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 memory is of stealing frosting from my Mom when we baked and decorated cakes together.
A coworker at my first job invited me to a cookie exchange and I sadly revealed that I never learned how to bake cookies. She said don’t worry, I’ll cook two of everything. That kindness lead to a dear friendship.
Just in time for holiday baking!
My favorite memories are baking cookies with my grandkids. They love to measure, pour, mix, and lick fingers!
Every Thanksgiving, it’s my job to make the pies. However, everyone has to have their input before we can decide which ones I should make!
Christmas is always special baking.
Best childhood memories…. Time spent pouring over cookbooks and choosing something to bake…
So my favorite moment is very sad. It was my last baking moment with my mom and it was this year. My mother was told Christmas 2012 that she had stage 4 lung cancer and she didnt have long left. She tried to squeeze every last thing into the last months of her life. One day she was feeling very sick and I decided to make her a treat while she was still able to swallow and eat. I decided to try my hand at cake pops for the first time. I didnt like making cake pops, I hated it in fact. They fell apart, they didnt stick right and I was seriously angry by the time i was done. Mom asked me to come and show her what I did regardless of how they came out. So I put them all on a plate and took them to her and walked back into the kitchen to check on my dinner. After about 30 minutes or so I went back to check on my mom and the nurse was with her..mom had fallen asleep. When I went and looked at her she had chocolate all over her face and it cracked me up. Acording to the nurse she liked them so well that she ate all of them! And I made 12. She was so tired that she feel asleep and the nurse was snapping pictures of her before she cleaned her up. Needless to say it was the last thing mom was able to eat before she passed away. I cherish that moment because while I was seriously mad at my cake pops, I made my mother something she really enjoyed. And to this day, I refuse to make them anymore. I cant seem to get them to work out at all. lol
All natural cookies. Everyone hats the ingredients but love the cookies.
My favorite baking memory is both a bad and good memory. I was making a wedding cake that was starting to buckle and collapse. It really was one of the worst days of my life, and I was literally sobbing while decorating this cake.
WHY is it my favorite memory?
Well, it showed me how wonderful of a family I have. My fiance (now hubby) pulled an all-nighter with me helping me get this cake into shape, and my parents took shifts sleeping and helping, sleeping and helping. I felt so bad, but my family totally supported me. That is what makes it one of my favorite baking memories. =)
*I re-entered because my email was originally incorrect! Not sure how to delete the old one.
My favorite baking memory is both a bad and good memory. I was making a wedding cake that was starting to buckle and collapse. It really was one of the worst days of my life, and I was literally sobbing while decorating this cake.
WHY is it my favorite memory?
Well, it showed me how wonderful of a family I have. My fiance (now hubby) pulled an all-nighter with me helping me get this cake into shape, and my parents took shifts sleeping and helping, sleeping and helping. I felt so bad, but my family totally supported me. That is what makes it one of my favorite baking memories. =)
My favorite baking memory also involves a lesson my mother taught me about valuing EVERYONE in our lives from those who hold significant roles to those we may not think of every day. Every year around Christmas and Valentines Days we would spend an entire day baking cookies. Usually a chocolate cake cookie with a festively colored frosting. We’d help mom with the mixing and baking and then she would frost and my brother and I would decorate. These cookies were put on small paper plates on top of holiday napkins, wrapped in plastic and sealed with a lovely bow and ribbon. They were given to our teachers, the pastor of our church, neighbors, the school bus driver and “Mickey the Mail Lady.” Everyone got cookies. Always. Even when we were having a bad year financially my mother made sure the people who mattered, the people who helped us, got cookies (or noodles, sometimes we made homemade noodles too). The baking and the message go hand in hand for me. I’ve taken it into my adult life and I will always thank her for that.
My favorite baking memory is teaching my now grown girls how to make a layer cake from scratch.
We used the famous Hershey recipe…and it’s still the only cake they can all make from scratch with no problems!
My favorite baking memory was baking pies with grandmother to serve in her restaurant. I have yet to master her coconut custard!
My favorite baking memories are anytime I am at the kitchen island with my kids either putting together a recipe or decorating a cake or cupcakes. They enjoy it so much that baking becomes so much more to me than just a hobby…
I used to bake chocolate chip cookies for my older brother. He passed away when I was 16, but some of my best memories are of him enjoying the cookies I baked for him.
My favorite baking memory was when I made my first fondant cake for my friend. I made it with one of my really good friends and we spent hours trying to make flowers and a tree branches (we were making a cherry blossom two tier cake). It was a lot of fun because it felt like we were playing with play-doh!
Every year on Christmas Eve, my little sister and I bake a birthday cake for Baby Jesus. It’s a fun tradition that my parents started when I was little (and now I’m in my twenties! We’ve been doing this for quite a long time!). I love celebrating Jesus’ birthday and spending quality time with my little sister.
This would be perfect for a holiday gathering…I can see it disappearing really quickly!
Making gingerbread cookies in christmas and decorate them like gingi from shrek.
My favorite baking memories are all the Christmases I got to bake with my mom growing up. Cookies, pies – always something different and yet always amazing. I’m ready for Christmas now!
My favorite memory is baking cookies for my mom and daughter.
There’s nothing like the smell of something baking in the oven on a cold or rainy dreary day! Every generation has memories of baking with mother or grandmother… and many mothers and grandmothers (like me) have fond memories of baking with their children!
My favorite memory consists of my mom and I making sugar cookies together; during Christmas time every year we have always made chocolate chip cookies and sugar cookies together. The homemade sugar cookies always proved to be a challenge for her because the kitchen would get so warm and the dough would become too warm as a result making them hard to handle and causing the cookies to fall apart. She would get SO UPSET with that dough, but she knew that this was my favorite cookie and so every year she would push through even though it would tick her off so bad. Im 25 years old now and to this day we still make them together every year only now I deal with the dough and mom gets to sit back with a smile and chill. : )
I have a the Nestle best loved cookies cookbook. I just made the pumpkin spice and iced cookies on Friday night. They are delicious.
My favorite memory is when I was thirteen and was babysitting for twin five year old girls. They were so fortunate, they had a child’s oven, that worked with a lightbulb for heat. We made batches of chocolate chip cookies…. that were memorable. We’re they really baked to perfection – who cared.
My favorite baking memory is making dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies and candies. Mom would package them on decorative plates and my brothers and I got to deliver them to all our friends and neighbors! (And we ate a few as well!) ;)
My mom and I always made chocolate chip cookies together. She always taught me to mix by hand. It never occurred to me until my 30’s that I could use a mixer but it’s just not the same. I will always mix my chocolate chip cookies by hand. It’s a family tradition now and I will teach my daughter the same! I absolutely love your website!
Baking cutouts is always the most fun. Decorating with all different colors of frosting tops it off.
I was the one asked to bake the birthday cakes, so they must have been edible!
My favorit baking memory is with my mom when i was little. In the middle of the night she would get up and make chocolate oatmeal cookies when she had a craving for them. I would get up and she would show me how to bake them.
Every year I would scour cookbooks to make my grandma a special cake for the pioneer picnic. One year it was a peppermint candy cake. It sounds weird, but it was a big hit.
Any holiday is a special time being with family makes memories every year
My favorite baking memory was sitting on the counter to help my mom make chocolate chip cookies. I was too short to reach the stand mixer so she sat me next to it so that I could add everything myself.
Making Christmas cookies every year. Those hard silver balls always looked so cute but were too hard to eat!
One of my favorite memories is our annual Christmas Eve Open House. I made dozens of oatmeal choc.chip cookies (among others) and the biggest “cookie monster” in the guests was our dentist! I finally put the platter right in front of him on the coffee table, and everyone else had to go there to have a cookie.And I know he wasn’t drumming up business.
Pumpkin Pie Bites – I’m going to make some!!
One of my favorite memories was baking candy cane cookies with my niece. She had icing everywhere including her hair :)
my sister wasn’t too happy about that, but it was all the mess was worth it in the end and I have some great photos as well.
My favorite cooking memories involve cooking with my three small children. They love digging in to measure, stir and bake. Best of all, they like to EAT!!
My grandma and I shared a lot of common interests, chocolate and baking to name a few. I learned a lot from her but the funniest and most memorable baking lesson I learned was the meaning of unsweetened chocolate. As we were baking one day, I was eyeing the delicious looking bar of chocolate she was using in a recipe. I boldly asked if I may have a piece to eat. To my joy, she smiled and gave me a big chunk of the bar. I bit right into it and I’m sure she wishes she could’ve recorded the look on my face, priceless!
My favorite baking memory has to be Christmas time! My mom would pull out her spiral bound Betty Crocker and let my sister and I pick what cookies we wanted to make. We always picked the stain glass ones. Now we carry on the tradition with my two boys. :)
Want to win.
I remember at Christmas baking cookies with my mom when I was a young girl.
My favorite baking memory will be the annual time my mom and I spend making trays for our friends and family!
This is time I cherish and will always block off the 2 days we spend together!
The most memorial baking was when I was going to bake chocolate chip cookies for my nephew and his family that were coming for a visit. I grabbed the cornstarch and put ii in instead of baking soda. Luckily, I noticed but only partially recovered the batch by adding the baking soda. They were flatter than usual but the cornstarch did not ruin the taste.
I think mine would be making baklava with my cousin while she ate the top layer off or helping my best friend learn to make cookies.
My favorite baking memory was making cookies with my grandmother when I was little. I also loved watching my mom whirl around the kitchen when she would bake, she always let me lick the bowl!
I always remember making refridgerator cookies with Granny. Since she has been gone we have’nt been able to redupicate the receipe.
Baking Christmas cookies with Nana.
My favorite baking memory is when I made a cake every Sunday with my Mother. It seems to me that we always made chocolate cake, but that’s okay because I love chocolate. Love your blog!
Watching and “helping” my Mom make granola!!
Baking and packaging holiday treats with my husband to send to family and friends. We made the Christmas tree pops which he meticulously decorated himself :)
My favorite baking moment(s) are when my youngest was very little 2 or 3 years old, he would bake with me all the time. This is how we would teach him counting and math. He would do all the measuring and he was so precise in his measuring it was very cute. I will always treasure those moments, he is now 16 and while he still bakes once in a while he enjoys eating my baking more than he likes to bake now.
Those pecan pies look wonderful. MY sister makes one every holiday season now,.
Living in Germany many years ago, each Christmas my native German neighbor & I would bake cookies together. We would each bake native German & typical U.S. cookies & then share each with our families. It made for a very interesting and tasty Christmas.
This is certainly one of my funniest baking memories. I don’t remember what we were making, but it required the use of a blender. We added the ingredients and when we pressed the button to puree, we found out the hard way that somehow the lid had not been put on completely. I guess the ceiling needs a cleaning once a decade!
Every year with my daughter I make the cut out Christmas sugar cookies and mix up every color of frosting imaginable and spend hours and hours decorating, usually a total of 2 days. Every year when I am done I swear I am NEVER doing it again. But every year we must forget about the last year and we pull everything out and start over!
I look forward every year to the Christmas holiday. I have a tradition of instead of buying Christmas presents for most of my family and friends, I spend the time/money making homemade goodies like cookies. After seeing this website and all the great ideas, I have some new ideas I can’t wait to try for my family.
I love baking Christmas cookies every year. Many happy memories.
Love this time of the year it gets me in the baking mood and boy would this be an awesome prize to win!!!
My Mom always made Nestle’s Toll House cookies with their chips. I have not found a better recipe though, I tried. It’s the original that’s for me and my favorite memory. It reminds me of home when I was a kid.
My favorite baking memory was when I was first learning to bake. I was probably in 3rd grade. I made brownies and put them in the oven, not realizing that previous user of the oven had set it to BROIL. The brownies were BLACK on top. My dad being the great guy he is ate them anyways. It makes me smile just thinking about it….
The best!
When my mom would bake cherry pies, she would give my sister and I the scraps from her crust and we would make our own mini pies using a few leftover cherries from the cans! So sweet and fun!
My kids and I love to make a holiday treat every year–the Chex company calls them ‘Muddy Buddies’ but we affectionately refer to it as “reindeer poop.” Just makes it more fun to eat when you can call it by a funny name–lol. It definitely gets my 9-year-old and 6-six-year-old super engaged!!
When i was just a little boy i tried to make browmies! I did’nt get the directions right and instead of adding a teaspoon of salt, I added a “TABLESPOON” I was looking so forward to enjoying the first bite !
My baking memories are all of baking with my sister. She is a wonderful cook – and always willing to create wonderfully complicated desserts that I never make time for (with 2 small children underfoot!!) when she is not around!!
Those look like fun, my 8 year old and I will try those out for her birthday!
My favorite memory is making cookies with my Mom. We would bake for a whole weekend and then put them in ice cream pails in the freezer. The when friends came over we would make cookie platters. I still carry on the tradition in her memory.
My family always marked special occasions by baking. Mymother always celebratedher birthday with homemade pineapple upide down cake; my sister,devils food, my brother, carrot cake. But I agree that probably the best memories come from baking Christmas cookies. We’d start the day after Thanksgiving and stop the day before Christams eve (Christmas eve eve?) Funny how such a homey ritual can carry such meaning. And frankly no cookie ever tastes as good as a homemade christams cookie.
Love your site – can’t wait to make your mini pecan pies! My mom had an amazing rolled sugar cookie recipe and we made these pumpkins at Halloween with adorable chocolate chip mouths and eyes. At Christmas, we made bells, stars, Christmas trees and stockings. Great memories!
Nice Prize
Pecan Pies are my favorite. Good recipe!
I used to love it when I baked cupcakes. Mom and I would go to the store and I got to choose the color for the papers, frosting and food coloring. Also, I got to choose sprinkles,and other toppings. When I took them out of the oven I could hardly wait to start decorating them.
my best baking memory is from baking with my best friend and my grandmother in my mother’s kitchen. we were making chocolate cupcakes. twelve cupcakes were baking while the rest of the batter sat in a bowl, waiting to be poured. i was 8 at the time. i asked grandma what we should do with the rest of the batter and she said to go ahead an eat it. so my best friend and i did just that. it was delicious and we had chocolate all over our faces. i still eat right out of the bowl and now i let my 5 year old do the same. grandma passed away this year, thanks for being amazing!
My memorable was baking 8 different holiday cookies and desserts and packaging it for my friends and family. It was a lot of work! I got raves for my baklava. :)
My favorite baking memory is all the times that I made cookies with my mom on rainy days! For some reason, she was always able to make great cookies. Now I try it without her sometimes and they always turn out flat or crumbly or something is wrong with them!! lol.
Like many, my favorite baking memory comes from my grandmother, a sweet, gentle woman who was a ninja at every single homemaking skill imaginable.
She tried many times to teach me how to make homemade pie crust, it looked so easy when she did it. She would show me step by step, then patiently take over when I messed it up. Her three main specialties were pecan, rhubarb and apple pies, but the one we always worked on was apple. We had enough for a double crust pie and made maryjanes with the leftover dough. No wasting a crumb in grandma’s house. When I made pie with grandma it was a mouthwatering treat, when I made it alone it was soup.
My favorite holiday baking memory is the first year with my son. I stayed up all night making citrus sugar cookies and yellow cake pops with white frosting and Christmas sprinkles, and then the next morning I got to wake up super early with my little man and his dad and watch him try these things for the first time. It was awesome. This year he’s going to help me make and decorate the cookie. I’m so excited!
My favorite memories is baking christmas cookies and deserts with both my grandmother and mother. It is childhood memory that remains today when I bake on my own.
I noticed this website has some the best photos of bakery items. Makes me extra hungry to eat some these delicious recipes displayed here! mmmm….goood!
Making christmas cookies and candy with my aunt Sandi. Always a tummy ache at the end of the day but oh so fun!
looks yummy
My favorite memories of baking are with my sister. We didn’t always get along well, but as we got older and discovered shared interests, including baking, we grew closer and closer. Now she is my best friend
The 1st time I baked anything was chocolate chip cookies. I had a craving for moist warm cookies. I thought let’s try it from scratch! There a love of baking was born! Hidden all that time was an undiscovered talent, one that fills me with immense joy. Thanks Bakerella for always being an inspiration in every way!!
My favorite baking memories involve my grandma helping me with my 4H baking projects.
I remember waking up to my NOW favorite memory. When my children were 5 and 3, my daughter decided to make a birthday cake for me before I woke up so she and my son went to work. When I walked into the kitchen I had a new 5 lb. bag of flour and one of sugar all over my counters and stove and floors. After cleaning this up we made a very good birthday cake together.
My mom made her own pie crusts and baked at least 8 pies at a time for our family of 10
Great baking associations for me are all the aromas and tastes my wife has created over the years.
My Grandmother was the best baker. Problem was, she didn’t use any written recipes. Everything was in her head, so even if you asked her for a recipe, you got a lot of measurements along the lines of “some of X, about a quarter size of Y”. She would make peach blossoms for us to bring to school on our birthday. Of course, we referred to them as peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses!
My sister and I once spent the entire afternoon making the perfect flan. We though we’d fail miserably because we were blindly following youtube videos without preparation. Imagine our surprise when they turned out perfectly! Made my day! It’s definitely the little thingsI love, like unexpected baking victories.
It was just the very best
Baking cookies with my Aunt B and having the 15 or 20 different vaeities to box up for all the relatives is a grand memory I have of the holidays.
I like to remember frosting Christmas cookies with my 3 boys..when they were little. (3-5 years old) I would bake the cookies and make the frosting and then completely cover my kitchen table with a roll of paper. I had the boys totally strip down to their shorts and then let them have at it frosting all the cookies…frosting and sprinkles everywhere…some of the frosting actually landed on the cookies!!!!
I love baking with nestle morsels and I even snack on them.
Making the same cookies every year with Mom and my sister was a highlight of the holiday season. Packaging and sharing was important. And, the best part, Mom froze some of each kind that we could break out months later!
My favorite memory is baking chocolate chip cookies with my mother and then eating one while still warm from the oven.
Making Christmas cookies and exchanging with the neighbors.
Every year, my mom, her sister, and their children get together for a day of holiday baking/candy making. We each choose a different item to make, and bring the ingredients with us to the party. Then we turn on the Christmas music, and have a great day creating yummy Christmas treats for our friends and family! We have made many wonderful memories this way. Thanks for the giveaway! ;)
My mother loved to bake pies with us when we were kids.
This brings up so many memories, but my favorite has to be the time my grandmother showed me how to make tiramisu from scratch. Like everything, she made it look so effortless, chatting about ingredients & measurements being very organic. I wish for recipe purposes that I had written it down, but I had such a nice time with her then, I can’t blame myself for just enjoying the moment :)
My husband and I could spend hours in that store, it wold be great if we could buy all the items we have ideas for!
I remember the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies after my mom and I had made them and scooped them out on the cookie sheet.
My best memory is baking donuts with my four sons, They are grown not and have families of there own to bake with, but its nice to have those memories to look back on.
My favorite baking memories are baking Christmas cookies with my mom. We always look through the books and magazine at all the beautiful cookies and try to make some of our own. We aren’t very good decorators, but each year we get a little better, and last year we made some of Bakerella’s Santa cookies and they turned out perfect!
not a very good cook but i try
We have a cookie marathon every year on Thanksgiving weekend. The cookies are frozen so we can enjoy them all December long.
Mom taught us to bake pies and the first one I made at age 8 was a hit at a family gathering. I was hooked!
Every Thanksgiving weekend we have a huge baking marathon. We make gingerbread, sugar cookies, seven layer bars, snowballs, corn flake wreaths, and peanut butter blossoms. The cookies are arranged on platters and popped into the freezer. We pull out a platter all througout the month of December to enjoy. My husband and I moved to Colorado seven years ago, leaving our family behind in Michigan. The baking tradition still continues there and we get a couple platters in the mail. I don’t have the man power to pull off my own marathon, but I still whip up a batch of sugar cookies and have fun decorating them. My husband helps but he goes a little crazy with the dragees. He’s such a kid at heart!
Great memories! Helping Mom in kitchen, and getting tp lick the batter bowls!
Baking sugar cookies every Christmas with my mom- awesome memories! My kids and I continue the tradition!
I remember Christmastime with my Aunt baking homemade pies and pans of lasagna. It was the absolute best !
I remember baking cookies with my grandmother for Christmas. She would break out the recipes, some from cookbooks and some handwritten by her that she found in magazines. She would let me pick something new that I wanted to try and we would make all of the old standbys. She was so patient, letting me measure out all of the ingredients. Then she would do all of the mixing by hand. We would be baking cookies for weeks. I remember how delicious they were and how nice it was to bake with my grandmom. Now I enjoy baking with my kids.
Making Ukrainian doughnuts and pastries with my mother and my grandmother!
the first time I made cherry chewy cookies
My greatest baking memory is the day my Aunt came over & taught me the art of baking pies. She was very detailed in her teaching and I learned what an amazing skill she had. It’s even more special now since she has passed away. I will always remember that day.
We used to have a 3 day bake-a-thon, my sisters and Mom and Dad. We decorated, baked, wrapped until the entire kitchen floor was covered in sprinkles and we were covered in frosting, and on a major sugar high. Then my Dad would deliver all the cookies around to our friends.. Now I look forward to Christmas morning when I wake up, I know my Mother in Law will have made pull apart bread and fresh coffee!!
The day before Christmas I was set on baking my Grandfather’s Christmas cookies for the first time, which is A LOT of work. My mom helped me all day with measuring, mixing, rolling, cutting, basically everything you could possibly think of when making cookies. I loved spending that time with her and creating something special and delicious.
My Grandma’s homemade bread was the best.
My favorite baking memory would have to be helping my mom bake blueberry pies, picking the berries, then passing the cakes out to neighbors.
decorating christmas cookies…I hope to start doing this with my 2 year old this year. He’ll probably eat all the toppings before they make it to the cookie
How sweet it is! Now that I’m a grandparent it is so much fun to teach my grandkids how to bake.
I have always loved baking, I think because it’s so exact. I can’t really cook, but I can bake!
My favorite baking memory is all of the times my mom and I attempted to make chocolate chip cookies and they never rose in the oven, they stayed flat and got crispy. I thought they were delicious, but my mom got more frustrated every time. It is a running joke in our family and I don’t think my mom has made chocolate chip cookies in at least 10 years now. I have had better luck, but whenever I put a pan in the oven, I think about the flat ones and smile :)
Great times cooking with my family
My favorite baking memories are baking with my daughter at Christmastime. We make enough cookies and cakes and things to supply every house in the town we live in!!!
From my mom to me to my granddaughteres & grandsons, generationa of baking and love – sweet!
My grandma and I attempted to make divinity candy with a hand mixer from the 60’s a few Christmas’s ago, and the darn thing overheated and started smoking. So, naturally, instead of going to the nearest Williams-Sonoma, we started eating it with our spatulas. It wasn’t quite as firm as divinity should be, but it sure did taste delicious.
My favorite baking memory is when I made strawberry cupcakes with my sister for fun and they ended up being the best cupcakes I had ever made and when made a second batch then and there because we ate the first dozen all by ourselves!
The smell of baking throughout the house makes you feel so warm and wonderful
No matter how old my children get, we still love baking Christmas cookies together!
every christmas, my mom, sister & i would make loads of what are called snowflake cookies. it was such a fun & festive time. we would make plates and hand then out to all the neighbors for the holiday.
Christmas baking was the best for me!! Mom would let me stay home from school 1 day, and I was always up by 7am already mixing the ingredients for banana breads, pumpkin breads, chocolate chip cookies, spritz cookies, oatmeal cookies, and an occasional surprise here and there. I usually baked at least 4 loaves and over 10 dozen cookies in about 10 hours — still love to bake today (some 30+ years later)!!
My favorite baking memory is my last Thanksgiving with my grandmother, who passed the following Christmas Eve. We all baked her famous apple pie with her overlooking (very closely). We had no idea we had so little time left with her, but I’m glad that is how we spent our last holiday together.
fun fun baking with grandchildren
My mom, 2 sisters, and I would always spend a day baking Christmas cookies while listening to our favorite Christmas music! Always a wonderful memory.
My grandmother taught me to bake when I was little, I still make her and my favorite recipes every year.
Gobs…oh, those delicious gobs. In some areas, they call them “whoopie pies”. Mom taught me the secret to making the creamy filling to layer between those chocolate outer layers. Yum, they were good……still are. My kids still love to come home to devour those incredible goodies!!
I used to host a cookie exchange every year – kids were warmly welcomed to share and create their own treats too. The first year my son was old enough, he wanted to make ninja Gingerbread men. Together, we mixed, cut, and baked his designs to bring them to life. When it was time to decorate, it was the first time in his little life I had seen him be so gentle and concentrate so hard on one little cookie. After the first ninja though, he was done and had no interest in the rest (approx. 24 remained). But, the gratification and pride in his little face, made it all worth it. :)
And true to a 3 year old’s sweet tooth, the Ninja Gingerbread man didn’t make it to the party. An honorary picture was put up in his place on the plate.
Baking cookies with my grandma. Kitchen Sink cookies are still my favorite (everything but the Kitchen Sink goes in them). I miss her very much and have continued the tradition with my kids.
My favorite baking memory would be making sugar cookies with my mom for Christmas. Nothing fancy, just lots of Christmas shaped cookie cutters and sugar! We’d make the dough, roll it out on our dining room table snd go crazy cutting out sll the shapes. It was the one time of year I got to make a huge mess in the dining room and not get yelled at for it!
I’ve recently gotten into baking really all because of your cake pop book three years ago. Of course none of my cake pops look as amazing as yours but it’s still my number one crowd pleaser especially at my family events. The first thing my 90 year old grandfather says to me when I walk in the door is “where are the cake pops”? Now, whenever I see him (even if it’s just a quick visit) I bring my cakepops. It’s a nice little tradition we have. : )
Cherry pies, pumpkin bread, apple brown betty…… need I say more? Bake on!
My favourite memor(ies) would be baking with my older cousin when I was young. I think she’s the one that started off my love for baking!
Inviting the neighborhood kids to help-selecting the cookie-cutters, rolling the dough, mixing the ingredients while playing Christmas carols and singing along.
My most wonderful memory is of something we do every year. My mom, sisters and I get together and bake the family sugar cookie recipe every year before Christmas. We put Christmas music on, get our dough out and cookie cutters out, and have at it! Our daughters, and sometimes our sons, will join us sometimes. We make beautiful memories, AND SCRUMPTIOUS cookies, every Christmas. I know our children will follow in our footsteps, and that is what pleases me most!
its time to make my pumpkin chocolate chip cup cakes
My mom and I baked every christmas. She passed away in June so this year my daughter will come and bake with me.
My grandmother raised me so that made her my momma.All her recipes were in her head. She would go into the kitchen and then we would a good meal.When I got married and asked for all her recipes she wrote down a little this or that. A pinch of this ,add more if you need for taste.I was lost and wished I had paid more attention to her way of great cooking..
My fondest memory was making Christmas cookies with my mom. We made enough cookies to feed the county! She passed away Christmas Eve of 1994 and I miss her more everyday.
Decorating cookies with my sister. She’s 9 years younger than me, so it was always fun to show her how to do it and help her and just be the big sister. :)
Making chocolate chip cookies with my Mom for family reunions, I still make them for all family events! but my Mom;s always tasted better.
My favorite baking memory is making nisu, a Finnish sweet bread, with my grandmother. Watching her throw handful after handful of flour in, never measuring, was amazing to me as a young girl. I make it several times a year and always think of her.
My favorite baking memories involve baking at my parents house the year before I got married. My mom would be there to help with any questions, and my dad would always wash the dishes…my least favorite part! They were always willing to taste a new recipe!
Many years ago my Nana shared with me the secret family recipes for Italian cookies…fig-filled cookies, sesame cookies, marbled and sprinkled rainbow cookies and glazed chocolate balls. I have vivid memories of that Saturday, when she showed me how everything was done by hand, which extracts went with which cookies, how to braid different colors of cookie…so many beloved images! Her hand-written recipes, now decades old, are one of my most cherished possessions. I hope to preserve them and secretly pass them on someday too! :)
My favorite baking memory is from when I was growing up. My mom used to make sugar cookie cutouts and “paint” every one of them with egg yolk that had food coloring added to it. I remember every one of them as being perfect!
Every year at Christmas time I would go to my grandma’s and bake. Even before I could reach the counter she would pull a chair up for me. I definitely got my love of baking from her. I miss those days but am now trying to pass them on to my daughter by having special baking times with her all year long.
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Baking cookies with my sisters at Christmas. And we do it every year!
My favorite baking memory is when the Christmas Good Housekeeping magazine came out and my Mom and I would bake and construct the featured gingerbread house. The kitchen smelled so good and decorating was such a blast.
My favorite baking memory is cake baking with my grandma. I lived with my grandparents for a short time after my mom died when I was 9. Once a week my grandma would make a cake with me after school.
Starting my own baking tradition with my daughter, cc cookies!
My favorite memory is making my first cake pops. They were pigs, my mom’s favorite animal, made out of really moist, delicious chocolate cake. She just loved them and ate every last one I made!
My favorite baking memory was making superhero cookies with my nephews. They were so in awe of helping mix the ingredients and loved decorating their cookies!!!
my favorite memory is helping my grandmother bake her famous cheese cake for ‘Shauoth’ holiday… my job was to whip (manually) the cream and the egg whites. I tried to bake it many times since than, but it never succeeded as hers…
I can only pick one memory? Dang that’s so hard! I’ve been baking for ages, both with family and on my own. My brothers friends have all benefited from the treats that were always at our house. One year when my brother was a junior in college, I made a ton of treats at finals time. I drove to his apt. and called him to come out to the car. He grumbled but finally made it out. I told him to help me unload the car and after more grumbling he decided to help. His eyes nearly fell out when he realized the entire truck was full of cakes and cookies and brownies etc. He started yelling for his roommates and all 6 boys made trips out to the car. Their kitchen was covered when we were done! I think that those probably the sweetest final exams they ever took!
I used your “milk & cookies” chocolate chip cookies recipe and they came out great! My boyfriend’s mother even complimented me for the first time in three years. Thank you bakerella.
My favorite baking memory has to have been this past Easter. So recent so it’s not a far memory but it has been the best. I got to share it with my son, he is not 2 and half years old and I allowed him to help me in the kitchen :) We made sooooo many desserts :) egg shaped rice krispies, basket decorated cupcakes, cheesecakes, funfetti cakes, omg a lot of sweets. I allowed my son to dump the measuring cups with flour, sugar, or whatever i had already measured. And we had so much fun. Only down side was the mess we made in the kitchen and the sink full of dishes. But that was an amazing experience.
My favorite baking memory is the first time my four year old asked me if she could help mommy bake. She still does it and I hope she continues to do it for as long as we are able to bake together. :)
My favorite baking memory is baking holiday cookies with 4 generation in one kitchen and all of contributing our own recipes
My favorite baking memory would have to be making sugar cookies with my niece. Then shipping the decorated cookies off to Nashville to surprise my brother for his birthday.
My favorite baking memory is baking Christmas cookies with a friend. Since I was raised Jewish, I had never baked Christmas cookies until then and we had a lot of fun. I think the rum balls were the best of the cookies!
Best memory is making gingerbread men with my husband (then boyfriend). It was great! Feeling like a little kid again, young and carefree…..and then seeing how terrible they came out!! lol. We have no artistic talent whatsoever. hahahahaha…
My mom was a baker at heart so growing up I would love sitting in the kitchen watching her bake cookies. My favorite memory was helping her make one of her favorite goodies, chocolate chip cookies. My favorite part was getting to eat the cookie dough of course and feeling special when she would make me a cookie with only 3 chocolate chips (I apparently only liked the cookie part hahaha).
I am the 2nd oldest of 6 kids, so my mom didn’t have a lot of time to bake while I was growing up. But I remember her sitting in the kitchen, holding a baby and helping me learn how to bake different things.
So many of my favorite memories take place in a kitchen. One of my favorites is making frosted sugar cookies at Christmastime with my mom. I always got to help roll out the dough and cut out the cookies when I was a kid, and one year after I was grown, we had one heck of a giggle-fest making *ahem* adult cookies. All after a candle looked just a little off. Oh jeeze, if I’m lucky enough to win I think I’ll have embarrassed my poor mother by confessing our baking secret!
I always remember making pulled taffy and twisted candy cane cookies with my Mom around the holidays. Loved spending time in the kitchen baking!
i was diagnosed with cancer on Dec. 29, 2012. My oncologist gave me options what to do to beat it. It took me a couple of months to decide which one to undergo. During those months, i went into depression and the one that help through it was…Baking! French macarons were my first. My daughter loved them! Chocolate chips, oatmeal cookies, pineapple upside down cake, chocolate cakes, apple pies, pan del sal (filipino dinner bread) and my most-requested banana breads are a few of the baked goodies i did so far. Your blog is one of my fave food blogs that i always read and get some new ideas what to bake next. Thank you Bakerella for keeping me company during “my D-days.” :)
Baking for my dad. He loved to tell me how to do everything eventhough he never baked a day in his life! When he wasn’t dictating every move he was re-telling me his Viet Nam war stories. He passed away a year ago and it has been the hardest time of my life. I feel him so close to me when I bake that I do it almost every day.
When we were young my sister and I used to bake with my Mom pretty often. We didn’t have a lot of money growing up so the desserts were SWEET and simple :) Cakes mostly. It seemed like almost every other time or so we would end up in some sort of food fight! The incident I remember most clearly was a flour fight. The entire kitchen was covered in flour… and so were we! We were laughing so hard we were crying. I can’t remember if the cake actually got made or not… but it didnt matter. We had a blast!
My favorite memory of baking would have to be the first pie made for my bf now husband.. I love baking pies and was known for my pies – so it was scary to make him one and hope he loved it as much as i did! :)
My favorite baking memory: A few years ago, during Thanksgiving, I went to a dear friend’s parents’ home for the holiday. I’ve spent several holidays with his family, since my own live 1,100 miles away, and I’ve always been just a guest there. I cherish the memory of the first time my friend’s mother invited me into her kitchen to help her prepare part of the Thanksgiving meal. I made the Sweet Potato Pie/Casserole. =)
My greatest baking regret: When I was a child, my grandfather used to tease me about wanting me to teach him to bake cookies. He passed away when I was fairly young, and I never did bake cookies with him, but I really wish I had taken that opportunity.
When I was in 4th grade and my mom helped me make a bunny cake from 2 round cakes. She helped me cut one of the rounds to make ears and a bow. Then I was allowed to decorate it all by myself. I think that was when my true love for baking was born
Christmas morning breakfast was always a big feast of fluffy pancakes, breakfast sausage gifted to us by friends, and lots of impatience as we couldn’t open any gifts until the everyone was full and the kitchen was clean! We complained every year but ended up loving the tradition throughout the years!
I loved making Candy Cane Cookies with my mother every Christmas.
I remember the first time baking cookies as a little girl was with my eldest sister Kay. We cut out molasses hand cookies. I will never ever forget it.
My favorite baking memories revolve around making cakes with my grandma. We’d stay a week with them twice a year and there was always cake involved. I think of her very often when I am baking – which is frequent! Those memories are really a gift.
My favorite memory is baking with my grandma – her kitchen was always the best place to be!
My favorite baking memory is learning how to make bread from my Grandpa Frank. He taught me how to cook, but, more importantly, he taught me how to bake. I learned how to tell when the dough was ready, how to improvise recipes, and how to resist eating the bread hot out of the oven (just kidding, that’s impossible). I think about him every time I bake, but especially when I make bread.
My favorite memory isn’t of the baking necessarily, but of the cleaning up….standing beside my grandmother at the sink washing our messy dishes….she never owned a dishwasher in her life. I guess I’m glad she didn’t because then I wouldn’t have the priceless memories of us standing together at the sink as she washed and I dried. I miss her…
Making orange, cranberry cheesecake…my dad loves this one…I think I will make one again this year!
Recently i made a batman cake for my best friend’s son. He loved it, 3 days of hard work a great looking cake,not bad :)
my grandmother made delish cookies. She made up the recipe but never wrote it down. She always had these cookies in her home but never taught any of us to make them. She would tell us what was in them and how to do it but none of us have been able to perfect her cookies. I still try but they are never quite the same.
The very first cake I remember is the one my Mom made me for my fifth birthday. It was made in a horse-shaped pan but she made it into a unicorn by putting a frosting-covered dowel in the forehead. It was a beautiful, amazing cake and it inspired me to become the pastry chef I am today. And ever since then, every year for Christmas Mom and I make tons of cookies to give to family and friends.
My most memorable baking memory would probably be the first time I attempted making a batch of cookies. Without any cooking experience whatsoever, I managed to create a non-incinerated tray of persimmon-cinnamon cookies. Although the cookies were hardly edible due to their extremely spongy texture and odd taste, it still gave me valuable insight into the world of baking–nothing comes out perfect the first time around, but trial & error and practice will eventually reward you with the power of creating delectable, scrumptious, AWESOME baked goods!!
I have so many favorites it is hard to choose one. When my kids were little, I would create a specialty birthday cake for them that would totally surprise them or (as they got older) was suggested by them. The one that my youngest son still laughs about was the chocolate train set with fudge frosting. The train was only 4 cars long(the birthday boy was 6 that year). What makes it so funny is that it was 100+ degrees & 70% humidity(no central air in the house) that August day when I was creating. The boys loved the cake & brought all the neighborhood kids over to see it. My cake creations inspired my daughter & daughter-in-law to do the same things for their children. And I helped!
Cake pops are my new obsession. My 4year old loves to help too. My favorite memory thus far was when we drew silly faces on the cake pops that were supposed to be us.
I learned to cook from my great-grandmother. My fondest memories were making all kinds of cakes, pies, and candies over Christmas break with her. She made so much that she was constantly giving it away to anyone that visited her!
I love Christmas time. My three girls and I baked lots of goodies to give as gifts to teachers adn neighbors!!!
My favorite baking memory is baking Orange Slice Cakes with my memaw. I remember they were so hard to make and now that she has passed I have to make them for the holidays for my family. I so miss my sweet memaw!
My favorite baking memory is decorating sugar cookies with my mom and sister. We only had liquid food colors so they were always pastel–which was just FINE with me! Lots of sugars and sprinkles. We also did gingerbread men at times.
I did the same with my kids when I they were young, same pastels. Yum, now I am hungry for some of those cookies…..
Baking with my mom and having to call her to check if something was done or mixed right. Now, she asks me!