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!
When I was small, my mom would very often take us to the library. On one of those visits, my book selection included a cookbook. My mom was always a great baker and through her I had also come to enjoy it. After bringing the book home, we chose the recipe for Chocolate River bars and baked them together. They turned out wonderfully and became a go-to recipe for family events. Now that I think of it, I actually have not made them in years. It is about time I whip up a batch of those bars with my own kids!
My favorite memories are coming home from school and smelling fresh baked bread or cinnamon rolls. My mom always had a Kitchenaid, and made wonderful things,and taught all 4 of us girls to bake too.I love to bake now.
My mother always made our family’s birthday cakes. But with the help of our Dad my sister’s and I got to make hers. Her birthday is 12/26 and my family has this tradition of “birthday eve” where that person gets to feel a little extra love. So Christmas has always been my Mom’s birthday eve, with everyone saying “Happy Birthday Eve” instead of “Merry Christmas”. One year my sister’s and I created what can only be described as a monstrosity of neon orange and green (her favorite colors) frosting. With what ended up being a crooked “Happy Birthday Mom”. Looking back at pictures it was the ugliest cake, but it tasted pretty good.
My mother was known for her holiday baking and we would make huge platters of homemade cookies and stollen (a traditional German fruit bread) and give them to neighbors, the dentist, doctors offices and to school. So many families don’t do that anymore. My sisters and I try to keep the tradition going by doing a cookie exchange using Mom’s recipes for things like spritz and pecan fingers…she still makes stollen if I ask-turns out the rest of my siblings never liked it!
My Mom and Aunt would always bake the best cookies for the Holidays. They would box up the cookies and pass the cookies to the neighbors who were elderly and alone.
I would help!
When my sister and I designed and put together my mom’s wedding cake. It wasn’t traditional and we were able to do whatever we wanted and let the imagination run! It was a great time!!!!
I grew up baking with my mom and both grandmas. It brings joy to my life to be baking with my daughter now. She is very creative and loves trying her own twists….I am sure they are smiling from above.
My wife has baked goods on hand for me on a continuing basis and they are the best, most all made from scratch.
I loved making strudel with my grandma on her table.
My favorite memory of baking always revolve around my mother. I love her approach to making anything work even if we are missing half the ingrediants. One of my favorite memories is stealing the hot cookies cooling on the brown paper sacks and shifting the other cookies so yor could not tell one was missing.
i enjoy baking for the hollidays and they are comming soon
My favorite baking memory is with my Grandma – I would stay by her side as she rolled out Jiffy pie crust. As soon as she would trim some of the excess dough off her round, I’d scarf it up. Yummmmm…..raw pie dough tastes great!
A few years back, I found a cookie cutter in the shape of a schnauzer at a Sur La Table in South Florida. I bought it happily, excitedly–dreaming of all of the KKs (that’s my stepdad’s schnauzer’s name) we would make. Now every year, when I come home for Christmas, my mother, sister, and I make KK Cookies–it’s tradition. We play a game with them, too–the others–including my stepdad–have to guess what kind of KK we made. For example, Pilgrim and Native American KK made an appearance last year. It’s a fun tradition we look forward to every Christmas.
Baking holiday cookies with my sister!
My grandmother always baked a five-flavor pound cake for holidays and birthdays – she used a very long (18″) loaf pan, which made it look different from any other cake I’d ever seen. I also have yet to taste a pound cake that is even slightly similar to hers!
My mom has continued the tradition of making it and I have started experimenting with it myself…can’t let the tradition end! It’s a huge part of family get celebrations :)
I didn’t have a baking tradition when I was a kid. I have 3 kids myself, and started my own tradition with them. Every holiday that comes around we bake and design cookies to represent that holiday. As they have gotten older, they still like to sit down and do cookies with me. I hope that they will carry on this tradition with their kids.
I will always cherish the memory of when my husband’s grandparents came to my house, loaded down with grocery bags, and taught us how to make their famous homemade banana pudding. Such a special memory!
When one of my brothers was turning 5 or 6 he requested just frosting for his birthday, no cake. Being the awesomely cool mom that she is, she made him a batch of frosting.
We had an old video him consuming the frosting gleefully…but he never did ask for that again. :-)
Baking oatmeal scotchies with my mom every Christmas!
My Grandmother was the best cook I ever knew. Everything she cooked was wonderful and her baking skills never ceased to amaze me. I always wanted to watch when she baked anything. From biscuits to cornbread to cakes and pies, she was the best!! I never once saw her use a measuring cup or measuring spoons even once. I’m not even sure if she owned either of them! :) She just always knew how much of everything to add to that flour bowl, and if you asked her how much she was going to put in, she’d just say “till it’s right”. I miss her so much, but I’m so glad that I was able to be sitting there at that big table taking it all in while she worked her magic!
My favorite cooking/baking memory, I guess doesn’t really involve real “baking”. I remember every Christmas season my mom and me making “buckeyes” (peanut butter balls to those who don’t live in Ohio). She’d haul out her stand up mixer (which I was FASCINATED by) and mix away. We’d sit at the kitchen table rolling the little balls of deliciousness talking about so many different things – school, the holidays, her memories of baking with my grandmother. And then she’d let me help with dipping the buckeyes – using our toothpicks and then smoothing the little hole over so they looked really pretty. Such a fun, fond memory for me!
I love during christmas time making almond crescents with my mom and sisters. I just love the almond flavor and when we sprinkled confectionery sugar, it was like it was snowing.
When I was newly married we were invited to bake and decorate sugar cookies with several families from church. It was such a fun experience that when my children were young I would invite several families over to decorate sugar cookies that I had made earlier.
For Christmas my sister always make lots of different kinds of cookies for gifts and I always help her. We spend a couple of days doing this and I love it. I always look forward to this during the holidays!
I grew up with a bunch of guys, and every Christmas I made them cookies They would all call me and ask when they would be ready. One Christmas I went to my best friend’s house, and his mom got really excited to receive the cookies. He confessed that he doesn’t have much of a sweet tooth, but always acted so excited because he saw how happy it made me. From that point on, he always got Christmas Beef Jerkey :).
My favorite memory of baking of course is from when I was a little girl – back when baking was 100% fun and carefree, instead of intricate and complex as it is now when as an adult. My grandmother was the typical old school Italian “Nonna” who made everything with her hands and measured things by a “pinch” or “to taste” – something I have inherited genetically. One of my favorite things to make with her for Christmas was Strufoli (Honey Balls). She would hand me pieces of dough to roll into a pencil shape and cut (with a plastic knife of course) into little “pillows.” I would then roll those pillows into hundreds of little balls and pass them back to her as she dropped groups of them into the pot of hot oil. This process took forever, but was time well spent bonding with my grandmother and enjoying her company as she told me “Lauren, Bella Mia, you remember this recipe I teach you and make them with your kids one day okay?” I would sit impatiently to see these browned fried dough boils hoping they didn’t fluff into pieces of popcorn (she never cared if they weren’t perfect, as long as she had her little helper). Then, came my favorite part… she would pour melted honey over this mound of golden spheres, and give me the honors of dousing them with a million of tiny sprinkles. This is my favorite and most treasured memory of my grandmother and of my novice days in baking. Every year, I continue this tradition whether it be with my mother’s help or just by myself with the presence of my grandmother playing through old school Frank Sinatra songs. People say a recipe is never perfect and can always be improved, I say sometimes the recipes perfection doesn’t rely solely on it’s ingredients, but who you share the memory with. <3 R.I.P Nana – Love you forever xOx
Growing up, we never had sweets in the house. Except for Christmas. I always loved making cupcakes with my mom – still do!
My grandma has been making cookie trays for family and friends at Christmas time since I can remember. The grandchildren were always in charge of using their artistic abilities to decorate the sugar cookies…no 2 were allowed to look the same. It was so much fun and we continue to do it every year and I am now in my mid 30’s.
Baking during the holidays (especially Fall & Christmas) is one of my favorite things to do! Now that I have 3 daughters I love creating memories with them! My husband is currently begging me to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!
my favorite memory is the aroma of my mother baking home made mollasses cookies.
My favorite baking memory is making oatmeal cookies with my grandmother. She had a little apron and a little spatula just for me, and she’d even let me eat the cookie dough!
My favorite baking memory was indeed on a holiday! On a year when my four siblings and I would have been short on gifts, my mother traded the Christmas budget to buy a bounty of baking supplies instead of barbies and CD players. Together as family we baked up gift boxes of delicious treats. Between learning family recipes and decorating cookies, making the baked goods was just as enjoyable as delivering them (complete with a carol) on Christmas morning to our friends in need of a little extra Christmas cheer.
One of my favorite baking memories is making cupcakes with my goddaughter when she was about 6 years old. We mixed up all kinds of different colored frostings and she went crazy with about 10 different kinds of sprinkles. So much fun!
Pecan pie is one of my favorite desserts of all time. I have loved it (and anything related..pecan pie bars, tartlets, etc) for as long as I can remember.
Both my Grandmother’s are incredible cooks, but my Maternal Grandmother is also an excellent baker. I remember when my cousins and I would come over and we’d clear off the kitchen table to cover it with sugar cookie goodies to then bake and decorate to our hearts content! It was an amazing time that I will always remember.
My favorite memory was when my parents moved our family away from the small town where all of our relatives live (weird, right?).
It was bittersweet because while we didn’t have the big family holiday baking session, we created one of our own. Many of my best memories come from that time in our lives. I also started a tradition of baking a beautiful apple tart each Christmas, which I still make to this day.
My favorite memories of baking are when both my kids were little and every christmas eve we would make sugar cookies and decorate them for Santa. They still like doing that even though they are 26 and 32.
My favorite baking memory is when we were much younger and my brother was in Boy Scouts. He had to donate a cake for a bake sale the Boy Scouts were having. My parents made this into a family affair in that Dad and my brother came up with the design, Mom and I baked the cake and we all decorated it.
Coming from a “car” family of course the guys chose a car. Not any car – a classic coupe. We baked a ton of cakes until we got the shape right, we frosted and started decorating. Those mini silver balls are not easy to decorate with a toothpick and tweezers. After several hours of patience and each person taking a turn we finally finished it.
It came out absolutely wonderful and my brother donated the cake that brought in the highest donation! :)
My favorite baking memories are making secret elaborate Christmas cookie boxes and wrapping them up all gorgeous, with our four teenaged daughters and son. We’d stay up all night Christmas eve finishing off the decorating … and then drive all over town early Christmas morning dropping them on dear friends’ door steps who were having hard times. Truthfully, Anytime baking with my children was my favorite <3
My best memory is having my grandmother teach me to bake pies! She made the best crust ever!
my favorite baking memories were with my mom making banana bread. it was always “a little of this” and “a little of that” and a whole lot of delicious!
It’s hard to name just one favorite baking memory. My step-Dad was a Chef and I remember watching him make his “Famous” cheesecake using his treasured KitchenAid Stand Mixer. As a Mom of four, I think most of my favorite baking memories involve my kids–whether them “helping” me make something (like sugar cookies) or their delight when they taste and enjoy something special I’ve made for them. I descend from a long line of sweet-lovers and the legacy continues ;)
Thanks for the giveaway!
When my brother and I were young, my mother let us and the babysitter do whatever we liked, including baking so many Christmas cookies that we had the entire kitchen including the floor covered with cookie sheets that were covered in baked cookies, it was just like the Pippi Longstocking movie , we loved it!
My Mom makes the BEST fruitcake cookies at Christmas. They are wonderful to eat while the kids are opening Christmas gifts!
What a fantastic giveaway!
My grandmother was a pie-making machine! She could easily churn out the yummiest pies with the most buttery, flaky crust. It was always a treat to watch her bake and I have fond memories of helping her in the kitchen.
My step mom’s mother would bake dozens and dozens of cookies each holiday, she was a pastry chef. We always decorated them at her house and she was always so encouraging of the designs, never criticized how bad they looked. She always found something nice to say about how yummy my cookies looked. I have very fond memories of those cookie decorating adventures!!!
My favorite memory is making a Bunny cake for Easter with my sister. I’ve been making it almost every year since my twenties (long time ago). I didn’t make it one year and my niece was so disappointed. I didn’t realize that she looked forward to seeing it and having a piece every year.
My favorite baking memories are baking with my daughter. She is always in charge of measuring the ingredients and cracking the eggs.Fun times!
Some of my favorite baking memories have been with my mom growing up! I loved baking cookies as it got colder outside and being in a warm kitchen with all the smells of spices wafting around!! I would love to win and continue this traditions on with my little girl!!
My favorite baking memory is when the kids and baked cookies, pies and fudge for Christmas for everyone. Having five kids help you bake and get into the holiday spirit is awesome.
I was baking chocolate chip cookies with my 6 year old daughter & after I mixed all the ingredients & I layed out the cookie sheet & handed my daughter a small mellon baller, her job was to ball the mix and put it on the sheet, when she was done I put the sheet in the oven….when the cookies were done cooling we all had one.
Not one cholate chip was in any of the cookies, my daughter picked every single chip out of the mix. They were still pretty good.
We kids used to always love helping my mother bake cookies for all the kids in the neighborhood…she made the best cookies and I loved the aroma !
My favorite baking memory would be sneaking chocolate chip cookie dough batter from the mixing bowl. My mom didn’t seem to mind as long as we still left some for her to bake!
Also, the smells of baked goods… banana bread, cookies, pies, brownies…
My favorite baking memory was baking a cake for the bicentennial celebration on July 4, 1976. My mom bought tons of ingredients and just let me go to town with my imagination! It ended up being a yellow cake with chocolate icing. I created a liberty bell with slivered almonds and made red and white stripes out of sprinkles. It was so ‘homemade’ but I was SO proud of my creation!
My favorite memory … Is baking cookies with my Mom at Christmas time. But before that it was Christmas time with my Great Grand Mother Straub. She always had a huge spread of cookies. I hope someday to make that many. :D
My mom and I made our first angel food cake a number of years ago at Christmas time. Unbeknownst to us, you should never, ever bake angel food cake in a glass pan!! A little ways into the baking time, we heard the most terrific “pop” in the oven: it looked like ‘smores (minus the graham crackers & chocolate) had literally exploded over every inch of the over. Three hours of cleaning and belly-aching laughter later, I think we bought one at the grocery store!!
My grandma was the best cook and teacher ever. She was featured in a local newspaper for cooking lunch every weekday for her kids, grand kids and who ever could stop by for lunch. I got my sense of making things up as I go and using what you have to make things….also no one can make pie crust like grandma!
My favorite baking memory is making chocolate chip cookies for the first time with my two oldest kiddos. They were only 2 and 3 years old at the time, and had to stop every few steps to do important things like sniff the vanilla and sample a few chocolate chips :)
My favourite baking memory is making our treats to enter in the fair. My children pick their recipe and do all the work except for the oven, and reading the recipe for my youngest. Part of this baking experience includes taking it in to the fair for the judging, and then going to the fair to find out if our treats placed.
This year my 8 year old won a first place ribbon! We are already talking about next year’s fair entries.
Probably baking my first cheesecake from scratch and using no mixer!
Thanks for the recipe! ;)
Baking with family and friends, especially pumpkin rolls and watching people enjoy eating them. They can be difficult sometimes, but every now and then they turn out perfect and no one really cares if they crack or not.
My favorite baking memory would probably be my grandmothers desserts. i never had a chance to bake with her and didn’t fully get into baking until she passes away about 4 years ago, but I was lucky enough to get some of her recipe books. The page with the cream puff recipe has stuff ALL over it and I feel closer to her when I see things in the cookbook that I know she did over and over again : )
My favorite baking memory is still being made. I love baking with my son. I love watching him bake with his Uncle as well. These are the best times…he’s 5 and loves making cookies or brownies.
Surprised my roommate with her favorite cake she had been missing from her days in Texas, tres leches cake. She’s a picky eater and it was delicious! We polished it off in two days.
My sister and I spent a day making sugar cookies and decorating them with our little twin cousins. Best baking memory so far!
I remember baking chocolate chip cookies and cut out Christmas cookies with my Mom when I was a child. We always had a wonderful time baking and then, of course, eating the cookies.
My favorite baking memory transpired this past summer. Every summer, my cousins and Aunt who live in China come spend a few months at my house. My 9-year-old cousin, whom I just adore, and I are basically inseparable during these times, and our favorite activity is baking. This past summer, we were baking banana bread, and she was really excited because she wanted to write about it in her blog. Well, for banana bread, you need really ripe bananas, and we were short one. So I just instinctively stuck one in the oven. She thought this was just hilarious, and her laughter doubled when, as an avid lover of cinnamon (I add it to everything), I accidentally dumped a pile of cinnamon into the dough. Not only did we have a wonderful time, the bread turned out to be the best we’ve ever made :)
My favorite memory is with my Grandma Bunny making tollhouse cookies with the recipe from the bag! She always burnt them- but we had a great time
My favorite baking memory is making a 4x of pretzels with my sister when she was in 8th grade and I was in 4th grade. This was the start of my infatuation with baking! Thanks for being such a great sis, Katie!
Making Sweet Buns! They are a family tradition. It just would not be Christmas morning without them! When my Mom could not make them any longer, my sisters and I took over the “job”. Now, it just wouldn’t be the holidays without the sweet smell of yeast and cinnamon/sugar!
I’ve always loved baking, but now I get to share this with my 3 year old daughter. Our favorites are cake pops and spritz cookies. She was thrilled when we left homemade cookies for Santa last Christmas!
Baking with my little sister. I think more of the brownie batter was on our faces, aprons, and floor than in the actual brownie pan. It made for some great pictures & wonderful memories!!
My favorite baking memory is also with my grandmother.. cherry pies for my birthday which is around Thanksgiving time and usually overlooked.. She would always take the time to bake my my “own” cherry pie, usually letting me help..Yummm and now strolling off down down memory lane…thanks.
Making Christmas cookies with my seven kids, Pat
My favorite memories are baking with my kids when they were little. We would roll out dough, use fun cookie cutters and make all kinds of shapes. We always had a good laugh when they came out looking like alien creatures, not the Christmas Tree, Bunnies or Kitty Cat we thought we were making!
My favorite baking memoryi sof my mom and my sisters (3 sisters) and I making Christmas goodies. We would make and decorate tons of sugar cookies, nibbling on far too much cookie dough. We also made pecan logs and what my mom and her family call Heavenly Hash. We would layer marshmallows and pecans in a lasagna dish, then pour melted dark and milk chocolates over it all. Still one of my favorite treats today!
My favorite baking memories are from my semester that I studied abroad in Florence, Italy. My friend and I would find cool recipes online and try them out every week. We had almost no tools and would have to improvise on just about every step, including converting from cups to grams because we only had a scale. We spent hours in the tiny tiny kitchen, and that was how I fell in love with baking.
My favorite baking memory was working with my mom and creating a five-layer dark chocolate and marshmallow cake when I was nine or ten. I obviously couldn’t have done it without her, and it was for my dad’s birthday. NOW I’m a professional baker and I’m opening my own bakery! I’ve come a long way :)
My Grandfather was French and when I was 9 yrs old I went to live with him and my Grandmother for four years, a few years earlier he had a stroke and his left side was disabled. Even through that disability every year for Christmas he would enlist me to help him make a batch of Christmas cookies which we would then decorate with frosting and wrap individually to gift to everyone that went to church on Christmas Eve. He passed away a couple of years after I went back to live with my parents and still to this day I make the cookies every year and gift them at church.
My favorite baking memory was licking the beaters when my mom would bake. It wasn’t all the time, but it was fun to watch. Now, i have 3 of my own girls, and they love to help. We are making our own memories now, beaters included!
My grandmother baked the cookies and there were always so many different kinds. The best part was the warmth and sweetness in the air and being able to lick the spoon from each batter (before we knew eating raw eggs might make you sick).
I have plenty of memories learning to bake with my Mom, and baking cookies for the neighbors during the Christmas holiday. But my favorite memory occurred two years ago during the first year of marriage to my wonderful husband Zach, who at the time was deployed in Afghanistan. I went home to my parents for the holidays and reminisced about my love of those christmas cookie memories with my Mom, and baked together christmas cookies for Zach’s entire company. Being able to include my husband in Christmas while he was away, and bond over baking with my Mom again is my favorite baking memory.
My favorite memory is baking sugar cookies every year with the kids. We bake them Christmas Eve, decorate them, and then put some out for Santa…a perfect day!
my mother would bake cookies and candies at Christmas time.took her several days, but well worth. i am 70 years old and still remember the great aromas.
My family did/does plenty of holiday baking (all the cookie plates!) but my favorite memory is our yearly reread of “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote; which is about family, and baking, and Christmas, and fruitcake. (The real stuff.)
We don’t live near family so my children and I bake treats for our friends at Christmas. It is still enjoyed by all even though most are teens.
Best time to bake is for a St. Joseph’s Alter.
Baking Christmas treats with my kids to share with our friends and family.
My favorite baking memory I’ve had was this year when I made like ten different unique flavors of cupcakes for my friend’s church auction. It was fun coming up with new ideas and new flavors! Also last year for Christmas. I made like 400 cookies. I don’t think I’ll do that again!
Great
Baking cookies was as much a part of Sunday as was going to Church. It actually was looked forward to more but I wont admit I said that! Chocolate Chip Cookies were the Favorite!
My moment is a simple one, but one I’ll never forget. My son is just under 2 and loves to help with things, whether he knows how to or not!
Growing up my mother never baked with me. We didn’t cook together, and she went a little crazy anytime I got dirty.
So a few weeks ago I was making cookies and had my son come in to help me mix. I had my hands over his on the little handheld mixer and sure enough, he managed to pull it out of the owl while it was still mixing! Batter went all over the cabinet and all over us, but he and I just stood there laughing.
We ended up with only half the batter for cookies, but it didn’t matter. We had such fun making them, and I love that I could do somethig with my son that I was never able to do as a child myself. I can’t wait to make more baking/cooking memories with my son!
My favorite baking memory would have to be the Christmas of 2009 when I got my first Kitchenaid hand mixer (before then, I’d been mixing everything my hand with one of several wire whisks..still do sometimes lol). My mom and aunt helped me make spiral cookies, thin mint brownies, even egg nog! It reminded me why I love baking so much and why I doubt I’ll ever stop.
Thanks, Bakerella!
I learned to bake from my grandmother, who always had some tasty treat in the house “just in case” company stopped in. We made some incredible things, but the ones I remember most clearly are the ones that didn’t turn out exactly as we’d planned. The cake that inexplicably baked up higher in one end of the pan than the other? Turned into a bed, complete with a pillow and a tiny frosting teddy bear. The cupcakes that fell apart when we pulled off the papers? Tasted wonderful as a layer in an impromptu trifle. She taught me that frosting can cover a multitude of sins. Most importantly, though, she taught me that being in the kitchen is fun, and food can be a very clear expression of love.
My Mom and three siblings and I would gather in the kitchen to bake all kinds of Christmas goodies. I can still smell the wonderful aroma.
My memories include a kitchen aid with my dad too. I would help him make and eat the cookie dough. Now I carry this on with my own sons.
For the last several years my sister and I have gotten together during the end of November and started our holiday baking. We make houndreds of cookies for friends and family while our boys get to play together. It’s a tradition that I look forward to every year.
One of my favorite baking memories would have to be the first time I watched my grandma make peanut brittle. I had no clue as to how it was made and I still remember being amazed at what happened when she added the baking soda.
In high school home ec we made bran muffin mini-loaves of some sort, and I remember everyone’s coming out nice, light, and moist. Then there was mine, which were not nice, light and moist but were un-risen, hard, chewy, lumps. Since then I have had more success, and enjoy baking with my children. We love scouring the internet for new things to try, the latest one being oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies…YUM!
My favorite baking memory was when I made my first pie. It was a really giant pie for a 13 year old to make and dear God I don’t even know how I got it into the oven, but I was dead set on making that Caramel Apple Pie (which incidentally while delicious tasted nothing like caramel). It was a nice summer memory and it’s what started my love of baking.
As a child, my family and I would get together with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins to bake Christmas cookies. It would be an l day affair. I loved to decorate the sugar cookies. We’d work all day and then have pizza for dinner together. We’d give to treats out as holiday gifts.
My favorite baking memory was last year when both of my little girls (3 years old and 6 years old) sat at the table with me and decorated Christmas cookies. It was so nice being able to share that fun time with them!
Those delicious looking pecan pies bring back memories of my favorite Thanksgiving pie.
Favorite baking memory is baking chocolate chip cookies with my grandma for christmas.
I was probably about eight years old when I got to bake some chocolate cupcakes from scratch all on my own. They were delicious, and my mother mailed four of them to my Grandma in Illinois. She wrote back that they really enjoyed them.
My favorite baking memory is baking cupcakes the morning before Valentine’s Day for my whole dorm with my roommate and delivering them outside of doors before people woke up!
One of my favorite memories is when my roommates and I decided to make cinnamon rolls from scratch. The results were far from anything that could have been considered a pastry, but we had a blast getting there!
KitchenAid Stand Mixer is the BEST PRODUCT in My Kitchen, and I use it Daily for ALL My Baking & Cooking for My Family!!!
My favorite baking memory is when I was a child and helping my grandmother bake Christmas cookies.
Cookies have always a big part of our holiday. I was so proud of my daughter when money was tight in her family and she
gave everyone homemade cookies instead of gifts.
This year everyone wants to know if they are getting
cookies again!
I used to spend weekends with my dad, he wasn’t really one for mixing flour, eggs and sugar to make sweet treats, but he did always buy a tube of cookie dough or a microwave cake mix and we would always make them together, that was always pretty fun :) a mixer would definitely kick it up a notch for us!
I want a mixer like this, sooo bad!!!
X my fingers
My earliest kitchen memory is sitting at the kitchen table shelling pecans in the fall with my sisters and mom in preparation for all of the holiday backing. We’d freeze them after they were shelled and then bring a huge containerful over to my grandma’s and help her bake her famous and well-loved date nut roll.
My first year of law school and my first round of finals were made so much better when my mother and I baked my stress away. We made over 30 different types of Christmas cookies.
My mother was a very good cook. She was especially a good baker. I remember when she use to bake bread. I couldn’t wait untill she sliced it so I could put butter on it. Oh so good!
I truly miss her.
A traditional middle eastern sweet called basbousa, me and my roommate would bake it every time we were stressed out in grad school. Great way to satisfy our sweet tooth and take a ‘productive’ break from studying.
My favorite baking memory is of my Mom’s warm homemade bread . It was a long bus ride home from school for me, and a bit of a walk from the bus stop. I loved coming into the warm kitchen on a cold day. The smell of the bread, the anticipation of waiting for it to cool just enough for her to allow me a slice with melty butter…there is almost nothing better than that. I’m so very lucky that she’s still baking that bread.
My favorite memory was making sugar cookies with my young kids, then inviting over all the neighbor kids to help decorate them. We’d do this about once a month. It was so much fun to see their creations which really amounted to how many decorations they could fit onto one cookie. Now my kids are grown and we do a more adult activity, Cake Pops!. Love the books and ours never look the same but we have fun with our own interpretations.
Every fall my mom makes ginger cookies that are so delicious! When we were kids we loved eating the dough raw because it had no eggs. Now my kids love going to Grandmas house for ginger cookies!
Every christmas my mom and i put together a tray of sweets to bring over to my aunts for christmas dinner. our kitchen is only big enough for one person to cook comfortably, but some how, every year, we magically make it so my mom can make her 7 layer cookies and walnut drop cookies and i can make chocolate chip cookies and my dark chocolate sea salt brownies and whatever else i decide to make (last year it was a strawberry tart and meringues.) and every year, the family destroys the tray. because we are nothing, if not sweet obsessed.
My favorite baking memory is making (ruining) cake pops for the first time with my daughter. They tasted great, but looked atrocious!!
My three sisters and I would come home from school every evening to a wonderful homecooked meal. Even though we are all grandmothers now…we still love for our mother to bake us special treats, which she does willingly. She bakes the best made from scratch Review Coconut Cake, light and fluffy dinner rolls, and a variety of cookies that have to be hidden to keep her son-in-laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren from eating them all …warm from the oven with a cold glass of milk Our sweet little mama has baked a lifetime of happy memories for three generations to share.
My favorite baking memory was when I was 9 years old. My Gran used to pick me up after school on Friday and keep me till Sunday evenings. the very first thing she ever did was give me one of her very old Watkin’s Cookbooks. And every weekend she let me try out a new recipe. I eventually memorized the 2 egg cake one. And I eventually got bold enough to add all sorts of fruits and nuts..and no matter what she always ate it and told me how incredible it was. I still have this book. And even though she passed away three years ago now, it will always be on the greatest times in my life.
Learning to make banana cream pie with my Grandma, she owned a pie shop and made the best pies around. Every time I make a pie I think of her… a great memory.
My favorite baking memories is teaching my son’s how to make choalate chip cookies. Thy now bake better cookies then I do.
I showed my best friend how to make a custard pie at her home while her folks were out for the evening. They came home and saw their pristine kitchen was a wreck, which almost gave her mom a heart attack because they rarely used their kitchen and ate out most of the time. The pie sure was good, though.
Growing up my Mom and I would always bake Christmas cookies. I did the same with my daughter and now bake with my granddaughters. It’s become a family tradition.
My favorite baking memory is my families tradition of baking hundreds of cookies around the holidays and passing them out to our friends.
My favorite baking memory is when I taught my nieces how to make cake pops! They loved them so much, they couldn’t wait to learn how to make them. We made a gigantic mess and they got more candy melts and sprinkles on their faces and clothes than they did on the cake pop, but it was the best time!
My favorite memory about baking is when baking pepperoni and taco rolls, the aroma filled the house and the family would come and wait for them to cool down so they could have some.
My favorite baking memory is from my childhood in the kitchen with my mom. We would alway have matching holiday aprons :) I am now the baker for all my friends and family, I can’t wait to start baking this year with my niece with matching aprons!
My best memories is baking many varieties of christmas cookies with my mother who is 81. We both put some much love and attention to every single cookie
I remember baking fudge with my grandma every christmas season.
Making Christmas cookies with my daughter and grandson, Myles every year!
My favorite baking memories are of my Gramma Charlotte and her ultra crispy sugar cookies! They were the only non-chewy cookies I have ever liked and I LOOOOOVED helping her: stealing pinches of dough, wiggling the cookie cutters to loosen the edges, oh-so-carefully flooding the icing, that weird smell when you’d crack open the Tupperware she stored them in. Making press cookies with my mom was always awesome but it couldn’t compare to sugar cookies with Gramma! :D
My favorite baking memory would have to be making my son’s 4th birthday cake this past year. My husband did all of the fondant work while I iced the cake and baked it. It was delicious and he LOVED it!!
I remember at Christmas time my mother used to save all the cans, which she used to make the most wonderful cranberry bread!
As a child, I baked with my mom and my grandma. Now that I have kids of my own, I bake with them. I think it’s a great family tradition – sharing the kitchen, laughing, talking, and enjoying the warm, fresh cookies straight from the oven.
My favorite baking memory is making a lemon cream pie with my mom after I had been away from home for a while. We spent the day in the kitchen having fun.
My favorite baking memory was when my college roommates and I made a lemon tart the first night in our new apartment. After the tart was done, we left it to cool on the burner without realizing that the burner was on! The tart was completely ruined since we didn’t notice until we smelled the burning. Luckily, we had enough ingredients to make another one! But now we just laugh at the “lemon tart” incident!
I used to baked brownies forschool charity run when I was at middle school! It was tiring but I think it started my ever lasting relationship with brownies :-)
My favorite memory is the from-scratch coconut cake that my Brownie leader helped me make for my mother’s birthday. That was decades ago, but it remains the best cake we ever had.
Oh! What great fun it was as I remember baking sugar cookies at christmas time I was the one to put just a touth of sugar on top.
I love baking any Christmas goodies with my children! Sugar cookies for all seasons and holidays!
I am just starting to bake with my little ones and I think these are going to be my best baking memories!
My mom passed away last year, but my favorite memory is not actually baking WITH her, but the fact that from the time I was 10 years of age, she would let me have the run of the kitchen and bake whatever I wanted. That permitted me to really learn the ins and outs of baking and permit me to become a very good baker. I am now known in my community as a wonderful baker because of it.
My daughters and I wear my mother’s vintage aprons (circa 1960’s) when we get together to bake holiday treats. Its our homage to her as we bake with her recipes.
My favorite memory was when i was making an order of cake pops for someone and my 2 year old just climbed on the dinning room chair and grabbed one right off the tray and shoved it in his mouth. Haha he loves my “pops” as he calls them
I teach kindergarten, and my kids and I make a big gingerbread man every year. I read several versions of the story throughout the week, and on the day when we are supposed to eat it, he comes to life while we are out of the room and runs around the school. We have to follow clues that he leaves all around the school until we find him. We make sure to eat his legs first so he can’t run away again! They love it and talk about it all year long! It is such a great class bonding moment.
My favorite baking memory is teaching my 3 little girls how to make cake pops. When they get old and good enough we will be a cake popping design army. :)
Baking gingerbread houses with my mom at Christmas.
my favorite baking memory is making and decorating sugar cookies during Christmas time as a kid. this was definitely how I got started as an amateur baker.
My mom, grandma and aunts would make tons of goodies at christmas, at my grandmas house and then make huge trays and send them to work with people and to friends and neighbors.
My favorite baking memory involves three generations of my family being in one small kitchen for cookie baking. Every year my mom and myself make a bunch of cookies to give out to those close to us. We do a wide range of cookies, breads, treats, mixes, etc. every one always looks forward to them because they’re quite yummy. Well a couple years ago my grandma (mom’s mom) was down visiting and she had never participated in our baking adventure so we allowed her to help. We thought we’d set her up with an easy recipe because she isn’t much of a baker and she was in charge of making the Puppy chow. Super easy recipe. Well….grandma didn’t quite get the instructions and instead of melting the chocolate chips with the peanut butter she just put the chocolate chips in with the cereal, thinking she was making a trail mix of sorts. When I realized what she had done I stopped her and we all stopped and picked out the chips so they could be melted properly. The puppy chow didn’t turn out quite as good that year but we sure had a blast!
Making “Heather’s Favorites” cookies with my Mom during the holidays. Heather’s Favorites are chocolate chip cookie logs made with mini chocolate chips and then dipped in melted semisweet chocolate and nuts.
Spending time baking for hours to make a cake, putting in all your love and time into it, then waking up the next morning and unexpectedly seeing it in a newspaper… just knowing that someone out there appreciate your hard work..those are the best times and greatest memories.
I love chocolate chip cookies.
cookies for holidays are always great with children helping
I love the memories of getting my handful of Chocolate chips before they went into the Chocolate chip cookies.
Watching my mom peel apples for pie and eating the skins…loving how she could getthe WHOLE apple peeled without breaking the skin!!! I do the same thing now with my girls….:)
Baking a cake with my sister and friends when I was younger. We decorated it with anything we could find in our kitchen. It was fun but didn’t taste so well!
Every Christmas since we became “grown ups,” a dear friend has moved in for a week and we bake up a storm. One particular December many years ago I had just moved with my four very tiny children out of our home and into a little apartment hours away in an effort to escape an abusive marriage and make a new start for us all. Despite the ridiculously cramped quarters and an oven that would fit only one small cookie sheet at a time, she came that winter anyway — offering some stability, celebration and normalcy to what would otherwise been quite a tumultuous and lackluster Christmas. We had trays of cookies, candies, and cakes stacked in every inch of that apartment — on top of the boys’ bunk beds, resting on the open dryer door, even cooling racks in the little apartment’s bathtub…and the kids absolutely loved it. Even now, many years later and all grown up, the kids and I still remember that baking extravaganza in those conditions as one of our best Christmases ever.
My mom was kind of a control freak and never let me help. My dad didn’t make a lot of things but he always made the lemon meringue pies, and from scratch. So one day when he was making the pies, I asked if I could help. He said yes, and I was thrilled. I waited outside the oven door for it to finish browning the meringue and when it was done I begged my dad to let me take it out. He did, and let me tell you, the pie was heavier than I thought! I dropped it right on the floor! I felt awful but my dad just went to work starting another pie.
Hi Bakerella,
Yesterday I hosted a tea party for my friends. There was ruffle cakes, cupcakes, macarons and other sweet goodies inspired by Sweetapolita. It was a fantastic day because it was very successful and everyone loved it! Next baking cakepops from your website!
Joanna
I love cookies
Definitely watching my youngest daughter bake pies with my mom – it was like watching an old movie of me learning how to make homemade dough, rolling it out , then making the fresh apple filling. It doesn’t get any better than that!
My absolute favorite baking memory is of my first time watching my grandma bake cakes for the holidays. Nothing will ever top the experience of watching her pour caramel over a vanilla cake, and I just remember how excited I was to see it spill over the sides and see her hands working quickly to place pecans around the edge.
That memory has fueled my passion for baking.
As a child I remember making Lemon Meringue Pie with my Grandma who lived 4 states away. We made 1 for the family and 1 just for me. I ate it all too, and 52 years later, I still can’t eat that kind of pie. But the memory of making it with Grandma is still worth it.
I love baking chocolate chip cookies with my kids, they love to help me out and it is so much fun for all of us!
My favorite baking memory is sitting on the kitchen counter while my Grandpa made his Christmas candy and cookies: divinity, fudge, chocolate chip cookies, and butterscotch bird nests. I’d watch him while he worked and he would allow me to stir, but most importantly…lick the spoon! I’ll never forget the stories he would share with me about his childhood. Now that he’s gone and I’m grown, I cherish those moments even more.
My brothers and I used to make reindeer food the night before Christmas and sprinkle it on the lawn and roof. One of my favorite holiday memories!
Of course holiday baking with my mom! But particularly because it was me and her against 5 brothers and a step dad. I loved that half the house was taken over and turned into girl zone. But my favorite part was the Maple Drops. My mom was born in Eastern Canada, and I’m the only one of the kids that pursued and obtained my dual citizenship. So it was one more Canadian mother-daughter bonding thing. Plus, she hated making them! But would every year because a) they’re amazing and b) I looooved making them :) thanks mama.
My favorite baking memory is when my mother, my sister and I would make chocolate macaroons for all our family and friends during Christmas time. We would go through a lot chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and coconut. Those were some delicious macaroons and were well liked by everyone. I still make them every year for my friends and family.
I love remembering baking Christmas cut-outs with my neices using my grandmother’s recipe.
My favorite memory is baking chocolate chip cookies with my mother as a young child. Now I carry on the same tradition with my own kids.
Baking and decorating spritz cookies at Christmas with my Mom. I love those tender little cookies!
I remember when I was a child my aunt would tie her hair back and cover it before she would start baking. To this day, I always tie my hair back like she did every time I bake.
My Mom taught me how to make Toll House Cookies and she used dark brown sugar in them. I still make them Mom like you did!
I have many memories of baking and decorating sugar cookies with my family growing up, but one of my most favorite memories is when I continued the tradition with my son. He was 3 1/2 and we set to making a batch of cookies for his pre-school teachers. By the end, we were both covered in flour, but the cookies were fantastic.
Making pumpkin bread with my mom every autumn.
my favorite baking memory is Christmas time every year growing up with my mom and sisters. We would always make sugar cookies, small sandwich cookies and sometimes ginger cookies.
As a young mom I started baking & decorating giant cookie hearts for my 3 young sons for Valentines Day. They could ‘t wait to wake up on Feb.14th to their big chocolate chip cookies. They lasted for days. Now 27 years later, those three grown boys won’t let me give up the tradition…and we’ve added a daughter-in-law and two adorable granddaughters to the list.
This reminds me of my own mom’s pecan pies from many, many years ago.
The pecan pies look delicious. I wish we had one now. Pies are great for sunday gatherings and especially with a little ice cream on top.
My favorite baking memory is in my mother’s kitchen, baking 1234 cake. It is still my favorite recipe for cake and the only recipe I know by heart. More so than the cake, my favorite memory is the kitchen. The kitchen has huge windows that look out into the back and side yards, so while baking or cooking dinner my mom could always see us crazy kids.
And now that I’m in college, I totally miss all the great kitchen tools my mom has. Not having a good food processor (and stand mixer) is worth crying about :)
Baking holiday cookies when I was about 14 and delivering them to everyone I knew. Most popular were the peanut butter blossoms! Love them to this day!
Love to bake up some nummies for the tummies.
I remember and can even still taste when my mom would make “pan de polvo” during the holidays and every so often for a favor for a family friend. These cookies were wonderful. I would put one in your mouth and it would just melt in your mouth. The perfect combination of sugar and fresh cracked cinnamon. The entire house would smell sssssoooooo good. For several years my Mom was asked to bake 500 cookies for Christmas. After the passing of my Mom in 2004 we have not been able to duplicate the recipe but we try to every year. I love the cookies but loved my Mom more.
I love baking with my Mom. Every time we bake together we create a wonderful new memory. One of the first times she let me help in the kitchen is captured in a lovely picture of me and my older brother mixing pancake batter. I must have been three years old at most.
My favorite baking memory is fairly recent. I agreed to bake 100 custom decorated cookies for a charity event without realizing what I was getting into. I stayed up all night the day before the event baking and decorating cookies and my wonderful fiance helped. There were cookies EVERYWHERE…on our counters, tables, couch, arm chairs, computer desk. But in the end we finished them all and everyone loved them so it was worth it haha.
So many memories with my mom and now making new ones with my kids! But one of my all time favorites was when our family was home from overseas for Christmas. We were at my grandparents’ house decorating sugar cookies and my dear grandpa decided to join us. After quite a while of decorating and talking one of us noticed that the dozens of cookies near my grandpa were all pink! He just kept reaching for the frosting that was nearest, delighted just to be with his family.
My favorite baking memory is of making gingerbread houses with my mom and sisters each Christmas. Now I carry on the tradition with my own family, even though I’ve got all boys!
I used to pick the apples on my Grandmoms tree and we would bake apple dumplings together.It was a special time for me as a kid about 55 yrs ago because I had 9 aunts and uncles and numerous cousins . When I got to be the special one to help gma bake it was heaven
I love baking cookies
My twin girls are 10 and we have a tradition of making Christmas cookies with their Grandmother. We make 100’s of cookies using her homemade sugar cookie recipe and every type of sprinkle known to man. The girls have been doing this since they were about 3 years old and look forward to it every year!
Every year since they were toddlers, my two kids who are now 23 and 20, and I bake and decorate sugar cookie before Christmas. The time laughing, decorating and eating our creations have been so much fun and so memorable.
My first baking memories are with my two good friends in high school, we always tested new recipes and would literally spend weekends making all kinds of cookies n cakes. I have been a devote baker since :)
Each time I bake (pie, cookies, cake) a recipe is used that came to me from one of my grandmothers, or one of my aunts or my mother And, each one I learned to make just right, with them guiding me. I just can’t pick one and say it is a favorite, as each one contains a lifetime of sweet, loving memories!
My favorite baking memory was when my roommate really wanted some cookies one night, but we didn’t have any eggs. And so, we began hunting for the perfect eggless chocolate chip cookie recipe. We finally found one that tasted almost as good. The whole experience was just very fun and memorable.