a scientist in a laboratory when I bake. Each recipe is an experiment, and I enjoy figuring out how the ingredients interact and how I can make the final product better. While I bake throughout the year, Christmas is still my favorite time to bake. Each year I think back to when I was just starting out and measure how far I come. In the dead of winter, with everyone hustling and bustling about in the malls and wherever they need to go, I love nothing more than to lock myself in my kitchen and just create.
My baking memory doesn’t involve a dessert type food but it was making homemade Chinese dumplings with my grandmother. We’d make the dough, let it rise, and she’d knead and knead it. We’d roll it out and make little flat circles of dough. The meat part was also labor intensive, cutting the cabbage and ginger. Mixing the meat to just the right “taste.” But the final product was always delicious.We’d use the extra dough to make Chinese pancakes, almost as delicious as the dumplings.
My favorite baking memory is with my son when he was just under 2. He sat on the counter and “helped” me make the cake and the frosting. Then he really helped clean the spatula. I have a great picture of him on the counter licking the spatula clean with chocolate frosting all over him. He still loves to help his momma bake.
Very year my mom bakes a handful of delicious treats. The quantities are so large it usually starts a week before Christmas. I have fond memories of helping her out baking and then fighting with my sister over who got lick the spatulas and beaters. Yumm, salmonella has never stopped me from eating raw treats.
I don’t have many memories of baking as a child with my mother or grandmother, but am making memories with my own children often. We bake all the time, and I cherish the times we have together, knowing this will be something they look back and remember me and our time spent together as a family.
My favorite baking memory is sort of recent. I baked Dorie’s Celebration Cake and it came out perfect!
Some of my favorite memories of baking were with my mom all year round. She would constantly bake homemade bread, cookies and pies and take them around to neighbors and friends either just because or if someone was ill or recovering from a surgery. It taught me not only to bake, but how to serve others. To this day I think of her each time I bake for someone else with my children. I hope I can teach my children and pass the love to bake on to them!
My grandmother shared with me a recipe for blondies that I’ve never found an equal to. She used to bake them all the time and would bring them in vintage square tins, layered between wax paper when she would come to visit. I was always so excited to be sent to fetch the tin from her suitcase after she arrived and sit down for a chat over a plate of blondies…
My family doesn’t have many holiday baking traditions, but we always manage to make Anise Drops for Christmas every year. They have kind of a funny flavor that I didn’t like as a kid, but now I look forward to them!
My first baking experience :’) i was around 7 or 8 at that time and tried baking chocolate chip cookies with my best friend. They turned out burnt, but at that time, we both thought it was the most delicious thing we ever tasted.
My favorite baking memory is baking Christmas cookies for Santa when I was little. We would always pick a few different kinds to make that just happened to be our own personal favorites too. Funny that, huh? And nowadays, I enjoy this same tradition with my 2 little girls.
Baking chocolate chip cookies with my neighbor who was like another grandma to me. They only came out lumpy when she did them. Mine were always too flat. To this day I don’t know what she did differently!
My mom went so far as to make a wall hanging with Nanny’s cookie recipe on it….all spelled out in that mini alphabet and number pasta! Painstaking, my goodness. Maybe if I had that I would know her secret. ;-)
Loved making cookies with my aunt and sister. I think they were just sugar cookies but we’d make a huge mess (I’m sure my mom was thrilled) and probably ate more batter than cookies.
I have two fond memories of baking during the holidays…Every year my maternal grandmother would make about 6 different types of cookies and split them up into tins to give out. And my sister and I would help her. Then my paternal grandfather was the king of pies. I used to love watching him peel and cut apples. And the crust he would make was mouth watering delicious. When he had leftover pieces of crust, he’d make cinnamon sugar swirl type cookies that my sister and I loved to eat (especially when they got a little burnt!)
My mom would let me stay home from school and bake like mad to enter every catagory of our local fair’s baking competition. It was fun, educational and crazy! And, I was junior baker of warren county, 2 years running. Lots of fudge, lots of memories:)
My mom wasn’t a big baker but she loved to fry little elephant ears for us kids. We (my sister, brother and I) would shake powdered sugar everywhere–over them and the entire kitchen! When my mom passed away 4 years ago, she left me her recipes, including that one. I treasure it.
I loved baking and decorating sugar cookies with my kids when they were growing up! What a beautiful mess it was:)
Baking with my mom during the christmas hoilday, we would make mexican sweet bread, the house smelled amazing, loved it.
My fav baking memory is making peanut butter buckeyes with my mom when i was about 7. My job was peanut butter ball roller and i loved it… Almost as much as eating the buckeyes when they were finished! Ratner.lauren@gmail.com
When I was little, I used to love to watch my Mom make bread. I loved when she would knead and shape and make it all come together. And the smell of freshly baked bread always takes me back. The best part is when she would make a ‘mini’ loaf for me. I thought that was so cool!
Sweet story, sweet giveaway. My baking memory involves marshmallows. My hubby and I had just officially moved into an apartment together. We loved to cook together and well still do and thought we would make some Martha Stewart Marshmallows. We either didn’t read the direction right or just didn’t know what we were doing, but we had marshmallows everywhere. I at one point could not touch anything because I was covered. We thought it was great fun and have not attempted them again. That was 14 years ago. I’m tempted though to try your recipe and give it a try.
Thanks for the giveaway…
Meg
My favorite memory is decorating sugar cookies with my dad on Christmas Eve. My dad is not the emotional or cuddly type, so that time with him was precious. He always had attention to detail to his cookies but always made me feel like mine looked just as pretty (they didn’t :) ).
Baking and decorating cookies or cupcakes with my mom for a Pink Party Planners order is always a wonderful time! Its the best being able to work and bond with your mom at the same time!
My mom and I always bake lots of pies and cookies for the holidays. But this year my youngest is 2 and a half and I can’t wait to start some cookie traditions with her!
I love rolling out the pastry for my husband’s favorite Apple Pie with Cheddar Cheese Crust – and having him in the kitchen with me slicing all the apples. He always goes overboard with the apples, and I always decorate the pie with a heart cutout!
I love this time of year and my favorite baking time is making fudge and divinity with my grandmother. Just the smell and happiness in the air.
Thank you!
Holly (sugababy_boo@msn.com)
One of my favorite memories is of my mom baking her sugar cookies that she would stamp out with these awesome cookie cutters that had little lines to make them have more definition. We’d get to help with the rolling, cutting and baking. Then she’d sit and hand paint everyone of those little lines with food coloring to bring them to life. They were like little ornaments. She would give these out to friends and family and also to each child in the classes of my sister, brother and I. I still have these cookie cutters.
By far, the best baking memory is making Christmas cookies with my Grandmother. She would get out all her differnent sized tins and tupperware and make at least 10 different cookies each year. When she passed away, I wanted all her tins and tupperware and now try to carry out the tradition with my girls:)!! It is so fun and I tell them all about Grandma and what we used to make. :)
Oh, every memory of baking involves my mother. From holiday cookies to birthday cakes, we always have a blast!
my favorite baking memory is baking lemon cookies with my mom as a child – she grew up in korea and had never baked american sweets, so she had no experience baking pastries! i had to bring cookies for a school party. i think we must have made four batches of rock hard, tasteless cookies….we couldn’t get the cookies right, but we had so much messy fun!
My grandmother would let me make “dough creations” from her leftover pie dough.
Cinnamon & sugar with a pat of butter and I thought I could bake better than the Pillsbury Doughboy!
When my husband and I first started dating we made white chocolate macadamia nut cookies together. I watch what I eat and hadn’t had a cookie in months, but I was so in love that I sat with him and ate bunches. It was such a happy time.
My favorite memory is making Cannoli’s with my family every Christmas. My mom would line us up at the table and one of us would chop chocolate, one would chop cherries and one would shell the pistachios. My mom would be making the shells and mix the filling and everyone would get to taste to make sure it was ‘just right’. I’ve started the tradition with my kids and still love it!!
I used to love making Christmas cookies with my sister, cousin and Mom-Mom. We have a video of us making them in 1986 and we probably still watch the video once a year :-)
My 5 year old son helped me make sugar cookies in the shapes of bunny heads for his class Easter party. We decorated them with royal icing and topped them with sixlets – two black eyes and a pink nose. His kindergarten teacher and class loved them. They were a hit and he was proud that he helped.
I remember baking cheese cookies with my mom back home. It was 12 years ago when we had an oven. I’m still hoping one day i can bake cookies again with her, the fact now we live 10,000 miles away from each other.
My Dad was never much of a baker, but a few years ago he began to suffer from Alzheimers and things became for difficult for him. He still loved the feeling of accomplishment and about two years ago I invited my parents over to make Christmas cookies. Dad enjoyed adding the ingredients and was quite proud of the three batches of cookies we made. When we finished he invited my Mom to dance with him in the kitchen. As they danced I snapped a picture of them. He looked so happy. Dad passed away last November and I treasure the picture and the memory.
Wow, my Grandmother taught me how to cook and bake. We would make the best cookies and pies. We also made the most wonder cinnamon buns. Pans and pans full at a time.
She just passed away yesterday, and I was thinking about making some cinnamon rolls to give to my cousins since she always made them whenever anyone came to visit. I think it will be a wonderful tribute to her.
I remember baking double chocolate chip cookies with my father when I was about 8 years old. I don’t remember him baking at all – except for this sweet memory.
I remember helping my mom bake pies (which were just about the only thing she baked!). She always made homemade crust and let my sister and I use the scraps to make shapes, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and bake for a pre-pie treat. Her apple pie is still the best I have ever had.
Baking cookies with my mother an aunt when she would come to visit. Nothing better than baking with the women who taught me how!
Baking cookies with my grandmother.
My dad bakes the most amazing cakes….I’ll never forget the time he and I got the kitchen scale out the make sure the two layers were EXACTLY even….talk about Perfect!
My nana teaching me how to bake every summer in her little old kitchen with the aircon blaring
My passion for baking came from my grandmother. I remember getting up very early in the morning with her to bake right before the holidays. Everyone loved her signature fruit cake and now that she is gone, a few of us in the family have picked up the spoon to continue the tradition.
Making Christmas cookies with my mom as a child :)
Fighting over who would get to lick the bowl with my sister as my mom made the annual peppermint ice cream pie for Chtistmas, and then getting to eat any leftovers of it as breakfast the next day.
We are hosting Christmas this year, since we moved across the country from all our family (military!). And this will be my first year making the ice cream pie myself…wish me luck!
My favorite baking memory is baking at Christmas time with my mom. Even now as an adult, we set aside a full weekend before Christmas to do all of the baking for family and friends. Sweet memories!
At Christmas my mother would make the little butter ‘thumb’ cookies. My job would be to unwrap the Hershey kisses or to cut the red and green cherries in half or to top a batch of cookies with half a pecan. Mama made dozens of these rich buttery cookies and we could hardly wait till she put them out for our Christmas eve gathering of family and friends.
Love that you have the memories of your grandma making the pies and that your uncle has keep up the tradition. I can’t wait to try your mini! My favorite holiday memories revolve around my late hubby Charlie who would make his “S” cookies each holiday for family and friends. They are almond and so delicious. I have never made them yet due to the memories attached, but a coworker friend asked for the recipe and won 2nd prize in her cookie contest with them. So, the year he died, she sent me a tin filled with the cookies in his honor. What a special thought and gesture.
I truly loved baking with my grandma. The smells of Christmas cookies and cakes all shaped in a variety of Christmas items. My mom didn’t bake or cook so I couldn’t wait for the Christmas season to come around. Of course we made Pecan pies exactly like the recipe as your grandmothers! The pies were delicious! My absolute favorite. I love your touch of making little single ones and think that will be how I do them this year, with my 11 year old daughter. That sounds like so much fun! However the Gingerbread House Village won’t go undone! Mini Pecan Pies, Meringe Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Thumb Print Cookies and a Gingerbread House for everyone! We may have to start early darn it =0)
What a wonderful way to preserve her memory! My grandmother is also and AMAZING cook and baker. I hope to one day bake as well as she does =)
My memory is baking a huge variety of sweet treats for Eid (my religious holiday) every year after Ramadhan (the month of fasting). We would start baking the week before Eid during which time we’d still be fasting so whilst waiting for sunset when we cold eat again our mouths would be watering.
It was always fun to share plates of sweets with family and friends on Eid day and even more exciting to see and try the different goodies everyone had made that year.
My best baking memory? A few years ago, me and my best friend spent an afternoon baking cookies and chocolate for a wonderful christmas gift for all our friends :)
We did so many little sweetness, and we had so much fun that I would do anything to live this memory again!!
i really loved baking pineapple tarlets during chinese new year with my mum! the whole house would smell of sweet glorius pineapple and of buttery pastry goodness! (:
When I was little my grandma would bake us baked apples full of cinnamon and nuts and sugar and we thought they were the most amazing things ever. I couldn’t wait to go to grandma’s house to get a baked apple.
My mom makes sugar cookies in a lot of different shapes. Then we would all sit down with all different colors of frosting and frost them and of course, put sprinkles on them. Sometimes it gets out of hand and we have frosting fights. It gets kind of messy but we’ve always had fun!
My favorite memory is baking a traditional Filipino dessert with my mom that she used to bake with her mother and grandmother called Brazo de Mercedes. We messed up quite a few times but it turned out delicious!
Baking banana bread late at night with my mom! I think that’s where my love for baking came from.
My favorite baking memories are with my current boyfriend. We’re both college students, and we’re definitely on a college student budget. Though we’re both busy with school, work, etc. usually, baking is something special that we treat ourselves to whenever we can–it’s something we both enjoy and can bond over. Recently we made just plain M and M cookies…simple but delicious. Being in the kitchen with him is possibly the best thing in the world.
When my sister & I were little… like 35 years ago… our parents went across the street as usually to hang out with their friends for their anniversary (which ended up being their last). We were like 10 & 11. We thought we would surprise them for their 13th anniversary & make them a cake. We read the recipe wrong and put 1-1/2 CUPS of salt in instead of Teaspoons. We tasted the battered and new something was wrong, and kept added more flour…. we had enough for like 10 cakes and it still was salty. Made one BIG cake, and spelled Anniversary wrong (Anniversaity). But our parents were champs and took one bite and swallowed, and drank a whole cup of coffee. As adults we use to say that it was the cake that caused the divorce. LOL!
I used to love the fall and winter seasons because it would mean more time in the kitchen with my mom. She is a great hostess and every year she has hosted a Christmas Eve gathering with some family and we would prepare tons of different treats…savory and sweet.
Cookies, pies and whatever other things she wanted to incorporate in to the mix that year. But every year with my Mom growing up were fond memories.
However now that my kids are getting older and wanting to help in the kitchen I am looking forward to starting some new memories with them and I am sure they will be some of my favs!!!
My favourite baking memory was with my mother, the first time we made ‘MishMash’. We had tweaked and mashed up 3 different recipes and come up with our own special. Our neighbour suggested the name and that stuck on! It included a vanilla cake and a chocolate cake layer, but with our creativity we ended up with 3 marble cakes that were gooey but not in a good way! That afternoon was fun and error filled. A few more tries resulted in our signature dessert. Following that day every family gathering, that is every other weekend, had to have our creation!
My favorite baking memories are making cinnamon rolls with my sweet daughters. Growing up my mom was not a big cook. I love baking and creating memories with my kids!
I didn’t start baking until my twenties when a group of us would meet once a month and have a dinner at someone’s apartment. I so enjoyed finding a recipe to make I would always be the desert girl. That’s when it all started. I have been making a chocolate cream pie for Thanksgiving for more than 35 years and no matter where Tom & Marilyn are they always stop by for one for their table. Baking has been such a joy to me I bake give it away and people are happy. What better way to say I care.
For an appreciation banquet, I baked carrot cupcakes from scratch. It was my first time and hard work but when everyone told me they tasted good I was really happy~
Baking with my older sister… Always wanting to try the batter.
My favourite baking memories are Christmas time with my mom. We used to baked biscuits all day and fill tons of different baking tins, with shortbread, crunchies, jam squares, rice crispies biscuits and more. The house smelt like heaven for 2 days….
My mom has been recently teaching me all of her yummy Vietnamese recipes. She doesn’t measure anything so I’m always ready with pen and notebook in hand to jot down every ingredient and technique before she moves on to the next step. I love being in the kitchen with my mom because everything just flows and always tastes great. I’m very grateful for my mommy’s yummy cooking. AND I’m starting to get very familiar with the recipes and no longer need the helpful notebook. I will definitely pass on these recipes to my own kids some day and hope they do the same. Thanks Bakerella for your wonderful site and inspiration! =]
My favorite memory would have to be baking at Christmas time. I didn’t start baking until I was in college and on my own because no one in my family really did any ‘traditional’ baking so now it is my tradition to make cookies for the holidays (and every other occasion)
My favorite baking memory was when I did a science fair experiment in the 2nd grade called “Why do my mom’s chocolate chip cookies taste so good?”. My mom and I baked her famous choc. chip cookies but left out one ingredient in every batch and then made people taste test them. It was so fun and I still remember my mom helping me with that.
My favorite memory is helping out my grandma in the kitchen baking cakes. I would be so eager to help out but was always too afraid to get something wrong so I would not want to touch anything. But after the cake was done, I would enjoy it much more.
My favorite baking memory was starting to bake for my grandmother. She always made me a special birthday cake every year, and was the baker of the family. Now that she is no longer able to bake, I have taken over and she loves enjoying the things that I bake.
My favorite baking memory is making Christmas cookies with my mom. We had a “secret family” sugar cookie and frosting recipe that is fabulous. In particular, one year we were making them when my younger brother turned away from the dough to sneeze. He turned around an a giant “something” was hanging down. I was the only one brave enough to get it before it feel into the cookie dough. I was thoroughly grossed out, but I saved Christmas.
My favorite baking memory would have to be the ones I made with my grandma. She was the one that introduced me to baking in the first place. Whenever she visited we would make the most random things! I think I was 8 and we walked to the store, bought a pie shell, and some strawberries and some other fruit, and made the best pie I’ve ever had. We also made sweet potato pies every year for thanksgiving and christmas. Every time I bake now I think of her and all the memories we’ve made in the kitchen
My favorite memory is when my hubby and kiddos fight over who gets to lick the spoon! Although I’m not a baker from scratch, I like baking cupcakes for their school snack. ONOLICIOUS (yummy!)
I’ve always loved baking and I’m pretty sure it started because I would bake with my mom. My fondest memory of baking with my mom was making whipped shortbread with her every Christmas. It was hard not to pop a few into my mouth as we would fill Christmas tins for friends and family. Even after training as a pastry chef, I still love to make and eat the shortbread every year.
My baking memory was when I was very young maybe 4-5. My family was visiting my uncle in MN during the winter, and we all baked chocolate chip cookies! I just remember how warm and gooey they were, and were sooo perfect in the dead of winter! :)
I loved baking “spritz” cookies with my mom. We always placed exactly 3 colored chocolate chips in the middle.of each flower – 3 different colors of course! Sometimes we also baked scoop cookies. I love fling those now with my own daughters, who can almost do that on their own.
My fondest baking memory would have to be making my grandma’s famous and original pumpkin pies! She passed down the recipe to me years ago and now, every year, we make them together so I can prove that I’ve mastered them. The best part though, is when the grandkids (myself included) take our floury hands and pat her on the bum! Our handprints are all over her dark pants and we laugh for hours. =)
Mrs. Chestnut, a long time friend of my mom’s, would make a kazillion different kind of Christmas cookies each year. I can remember going to her house with my mom…I was probably about 5…the baking was in full swing and the kitchen smelled wonderful! All the different cookies on the counters, yum! Though we sampled one or two, we still had to wait for the day she would bring the big tray over to our house. Cookies and cocoa (coffee for the grown-ups)…ahhhhh….perfection.
It’s still a tradition to enjoy a big variety of cookies and baked sweets for the holidays. :-)
I also make pecan pies–my mother-in-law was “famous” for them in her neighborhood and made them for her neighbors every Christmas. We also had pecan pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners. I found a similar recipe to hers, but I liked it a tiny bit better. One year I made the pies for dinner, and my father-in-law bit into his piece of pie–his comment was “Wow mom, this is the best pecan pie you’ve ever made!” She said, “I didn’t make it”. But he didn’t stop there, he went on and on about how great the pie was. Needless to say, I wasn’t very popular that day and I’ve never made her a pecan pie since. My husband loves them and it’s totally a tradition at our house to make the pie and tell the story (as long as my mother-in-law isn’t there).
(One of) My favorite baking memories is around the Moon Festival/Autumn Festival where it’s moon cake time! There are lots of that stuff in the Chinese stores, but my mom used to make her own as well – not quite as fancy with the fillings, but she used special molds where they were shaped like fish, with details like all of the scales. Those always tasted the best. You have to knock them pretty forcefully to get them out of the molds, and it was always a really exciting time when I got to do that – helping out in that small way that I could when I was a kid.
My favorite baking memory is baking pineapple upsidedown cake as a kid with my favorite person in the world, my grandma.
This summer my friends and I had a baking day before we all left for our sophomore year of college. It was so nice to just bake and enjoy each others company before we all left for our different coasts.
My grandma owned and restaurant and had seven children and somehow found time to bake cookies and mail them to my mother at college as well as bake saffron bread for newcomers to the town or their congregation. This rubbed off on my mother, and she’s spent many a day teaching me to bake cookies and saffron bread and other treats. And she’d also assign me to take them around the neighborhood to friends and new arrivals. I’ve now got a house of my own and my own baking tradition that involves taking food to the neighbors and baking every week for a host of friends.
Memories of my mother-in-law’s holiday cookies! I loved making sugar cookies with her and decorating them. It was fun to see my son share in this tradition too! MIL died a year ago… we miss her and her delicious cookies.
the first batch of homemade cookies I ever made in elementary school…tasted so sweet.
I remember when my dad would bake the holiday cookies–all his favorites. He never baked cookies any other time of the year so I think that’s why the memory is vivid. Also, he did a great job and produced lots of yummy goods!
My favorite would be the times that my husband joins in and helps me bake. it’s rare so when it happens I love it and we have so much fun!