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!
My favorite is around the holidays. Especially when I was a kid. My mom and I would make christmas cookies (Ginger, Spritz, Russian Teacakes, & butter cookies) and a slew of other goodies. My absolute favorite was the scotcheroos mainly because they were the best ever (and they had chocolate on top). We only had them around Christmastime which made them so special. I was always amazed how my mom made them. I miss those days.
I now know how to make them myself. I don’t even need the recipe anymore. They are no longer just Christmas time bars, but they are still special cause I remember those days!!
My Mom has an old three ring binder recips book from the 70s that had all the family “secret” receipes in it. It is in one of those horrid bright yelllow and orange floral prints there were oh so popular then. But when I think of baking I think of that cook book and her hand written recipes for 1-2-3-4 Cake and Ice Beam sodas. :)
Cookies … lots and lots of cookies … with my mom and siblings. This year I was too donate a kidney to my sister. She died weeks before we could get to surgery. This year we will be making her family famous caramels. We will celebrate her memory and create this new tradition.
The first thing i thought of is not really a “baking” memory, but it is a kitchen memory. My favorite kitchen memory is canning fruit in the fall with my mother. I have a lot of sisters and a couple of Saturdays every fall my mom would shut down her kitchen to everything else except bottling fruit and seasonal produce. One day we would do cherries, another would be all about apricots, next would be peaches and pears. It has been over 20 years, but still we gather in my mothers large kitchen, work all day and we all go home with beautiful jar treasures.
Christmas cookies was my favorite. And everyone loved my mom’s cookies, family and friends. She didn’t make 3-4 dozen — more like 18-20 dozen lol! And we’d have a regular assembly line going: 1 Mixing, 1 rolling/cut out, 1 loading trays, 1 switching trays in the oven and the cooling table. Would take almost a week and Then another whole weekend frosting and decorating. LOVED IT!!! Sadly my mom passed away in 1997 but I’ve kept the tradition going with my girls every year!
Making an apple pie with my grandma. I lived far away and only had the chance to do it once, but every time I make an apple pie, I do it her way and remember the feeling of complete contentment of that day.
Baking christmas cookies with my family every year. It’s the only time when we are all in the kitchen together
I remember I started baking because my mom took cake decorating classes. We had a small kitchen and the tools were kind of old. But I remember the delicious smell of cake.
It was very fun spending all that time with my mom in the kitchen
Baking for the county fair for the first time when I was 16. It was the first thing I made from scratch! I’ve made it a tradition to enter something new every year
my husband invited FIFTEEN friends for the holiday meal!!!!!!!!
I spent two days on my feet. lol!!!!! He never did that again without talking it over with me first. (He says that i said yes)
My aunts were recreating my grandma’s recipe after she passed , and it’s the first time I realized there was mayo in it.
I was so grossed out because I had eaten it many times and never knew I was eating mayonnaise, which I hate!!
My favorite holiday baking memory is making cookies with my husband. We have been doing every year for about 6 years. The cookies may not be anything fancy, but we have a great time doing it together :)
I have some memories of my mom making us really elaborate cakes for out birthdays. She really went all out and is an excellent bake, but not so much decorator..I remember salvaging a couple cakes that she got frustrated decorating for my younger siblings!
I love making empanadas with Grandma when she comes!
I love making Pecan Pie. I make it for Thanksgiving, but I have to admit, I’ve never eaten it before. Whoops!
The recipe that has been handed down to me is Spritz cookies. Nothing special, but man they get so many rave reviews at Christmas that my dad had to put a limit of only one Spritz compliment per year.
I cant wait to try making mini pecan pies! You and your baking are just too adorable.
Baking Christmas Cookies with my mom, grandma and all my aunts.
I totally loved making cookies with my mom for the holidays. Always exciting to play Christmas music and make some treats to share with family!
I entered a baking competition for a Campus Kitchens Project fund raiser. I wanted to make something that stood out, so I used an ordinary chocolate cake recipe, added cinnamon, chili powder, and cayenne pepper, and I frosted it with a Mexican hot chocolate cream cheese frosting that contained the same spices. The first trial run of this cake was too hot, so I cooled it down by putting raspberries between the layers. I dropped the cake off for registration, and headed off to class. This is my favourite baking memory because not only did I win third place, but also when I returned to the building, I was greeted by someone who had purchased a piece of my cake and proceeded to rave about it to me, recommending that I buy a piece, too! =^_^=
Baking Christmas cookies with my mom and grandparents. We would spend the entire day, baking many different types…it was so much fun and I loved decorating the sugar cut-out cookies with my grandfather.
My mom loved to bake, but I didn’t appreciate it enough — envied the neighbors store bought cookies while they envied my homemade ones.
But my favorite baking memories are the ones I make with my son. He’s been helping me since he was able to stand. He’s not a licker or a taster, but a serious sous chef. I love the time we spend together in the kitchen. I hope that he makes memories like these with his own kids in the future.
My favorite baking memory from my childhood is my mom and I making sugar cookie Christmas cookies and giving them to all of our neighbors, friends, and family. The one thing that makes this memory great is that our cookies were HORRIBLE! Lol. We had to MAKE people take the cookies from us because we had soooo many and we would swear up and down that they were better than the previous year’s. : )
I remember baking christmas cookies with my neighbors, we were all seven years old, give or take a year and my mom. While waiting for the cookies to cool before we frosted them we decided to throw the flour ALL over the kitchen floor so we could go “ice skating.” My mom may have been mad at us, but all she could do was smile and laugh.
When my husband and I were first married, his grandmother heard that I really liked her homemade coconut cream pie, so she invited me to her house one afternoon for lunch and a pie baking lesson. Before that, I had never made a pie from scratch and now I can’ t help but think of her kindness every time I make her famous coconut cream pie.
Shannon
Medical Lake, WA
My favorite holiday memory is watching Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas with my family. We would all gather around, drink hot chocolate or cider, snack on something yummy we just baked and sing along as loud as we could. I have conitnued the tradition with my daughter and she loves it just as much as I ever did.
I have always enjoyed baking, but my favorite memory is when a friend and I decided to bake cupcakes in college using only what was available in the dorms communal kitchen. it was midnight, and we were whipping the batter with an old rusty hand beater and a fork, and baked the cupcakes on a roasting pan (no cupcake tins). But the end result was delicious, even though it looked horrible!
Every baking experience is a good one! I have always loved to bake starting as a little girl watching my mom & my grandma. Both my girls are now enjoying it themselves. The two year old just figured out she could lick the spinny thing (paddle) and loves it. I got home from work the other day and my 12 year old had made her first batch of cookies completely on her own. Proud mama!
My favorite holiday baking memory is when I was around 5 or 6 and all the cousins and extended family got together to make cut out Christmas cookies. Each kid had their own dough and we would try and sneak as much dough into our mouths as we could without being caught. :-)
I loved baking egg tarts (they are a traditional Chinese dessert) with my mom growing up. These are the ones that you can buy in dim sum restaurants, but they are simple and fun to make at home!
Every single memory I have of being able to bake with my mom are favorites, but making a gingerbread house every year for Christmas is a tradition I will cherish forever. <3
When I was younger, I remember every August my mom’s side of the family would have a bratzlie party at my grandma’s house. My grandmother LOVED them so much, we eventually made a tradition to do that every year. After she passed, the parties eventually died off, but I still think about that fun tradition every year.
I grew up making buckeyes with my mom every year for Christmas and they are still one of my favorite treats. Some we keep for our family and some we share with friends. They are even sweeter now that I make them with my daughter, who loves them just as much as I did when I was her age.
It is hard to narrow down my favorite memory. Choosing one, it would be cutting out sugar cookies with my mom and then decorating them. My mom’s recipe and indulgent icing was amazing, it took a long time. We would make them all year round, sometimes freezing them. As a mother of 2 toddler boys, I look forward to them having baking memories with me.
My favorite baking memory is making butter rolls with my mom for the holidays. We would make them into fun shapes like stars, fans, and rolls. Us kids would always fight for the last roll (they really are THAT good!).
I loved baking cakes with my grandma. She taught us how to pipe decorations. Because I was impatient she would always let me frost and eat graham crackers.
My best baking memories by far are the ones I have made with my little boy. Last week we make s’mores cookies, every year we make Christmas cookies, and every Thanksgiving we make pies. They aren’t the prettiest things I’ve ever made…but having him in the kitchen is the best.
Seems like most people have memories of baking around the holidays, as my family was extremely health concious, the holidays were the only time we did baking…of course it was to give away, killed me every time! My mom would spend days baking all sorts of cookies/candies/bars and my sister and i would help her wrap them up individually and pass them out to neighbors and family/friends. A tradition I would like to carry on if I ever have children of my own (only baking in my home doesn’t just happen during the holiday season).
At Christmas time, my mom and I always make fudge. And not quick-microwave-it fudge, the kind where you had to stand over the stove for hours stirring so it wouldn’t burn. We have so many good times in the kitchen entertaining each other while the other stirs. The counters are always filled with containers of fudge afterwards.
my favorite memory is also from the holidays – baking treats with my mom and sister (and sometimes brothers) to use as gifts for our neighbors!
My favorite baking memories are baking sweet rolls with my mom for Thanksgiving and Christmas morning. This recipe was so good and special because it was only made for the holidays, we couldn’t have it any other time throughout the year. Now my mom makes the rolls with my daughters and the rolls taste even better!
My favorite baking memory is probably baking for Christmas. December is my favorite month because of all the holidays and spirit! I usually have a cookie exchange or a baking day with my best friends from High School where we decorate holiday sugar cookies. Those girls have remained my closest friends even through college, so those memories with them will never die!
Marathon baking sessions with my sister. We pull out both KitchenAids and go to town!
Baking with my grandmother. She passed away a year and a half ago, but having her recipes and the memories keeps her in the kitchen with me.
Every year, family gets together a few weeks before Christmas for a baking party! We have wine and bake all day, all night. At the end, we use all of our goodies to fill tin containers to give away to other friends and family to wish them Happy Holidays!
Last year, i introduced cake pops! We made Bakerella’s snowmen and reindeer! It was then that I was named the future Bakerella and now my cake pops are requested every year!
My favorite baking memory is making pumpkin pie with my dad! We only did it a few times; but, my mom isn’t a pie maker and my dad insisted on having made-from-scratch pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.
been reading your blog since before it became a dotcom. ive never left a comment but look forward to your posts every monday!! thanks for the inspiration and letting us in on your journey.
One of my favorite baking memories was making candy cane-shaped sugar cookies at Christmastime. My siblings and I could never agree on a favorite Christmas cookie, but we always had fun making, shaping, baking, and eating these cookies. We put almond extract in them, and I thought that was the best, most magical flavor in the whole world. Love those cookies and those memories!
Last year my son was 2 and the perfect “helper” in using cookie cutters and shaking sprinkles. He may never remember, but since then he has wanted to help me in the kitchen with all my cooking.
My mom didn’t bake often so when she did, it was a special treat for us to be able to help her. And while those are good memories, my favorites are actually those I’m making with my own children. I love seeing them standing on a back-facing chair at the counter, flour on their faces, excited to add in the next ingredient. So much so, I’m gonna bake a pie with them in a few minutes!
Christmas time is when my mom, sister, best friend, and amazing aunt and my dad (the faithful dishwasher) Get together for like 2 days… And bake up a storm…we laugh… Get some dancing in to the tunes we have playing… watch Elf… And bake hard…. My Aunt Toni makes the most delicious sugar cookies that the full entire family can’t live without on Christmas…she actually has a cookie day for Christmas…where everyone can come nd eat all the cookies they want… And even take some home…it’s a dream day…
My Mom and I make Christmas cookies every year. And I mean we MAKE COOKIES (and fudge, and toffee, and such). We average about 65 dozen when it is all said and done. We spend weeks pouring over recipes and hours on our feet over the course of a couple days one weekend in December for “Cookie Day.” It is a blast. But, my favorite year was the first year my daughter “participated.” It was her first Christmas and she was 3 months old the day we did our baking. She stayed in her high chair, swing, stroller, or our arms while we did all of the baking. I loved that she was a part (even though I probably wasn’t pulling my weight with caring for her throughout the day). There was so much excitement to have three generations “making cookies” and even more hope for future years. Last year she was too mobile and too little to be a part, but this year, that child is going to have a BLAST! I can’t wait!!!!
My favorite memory…My uncle telling me that my oatmael raisin cookies are the best he’s ever had “and my Mom made some great cookies” Making better coookies than Grandma is quite the compliment
Making christmas cookies with my lil brother and eating so much frosting we would get sick…luckly this continues every year so this memory gets updated a lot!
I would spend summers with my grandmother and I remember baking in her kitchen. She taught me so much over each summer and I still bake from those recipes today.
Decorating sugar cookies during Christmas time with my daughter. It has been an annual gift to her classmates and friends at school.
I think holidays always hold the best cooking/baking memories. I love thinking back to christmases when I hadn’t quite learned how to bake yet, and mom would make TONS of Christmas cookies and I got to help frost some or put on sprinkles. My brothers and sister and I always cook Christmas Eve dinner, a tradition we’ve done since we were all still really little (my dad helped back then, but now he just gets to clear the table after dinner haha). We still do it, even though sometimes we all aren’t together for the holidays. Now that I have nephews, I am excited to bake Christmas cookies with them this year and just do other family things. I love the holidays! Haha. Your pecan pie recipe is DELICIOUS, by the way. And I love recipes that leave extra for sharing. It’s absolutely the best feeling to bake and share and when everyone loves it….it’s just the best :)
My best memory of baking,goes all the way back to when I was a little girl,I remember going to my Aunts house and she would be getting ready to make a cake for a wedding or other events.She was always baking every week so it seemed,and I love to be apart of that baking and decorating experience.I remember the smell of the delicious moist cake coming out of the oven,cooling on the counter,and as that was taking place she was getting ready to help me prep the icing I would sift the powdered sugar and I remember it getting all over he place and well that was taking place,the butter would be creaming and getting nice and fluffy,and I remember tasting if so yummy and smooth,I would just sit there and watch her create a masterpiece . I was always intrigued by her decorating experience,which led to where I’am now,a cake decorator and opening up my own business.Those many fond memories and smelly good cakes followed me to my biggest passion which is baking many delicious treats for others to enjoy
Watching my grandma make cream puffs! You couldn’t eat one without being covered in powdered sugar!
My baking memory doesn’t have as much to do with my as it has to do of the memory of my mother. My mother died when I was 18 it’s now been over 30 years. However whenever I smell fresh baked bread or cinnamon rolls the smell takes me back like it was yesterday and I can clearly see and feel my mother’s presence. My mother baked for the week every Monday with my godmother. They would bake all day to ensure their families were set for the week. Bread, sweet rolls, cakes pies cookies would all be done by the time I walked in the door from school. I didn’t know there was store bought bread and cookies until I was old enough to spend time at friends. I wish I would have had more time with my mother to learn all her baking secrets and to share recipes. I love to bake for my family, I can’t do it every Monday but I try as often as possible. Thank you for the opportunity to win such a great prize share a memory.
Christmas Eve means Mom’s amazing clam chowder!
Decorating gingerbread girls/boys with my kids and their cousins at Christmas time!
I dont remember ever baking with my mom but i developed a love for baking because of my grandfather. I remember watching him as he made the most delicious pastries and cakes and i always wiched i was old enough o help. He passed away 4years ago and now i bake cakes and pastries as my hobby and i wish he was alive to see what he has inspired.
My favorite memory will always be my mom, sister and I going to my grandparents’ house a week before Christmas, and spending an entire day making dozens and dozens of our traditional family cookie recipes. It is hard to get us all in the same place these days, but it is something that will always bring warm feelings to my heart and a smile to my face thinking of the special time I had to bond with the women in my family and learn all of the great family cookie recipes for all those years.
When I was little, every Thanksgiving my mom would make homemade pecan pies. I used to love to get my fingers sticky and mix in the nuts with the corn syrup. That was my favorite part of Thanksgiving.
My mom loved to make candy/bake for the holiday’s. One year it was my turn to take over the sour cream pound cake. I swear I must have made 30 mini cakes that year. But, I got to spend time with my mom and loved every floury minute of it. :)
About 15 years ago I wasin the Air Force and stationed in S.Korea. I was there over the holidays and somehow got voted as the cook. So every weekend the guys would come banging on my bedroom door to the their shopping list. We would review their ‘menu’ for the weekend, I would write a list and they would go shopping. Once they were back, we would get to cooking and baking whatever was on the menu. If you have every tired cooking with 5-15 single men…well…I was entertained. We weren’t home with our families…but we were with our new family. Making memories. 15 years later I still get emails requesting a recipe or just a ‘Remember when…” The best time ever.
my favorite baking memory would be my first time making cookies for someone :) i think i mistaken the baking soda and the baking powder (i still don’t remember which one i used/needed) and that might have been the cause of my cookies bubbling… yes that’s right. they started to boil. nevertheless, they tasted fine :D and i was alive the next day and i gave the cookies to my friend (with warning). even though i probably messed up, i still absolutely love baking and reading your blogs. thanks bakerella!
My favorite baking memory is getting together every year with my sister to make tins of cookies to give out to friends and families for the holidays.
I remember making all the holiday treats with my mom and my siblings. Cant wait to get baking this year!!
My favorite cooking memory is Christmas baking. My mother and father are excellent cooks but when it comes to baking my mother takes the cake! lol
At Christmas time the kitchen is constantly in use! It is the time of the year when we should have 4 ovens, 3 refrigerators and 2 freezers. Mom starts early on my dad’s birthday (December 13) and doesn’t stop till Jan. 2 when we have begged her for “No More”
Our annual ‘Date Nut Roll’ is by far my favorite recipe!
Love you Mom!
I am 55 and Christmas time still makes me feel like a kid!
My mum loved to bake. In addition to her regular Christmas baking, every year she would make the most amazing cake. It was her pineapple tort. It was sponge cake and merengue filled with whipped cream, pineapple, and walnuts. Ten years ago my mother developed Alzheimers disease and my sister took over the torte making duties. Last Christmas we brought her a piece. She smiled and said “Christmas”. Those were the last words she spoke and she passed away in April. This Christmas we’ll eat torte and think of Mummy. Missing her but celebrating her life.
My favorite baking memory is making my mom a birthday cake when I was around 8 years old. She was in night school and I wanted to surprise her when she got home. My babysitter helped, but it was awful! Lopsided and ugly, but it made my mom’s day. She actually cried! I was so happy to have made her birthday special and so proud of myself!
My favorite baking memory is one I recreate every year with my girls. Two weeks before Christmas, I make sugar cookie dough, roll it out, and let my girls (now 11 and 7) cut out shapes. Bake, cool, and they frost them and sprinkle them. A select few stay at our house to be consumed, half go to my husband’s workplace to spread some cheer, and the other half go to friends. It’s great to see how their decorating skills have improved over the years!
My dad always made cinnamon hard rock candy at Christmas. It made the whole house smell like cinnamon.
My grandad was our pie maker in the family, but was specifically famous for his banana cream pie. When he started showing signs of alzheimer’s, he brought me in the kitchen and taught me how to bake all his famous pies, step-by-step. He was handing the torch down to me, and I graciously and with a tear in my eye accepted. Now, I share a piece of my grandad with my family with each holiday (or just when we want something sweet!) I miss him every day, but hold on to the sweet memories I have of us in his kitchen!
I get together with my best friend every year to bake during Christmas for charity….we baked thousands of cookies and to me Chirstmas is not the same unless be do our baking marathon.
My favorite baking memory is around Christmastime. Me and my mom always compile a huge list of all the goodies we want to make. It includes the yearly favorites, as well as some new recipes we want to try. Then we go on a massive shopping trip to kroger or walmart to buy all of the ingredients and supplies, come home, and spend a whole 3-4 days baking and baking. It is so much fun and we love to give away all of our treats! :)
Baking christmas cookies every year with my grandmother has to be my favorite memory and cannot wait to continue the tradition with my children,
My favorite baking memory: My mom would come home with a friendship bread starter from a coworker and we would make the bread together. My favorite part would be sharing the starter with someone else. This continued for years and I remember how much fun it was to spend time in the kitchen with mom.
I didn’t grow up in a house with much baking or cooking. I’ll never forget the first time I made homemade bread as a married woman. Such a sense of accomplishment!
My favorite baking memories are from Thanksgiving when my mom would show me the ropes to creating all things pumpkin. We always had a blast in the kitchen together!
One of my favorite baking memories is making and decorating sugar cookies with my mom during christmas time:)
My favorite baking memory is of standing on a stool at the counter top to lick the beaters after my grandmother made fresh whipped cream for the tops of holiday pies. I miss her so much!
Baking anything with my mother as a child… I remember the kitchen timer and the over mitt I loved and the 1970s tupperware we used for mixing and the sifter she kept in a well-worn ziploc bag. Once I knocked a bowl of batter off the counter and it landed upside down on the floor, but the batter stayed in the bowl!
No one in my family really knows how to bake, so I never took a huge interest in it until a family friend asked if I’d like to help her bake some pies for Thanksgiving when I was a teenager. She was extremely patient with me as I was learning all the baking tips she had from years of experience. Now I can whip up cookies, pies, and cakes in a snap. I always think about her during the holidays. :)
My favorite baking memories when I cook with my lovely daughter her BIRTHDAY CAKE each year!!
My new favorite baking memory is teaching my three year old daughter to bake. I’ve had to let go of a lot of control with regard to measuring and cleanliness, but the result is so much fun. Apparently she thinks so, too, as a recent poster project in her classroom read: “A– loves to bake cookies with her mama.”
One of my favorite baking memories is baking cookies with my mom and sister. The baking was fun,but eating the dough was sweeeeet :-)
Japanese Fruit Cake – my grandmother use to make this cake every Christmas. It was amazing, the cake consisted of a spice layer, a nut layer, a plain layer and a raisin layer. The icing was cooked with coconut/lemon and pineapple. No one ever makes this cake anymore, except for my mom and me. Each time we bake this cake it brings back wonderful memories of my grandmother who I received the love of baking from at a very early age. Thank you Mamaw!
My favorite cooking memory is making Christmas cookies with my grandmother. We would often make as many as 12 different varieties of cookies and treats that we would then pack up and use for gifts. Grandma is still around, but not cooking or baking as much as she used to.
My favorite holiday memories of baking is with my dear friend. We would bake an obscene amount of treats and package them up and deliver them to friends and family!
My favorite memories are baking with my mom, sisters and brothers, cutting out sand tarts and decorating at Christmas time. We still continue the tradition, and I love it, now with 5 nieces and nephew to help out it’s a little more chaotic, but just adds to the fun.
Making sugar cookies with my mom for every the holidays. Once I moved out I would make themed cookies every holiday for roomies, family, friends. I love making yummy sugar cookies.
My sister and I haven’t always been close. We’ve had our days. Two years ago I had been elected to make 100 cake pops for my cousin’s baby shower. I was new to cake pop making so naturally, it was a lot of trial and error over a few days time. I was become more stressed and frustrated as the baby shower neared that I almost gave up in tears! My sister calmed me down, baked up a cake and helped me start on the last batch. With her, it became fun again and needless to say, everyone loved the cake pops! It was a moment I will never forget.
My favorite times of baking are with my three kiddos. We love to bake all year, but especially have fun making christmas cookies and treats to give to our neighbors!
My favorite baking memory is easily mixing up cookie dough with my great grandma… she always had fresh homemade cookies, some sort of pie, etc waiting for visitors on her table… every single day. She died when I was 12 so I didn’t get to help too much, but I will never forget her giving us a bowl of ingredients and a wooden spoon to mix up (and eat a bunch of batter along the way) whenever I came by early in the morning. I’m pretty sure that’s where my love of baking started.
Baking with my mom is my favorite memory!! I can’t wait to make more with my little girl some day!
Mine’s a cooking memory (as opposed to baking)…when my grandma would watch me when I was little she would always make velveeta shells and cheese for me from scratch. It was the creamiest ever!
My grandmother, being Polish, would always make kolache for Christmas (little pastry cookies filled with apricot or raspberry filling). When she passed away about 15 years ago, I took over making these cookies for our holidays and I’ve made them every year since (whether I feel up to it or not – they are fairly time-consuming!). My daughter, now 22, has helped me the past few years and it’s become a a new family tradition in that way.
Baking candy cane cookies at Christmas time with my children, and now getting to bake them with my grandchildren
My favorite baking memory is making Christmas cut out cookies when I was around 7 with my family. I’m pretty sure I had more flour on me than the cookies did!
Looking back on all the pictures always brings a smile and the realization that I will always become a mess when using flour.
My favorite baking memories would have to be with my grandmother. Baking pound cakes, cobblers and homemade biscuits. We lost her just over a year ago and I miss her so much. I just hope that my grandson and other grandchildren that I have in the future will enjoy baking with me and have special memories as I do with my grandmother.
making cookies with my mom. She passed away I have keep the tradition by making the same cookies on my own and now with my own daughters
There are so many but the one that sticks out the most is my mother making cream horns. My Grandmother always made them for the holidays and once she passed my mother took over. There was a learning curve for a few years and the words that came out of her mouth still make me smile.
My mom, sisters, the grandaughters and me get together for a day of holiday cookie baking the week after Thanksgiving. The men take off to spend the day golfing and we spend all day in the kitchen trying new recipes and recreating our old favs.
Making Pumpkin soup when my son was just two months old. He was sleeping in a bouncy chair six inches from me while I chopped and cooked the same recipe I’ve made every Thanksgiving that I’ve been married. Looking forward to having him help me scoop this year!
Each year at Christmas we make and bake Snickerdoodles for my husband’s brother. Two years ago my son, said “look mom”–he had doodled a picture of a Snickers. We sent it with the cookies. Snickers Doodle and snickerdoodles. I’m glad we had this talk.
Great memories of baking with my Nana. I would get the ingredients and we would make something special to have out by her pool with friends. Of course, now I have great memories of baking with my boys. The lion cupcake construction will probably be on the top for a while.
My favorite baking memory has always been decorating cut-out sugar cookies with my mom… We blast Christmas music, drink hot chocolate, and laugh all night..
My favorite memory is when my daughter and I started cake decorating classes. She and I took them together and had fun discovering new ways of making a cake and how to make it better. I love to bake and she enjoys cooking so between the two of us we came up with some pretty darn good looking cakes, cookies, pies, etc., and giving most of them away!
I started baking when I was real young and my mom was nice enough to just let me go in the kitchen. I’m not sure why because one time I forgot some ingredients in some cookies and they ended up melting into goo and getting all over the oven. Clean up was a mess! Just another lesson that taught me the importance of each and every ingredient when baking.
My favorite baking memory is from the time I made 150 margarita cupcakes for a cinco de mayo event. I live in an apt and I must have had cupcakes on every inch of space in my kitchen! It was so much fun creating them and decorating them that I knew baking cupcakes is my true calling and hope to someday own my own shop!
Making my own baking memories with my 3 year old daughter. She’s the official ingredient mix stirrer and icing spreader. It takes twice as long to bake but we’re having fun baking together. Plus the smile on her face when we’re all done is worth the time and the mess.
My favorite baking memory is helping my momma with baking candy and cookies at Christmastime :o)
I’ve started a tradition in my family of everyone coming over to my house to decorate Christmas cookies. Such a good time!
Reading my grandmother’s beautiful handwriting on her recipe cards. I have several recipes she gave me and I think of her every time I look through my recipe box.
My lil man is 5 years old and each Holiday we create a new Holiday themed treat. My favorite memories are during Christmas. Christmas cookie making is not complete unless our traditional Raffy’s Christmas CD is blasting in the background….”who comes around on a special night?….Santa comes around on a special night” If you have children this CD is a MUST :)
My favorite baking memory is making pastry for chicken and pastry with my grandmother. We made this every Sunday growing up and always had a house full of relatives to enjoy it with!
My mom was a wonderful cook and she loved baking at Christmas. She always started about 2 weeks before the holidays. It was always a “treat” to come home from school to the smells of her lastest batch of homemade goodies. She made eveything from cakes to cookies and candies. We always had so much to choose from. I miss this time dearly!
We weren’t much for baking in my house when I was a kid but I do remember my mom taking a simple pie crust, putting a ton of butter, sugar and cinnamon on it and rolling it up and baking it. It was so simple but it always makes me think of her and my childhood.
My favorite baking memory is making fudge and chocolate covered pretzels for gifts at Christmas time with my mom and grandma, while listening to the Muppet Christmas Album with John Denver…it’s a family tradition.
The first time I made a cake from scratch with no help from my mom. It was a surprise for the family & it was so fun to do it all by 10 year old self!
One of my fondest memories is baking with my grandmothers. They taught me how to make biscuits from scratch, yeast rolls and sweet potato pie. I love your mini pumpkin pies and can’t wait to try them but using sweet potato filling instead. What can I say, I a southern girl and we love our sweet potato pie. Love your blog and all of your wonderful ideas!!!
My favorite baking memory would be when my siblings and I would bake chocolate-chip cookies with my mom (it was best when my older sister was in school and just my mom and I would bake – my sister was never good at cracking eggs – shells every single time). I remember she didn’t care if we made a little bit of a mess & nothing had to be perfect. The best part was fighting over who got the lick of beater with the most dough. Then of course…sneaking spoonfuls of dough before the uncooked cookies went into the oven. I recently baked cookies with one of the kids I babysit & I asked him if he wanted to lick the beater with the delicious looking cookie dough. He replied “ohhh noo – it has raw egg in there that’s not good for you!” BLAHH BLAHH live a little kid!!!!
I remember learning how to make cinnamon rolls with my grandmother. They were infamous and we only ever had them when we went up for Christmas. She taught me so now I can make them for the entire family for Christmas Gatherings. I still remember that day — her teaching me how to let it rise, how to spread out the butter and just the perfect amount of cinnamon and sugar. Such a sweet memory!
I loved baking cookies with my mom and sisters, especially during the holidays for all of our extended family parties. We had a blast and of course would eat about as much of the dough as we baked!
Baking sugar cookies with my mother. The recipe for the cookies came from a 1953 or 54 Children’s Highlights magazine. Best rolled cookie recipe ever! Still making them 58 yrs later.
Baking with my mom or grandma at Christmas has always been a favorite memory. I especially liked watching them make peanut brittle. The first time I saw them whip out a hammer to break it up is still fresh in my mind. I really did think it was granddad’s hammer from the garage. Gross!
It has to be making cookies when I was little for Christmas to take around to all the neighbors. I loved doing that every year. Our kitchen was covered in cookies and very messy, but it was fun.
My mom would make pies for all the family parties, and then cookies for us at home. She’d give my brother and I a bowl of cookie dough each to add our own mix ins.
Not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, but in Canada, the mini version of pecan pies are called butter tarts. They sometimes have nuts, or raisins in them. I used to bake them with my paternal grandmother quite a bit. :)
My fond memories are when I bake eggless cake for friends.
Hands down, favorite baking was with my grandmother making her famous chocolate cake. The frosting was practically like fudge, and she would let me lick the spoon!!
My most favorite memories are baking Nana’s cinnamon rolls with her at Christmas time. We still continue the tradition every year and give them as gifts!
I always baked Christmas cookies with my Mom – she would take 1 day when we were out of school for Christmas and we would bake all day. Now, I love to do that with my own boys. They love to help as much as I did when I was little, and they love the finished products even more!
My favorite baking memory is anytime I baked with my grandmother. She has passed away, but I remember baking with her so fondly. She taught me almost everything I know about baking! My grandmother always made it fun, and I try to do that with my kids, too.
My family loves pecan pies! I can’t wait to try your recipe.. a great way to celebrate the holidays!
I loved being in the kitchen with my grandmother (Mimi) when I was younger. It wasn’t just baking but she did make a mean sticky lemon cake every year for my mom’s birthday.
My favorite baking memories are baking with my mom the night before Christmas eve… (we actually still do it) Every since i was old enought to stand i have been baking with my mom. The night before Christmas eve was always the biggest baking bonanza. We would clen off the kitchen table and start throwing flour on it ,rolling 5 different types of doughs, some for cookies, some for pies and one for cheesecake… the house smelled like how Mrs. Claus’ kitchen would smell… simply yummy…
When I was about 10 years old my grandmother and I made a giant cookie tree with many different sized star cookies. We covered it in green royal icing and lots of candy decorations.
Every year before Christmas my aunt, sister and cousins get together and do all of our holiday baking together. We start early in the morining and bake all day!
My mom has been an avid baker my entire life – and the trend has been passed along to my sister and I as well! We love baking cookies and pies (anything sweet really). One of my favorite baking times of the year is around the holidays. For each big holiday – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter – we bake sugar cookies, then frost them together. For us, frosting isn’t just adding extra sweetness – it’s an art! Baking has always been something we’ve shared together, and something I know will continue to be a fun family tradition (along with eating the cookies, of course!)
My favorite baking memory is making cookies for my son’s first birthday party. We made our own Phineas and Ferb cookie cutters and decorated them perfectly. It was so cute to see all the hard work smushed all over his face!
I have fond memories of waking up before my entire family and baking coffee cake, cookies, or some other goody for them to wake up to on many many Saturday mornings as a teenager. :)
I love to look up recipes and try them out. I’ve always love to bake. But my favorite moment happened just a few months ago. My two year old daughter just recently took an interest in my baking. A couple of months ago I was making cupcakes and she got on a chair to watch me. While I was getting the sugar she insisted on helping. I let her help me pour it into the mixture and after that she kept asking me to let her help. She assisted me with pouring more ingredients into my mixture and with putting liners into my muffin tin. :) Now whenever she sees me baking, she runs over and says “Mommy, I help!!!”
Spending time wih my Grandmother in the kitchen was wonderful. She was the best cook and my Granfather grew everything she cooked. We would alway make apple jelly at Christmas. It was the best apple jelly I have ever eaten.
My fondest memories are baking with my mom at the holidays. At Thanksgiving we would trot out the pumpkin, apple and pecan pies and I would get to decorate and crimp all the edges. Our favorite recipes all came from both my grandmothers.
My favorite baking memory is when I was a teenager, making brownies. Being blonde, I read the box and it said “mix by hand.” So I dug my hands in there and started smooshing the mix all together with my fingers. (This was not the first box of brownies I had made, but for some reason, I read the instructions VERY literally that day.) My dad walked into the kitchen and saw me with brownie batter up to my elbows and asked what the heck I was doing. My family still hasn’t let me forget this, more than a decade later! It was an Amelia Bedelia moment!
i used to nanny for a little boy. after we were finished playing dinosaurs and super heroes, he would ask, “what are we going to bake now?”. every time i would look over, i would see him sneaking some of the batter. but he wasn’t all that tricky, he would giggle loudly as he stuck is spoon in the bowl.
My favorite baking memory has to be the annual cookie baking day my Aunt and I have every Christmas. Since I only see her a couple times a year, this day of all-day baking is really a day I cherish and love to take part of. She has her “secret” recipes and we make a plethora of delicious Christmas cookies that everyone in my family loves to eat. We both love baking SO much and being able to bake together is so amazing! Xoxo
Baking with my Grandma was always the best! When I was a little girl, I would use this tiny plastic step stool that she kept in her pantry for me so that I could see over the counter. I helped her with the leveling of the cups of sugar. I was also in charge of sifting the flour, and then, a trick she taught me was to use a knife to cut slits in the top of all the dry ingredients before we start mixing!
But of course, licking the bowl was always the best part lol! :)
My grandmother baked every weekend and it was great – she would take “orders” from the grandkids and it helped that me and my grandpa liked the same things :)
i have so many good memories of baking with my mom that it’s hard to choose a single one :) but last christmas was extra special because we made a ton of awesome cookies and bread and treats, and it was just so nice to be together with the family (i moved to a different city last year, so it was the first time i saw them in many months). i likely won’t be spending the holidays with any family this year, so it’s especially comforting to think of how great last year was~
I love baking applesauce cookies for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Our family has the best recipe!
My favorite baking memory is when my mom, sisters, and myself would all gather in the kitchen at Christmas time. We would make all different kinds of cookies to deliver to friends and neighbors.
My favorite baking memory is making “sand tart” Christmas cookies with Nana when I was a child. I would come home from school to find the red-topped wooden table now moved from the basement to the center of the kitchen, and Nana rolling thin dough into dozens (hundreds?) of batches of almost transparent crisp sugar cookies sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar. I ate the dough raw, of course, and learned to roll cookies by rolling the leftover dough into my very own batches of those favorite cookies. We made so many for gifts and for parties that we’d find stashes of them months later in covered bowls, tins or the soup tureen, hidden and forgotten. I can still smell those cookies… and taste them…
I bake yummy goodies for my son, who has food allergy, that family and friends can also enjoy. Can’t forget the first time my son had cake, he ate a piece and asked for more.
My favorite baking memory is with my dad when I was about 6. We made sugar cookies with a mold of the Denver Broncos logo. There was flour everywhere….it looked like it snowed in our kitchen. We laughed and had a great time. Plus the cookies tasted great :)
My mom didn’t bake but I love to bake sugar cookies with my daughter & son. The looks of concentration while decoration g are priceless.
When I was young, my mom let me make an entire batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies all by myself. They came out looking great. We tasted it and it was extremly salty! Turns out I added 1 tbsp instead of 1 tsp of salt. From then on, I always triple check the amount of salt called in a recipe!
My favorite holiday memory is always having cinnamon rolls first thing Christmas morning. It was what we woke up to every year, and I hope to continue that once my husband and I start our family.
My favorite time was baking Christmas cookies with my daughter, Angela. I so miss that special time at Christmas. I look forward to spending that special time again with her, her new husband, and my future grandchild.
Favorite memory is making molasses cookies with my grandma. When I asked her for her recipe, she said, “I don’t have a recipe! I just put whatever I find in them. If I had leftover peas in the fridge I’d probably throw them in too!”.
Each time I make cookies, I think about her tossing in a handful of peas into the batter! :)
Every year for Christmas we bake cookies for Santa – we have used the same family recipe for the past 20 years and it wouldn’t be Christmas without them!
My favorite memory is making cupcakes with my six year old son …he loved the colorful sprinkles.
My favorite baking memory was when I was growing up, my mom would decorate cakes for friends and family all the time. When my birthday came around, I wanted a Rainbow Bright cake in the worst way! So she bought the Wilton pan and made the cake and I was just completely blown away. I still have photos of that cake to this day and love that my mom made something so special for me.
Christmas time cookie making!!!! A few generations of us gather in my Mom’s kitchen and mix, roll, flour, and laugh. It usually occurs on a Sunday and its one of my sweetest memories!
About 20 years ago, I was single, just bought a house and didn’t have a lot of money. For Christmas that year I made all kinds of sweets, cakes and cookies. I had a freezer full of pecans from family trees and spent an entire weekend cooking and baking. I was alone and had the best time. The only bad thing, my pralines never set.
My favorite baking memory is being in the kitchen with my mother and grandmother the nights before Thanksgiving and Christmas. I would help my grandmother make the homemade yeast rolls and my mom and grandmother would make sweet potato pies. I love how the house smelled of pure goodness and it gave us time to enjoy each other’s company. My grandmother is now 93 and she gets to relax while my mom makes the pies and I make the rolls
I remember baking banana bread with my Mom when I was 7. And the smell of the yeast as she would bake home made bread. That scent still brings me back to the kitchen where I grew up.
My favorite baking memory is making baking with my mom. It didn,t matter what it was we made,we made it together and it always came out delicious.
Baking has always been a bonding experience for me. First with my mom when I was growing up and now with my daughter. She’s off to college and still comes home for a baking “fix” with Mom. Baking = Love (at least in my family). Thanks for all your great recipes. Can’t wait to try your grandmother’s Pecan Pie recipe. :)
Every Christmas, my mom and I bake for at least one full day to deliver treats to family and friends. The trays of cookies and sweets are delivered on Christmas Eve. We make classic chocolate chips, praline brittle, my Grandmother’s recipe called Vanilla Gems (a pressed cookie, like a sugar cookie) and whatever other fun recipe we can find. I had a nightmare the other day that I couldn’t take off work and I missed baking day – worst. dream. ever.
I love the memory of baking sugar cookies with my late grandma, and reading through all her old recipe books.
One of the best memories is baking with my mom. She would take one of her aprons and put in on me, tying the apron strings all the way up under my arms so I wouldn’t trip. To add to the memory I saw my mother do this with my daughter when she was little….and last Christmas my mother gave my daughter that faded worn out “priceless” apron.
My dad used to wake me up early on weekends every few weeks or so and we’d bake blueberry muffins for the rest of the family. I’ll always love that memory!
Baking with my Grandma. She was a school cook and made sugar cookies from the school recipe, and she made bread every Saturday and let me help her, even though I was little and just got in the way!
My favorite baking memory is from my Girl Scout days. I entered into a Bake-Off with my Aunt’s salted peanut cookie chews and made it all the way to the State competition.
Fortunately my Mom raised me right up under in the kitchen so I have a lifetime of great memories! But I would have to say that the Christmas ones are the best! Baking and decorating cookies (especially on those snow days!!) are the warmest memories I have!
Every year a few weeks before Christmas, my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and I get together for a cookie baking extravaganza. Each of us brings a quadruple batch of dough for our favorite cookie, and at the end of the day, we get to go home with a complete batch of four different types of cookies. Lots of fun!
My favorite baking memory is making Easter Pies every year with my Grandpop. Easter pie is an Italian ricotta pie made at Easter. It is still my favorite dessert and my favorite memory of my Grandpop….Delicious!
My favorite baking memory is baking with my Nana. We made Mincemeat Cookies and they are still a family favorite from generation to generation 52 years later.
My mom is a fantastic baker, and every Christmas my brother and I would help her make Christmas cookies. Right after my daughter was born in Nov. 2003, my mom came to our house for a few days and brought all her baking stuff and we spent an afternoon baking and decorating Christmas cookies. It was just like growing up. And now I’ve started the tradition with my kids.
Like you I have a very talented grandmother. My three sisters and I would get together with our grandmother every holiday season to bake cookies. She would bake tons and tons of cookies. I will always remember the stacks of cookie tins in the breezeway. She would send packages to friends and family members and also made holiday cards for patients in the hospital. I hope to one day take over her thoughtful task of making cookies and cards.
I am not a native here and where I come from baking is not the norm so my favorite baking memory is rather recent. It is one that we started when my daughter, now 4, was 2. I’d make sugar cookie dough and roll it out for her then she’d press the cookie cutter into the dough. I would put them in the oven and she’d beg me to leave the oven light on so she could watch over the cookies. I know for sure that baking is not only teaching her math but patience. Thank goodness our sugar cookies bake ready in 12 minutes! I don’t know if her then two year old patience could have handled anymore. But each year it is getting easier :)
My favorite baking memories are with my mom. She is an amazing baker and always makes everything look so perfect! We made cookies and cakes, she does amazing pies, bread and even my grandpas kukelka dough. My mom has been wanting a new mixer for years now and her birthday is October 10…this would be the perfect surprise for her!
My mother used to bake at Christmas, I bake year around. However, we have traditional items we make at Christmas.Both of my parents are gone now and I carry on the traditions. Thank you
I have lots of baking memories but I suppose my favorite is of me and my sister baking banana bread, apple bread and prune cake every year at Christmas.
Baking cookies with my grand daughters. They love to make cookies and frost them at gramma’s house.
My favorite baking memory is baking Christmas candy every year at Christmas with my family.
One of my favorite baking times was with my sister when we made our first batch of Cake Pops! We made the Easter Chicks and we laughed at each and everyone we made! My sister and I bake alot together and have way to many fun times to really say one is my fav!
I love making oatmeal cookies with my Dad, and sneaking bits of cookie dough. Every time he will tell me that cookie dough will be the end of me because of the raw egg….but inevitably he starts sneaking little bits and shrugs “a life without cookie dough is not a life worth living.” Amen!
Every year my Grandmother, Mom, Sister and I would make cajun tarts for Christmas to give to the family. Grandmom and Mom are gone now, but i always have the memories!
Some people get in trouble in high school, sneaking out or breaking curfew. But my friends and I? We’d gather at someone’s house and stay up late baking Hershey’s hot fudge pudding cake. It was pretty much a weekend routine. Nearly 15 years later we’re all still friends, and inevitably we end up reminiscing about baking…and then we end up baking another cake.
Getting to stay up late for the first time at about 10 years old to help my mom bake Christmas cookies while my siblings were asleep. Magical!
My favorite baking memory is making apple pie on thanksgiving with my mom but not really eating any until the next morning for breakfast!!
When I was four years old, my mom and I were making pumpkin pie. She managed to spill the entire bowl of pie batter on me, ostensibly ruining my lavender sweatshirt with a hippo ballerina on it.
The following year, the same exact thing happened– the entire bowl of pumpkin pie batter all over me.
I have learned my lesson and have never made pumpkin pie with her since. I am 28 now.
My little brother wanted to bake cookies and off to the kitchen he went. After some time, he came to me with a very worried look on his face, saying he didn’t know what happen but he followed the recipe exactly as stated but something went wrong.
I went to the kitchen with him to see if we could figure out what had happened…he put all the ingredients on to the baking sheet instead of into a bowl and mixing them!
I felt so bad for him. We worked together to fix it and make his cookies and we had such a nice time! Turned his frown into a smile
My favorite memory is making home-made pizzas with my family as a child :o)
My aunt and uncle always hosted a Christmas Tree Party. Though I didn’t assist with the baking for the party, I remember eating the same cookies every year (my favorite was the fudge). We always had a great time choosing and cutting down a tree and starting off the holiday season together as a big family!
One of my favorite memories is baking with my little grandmother in her kitchen in Newark NJ. She was an Italian immigrant, and every winter we would make taralles together – a peppery, Italian biscuit that you have with wine. To this day, every Christmas I pull out the recipe I wrote down over 30 years ago, and spend a day with my daughters, creating a memory for them, and we give out bags of them to the whole family in my grandmother’s honor.