Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Bake Some Love

I was sent this cookie tin from Nestle. I love baking (mostly because I love eating baked goods). So, Brooklyn and I baked today.


Not naming any names, but one of us tried to eat the raw dough before getting caught.


We pressed the dough into the tin. As we did, Brooklyn asked, "Couldn't we just bake little cookies and put them in here, Mom?"

"What, make several little cookies? Bake batch after batch? That's way too much work, Brooklyn. Now squish the dough in there."


According to Brooklyn, everything's better with sprinkles. Lots and lots of sprinkles.


Yum! Actually, my kids and I do enjoy baking and making recipes from scratch, but sometimes, it's nice to have a fresh batch of yummy warm cookies without all the work.



Nestle sent me two of these cookies kits so I have one to give away to a lucky reader. Leave me a comment here and tell me your favorite baking tradition and I'll choose a random winner on Saturday. Winner will have 48 hours to claim prize before an alternate winner is chosen.

188 comments:

  1. Hi Dawn! I love these contests :) A baking tradition here at my house is that I need to use the mixer twice in anything that we "mix" up. The reason.....so that there is enough of the mixer handles for everyone to lick the frosting off of when we are done. I am a mom of three, but do I get the fourth mixer handle?? Nope, that belongs to daddy and the kids make sure he gets it. That's okay kidlets, because mommy gets the bowl ALL to herself :)

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  2. ohhh my mom and I used to bake all the time together. I remember Christmas baking and making loaf after loaf after loaf of poppy seed bread...ohhh and trying to perfect the ever elusive brown sugar pie! Mmmm. Baking.

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  3. My favorite baking tradition is baking christmas cookies with the kiddos. They absolutely LOVE that time of year and look forward to it all year long!!!

    iluvmyfamilyof5@hotmail.com

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  4. I like how Brooklyn's "hair" matches her sprinkles. We make mini-pizzas at our house. Not really baking (as in cookies etc), but the kids love it. My 6 year old wanted do his all by himself last week. It took him at least 20minutes. He put each piece of mozzarella on individually. I couldn't help but smile.

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  5. I love making Mexican Wedding cakes at Christmas time ... my 22 year old daughter has taken over the tradition this past year. So nice to pass down these traditions...

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  6. My grandchildren and I always make cookies, for Christmas, Easter, Halloween and decorate them any way they like. We sometimes buy the unfrosted baked cookies and then they decorate them with different frostings and sprinkles. We've been doing this for many many years and my oldest is 15 and still enjoys doing it with us!

    Diane Haynes

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  7. To be honest, any kind of baking is my favorite. Everything from cake, cupcakes, to cookies, cheesecake (and I don't even like cheesecake).

    I do love making all the peanut butter balls and pfeffernessus for Christmas. Or the sugar cookies and having the kids cut them and decorate them. Makes me feel connected to my kids.

    Did I mention I love to bake? Wish I could make cakes like you can tho.

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  8. My girls and I have made cookies for the car loop attendants last year and this year, to thank them for standing out in the rain, the cold, and the heat to keep everyone safe and sane!

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  9. Baking Christmas cookies with the kids.

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  10. My daughter loves to make brownies. It's an easy thing for her to do and my husband appreciates the results!!

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  11. What if I don't have a baking tradition but just want a really big cookie?!

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  12. We love to bake here. I grew up baking bread with my mom as often as possible. 12yrs ago, I took the Wilton classes and have been baking and decorating the cakes for my kiddos and their friends every since. I have over 50 cake pans decorating my kitchen and now laundry room walls. Now my 9yr old is enjoying cooking and baking everything from scratch and is the only 9yr old I know of who was excited that Santa brought him a zester in his stocking. So yeah, something like this would be a huge hit at our house. Pretty please!!!

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  13. Oh I can't cook for nuts, so ours is a non back tradition. We make chocolate balls at Christmas. Condensed milk, cocoa, crushed biscuits and coconut. Can't get much easier than that.
    I stir and roll the mix into balls and Miss 9 rolls the balls in extra coconut, refrigerate. Then it's a waiting game until they're firm enough to eat... and if Daddy is lucky he might get a few before we both inhale them all.

    Love the look of that cookie dawn, YUM!
    Belinda in Brisbane Australia.

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  14. Valentine cookies and cupcakes are right up there.

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  15. My favorite baking tradition...when someone else does the baking!

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  16. The women in my family have always participated in a Christmas Bake Day. We go at it kind of like Black Friday shopping. We meet at 6 a.m. for breakfast, then gather at Grandma's house and bake until 9 or 10 p.m. Sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, no bakes, hard candy, divinity, buckeyes, peanut butter cookies, chocolate fudge, peanut butter fudge, chocolate covered pretzels, and probably some other goodies thrown in there too. We did this every year without fail for the past decade. This past Christmas was our first without Grandma, the first with my mom living in a different state, and the first when my daughter was very mobile instead of just a lump in someone's arms, so Bake Day didn't happen this past Christmas. But I'm going to do my own little bake day this year. Gotta carry on the tradition.

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  17. Our family loves to make brownies but we wouldn't turn down a cookie!

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  18. We don't have a tradition, per se. The kids just love to bake with me. Their favorite is getting to crack the eggs. I have gotten to be a pro at getting shells out of egg goop.

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  19. Chocolate chip cookies or homemade bread on rainy days. (But I live in the middle east now, and imported chocolate chips are over $5 a bag here - so I aim to make more bread and fewer cookies these days.)

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  20. Oooooh baby!I love some home made goodies!!! (and if I have to turn on my oven- they are considered home made.)

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  21. I love to bake just about anything! Cookies are one of my favorites cause it brings a smile to everyone's face!

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  22. Awwww! I love that she used so many sprinkles!! How did it taste?

    I know that my little girl would also love to help make cookies! Thanks for such a great giveaway!

    Our tradition is to make chocolate peanut butter oatmeal no-bake cookies at Christmas. I know that I could make them year-round, but I just never seem to remember that recipe. I always seem to peel off one or two before they've hardened, and burn my fingers and tongue as a result. LOL!

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  23. The "cookie conveyor". We were broke at the time. However, I did manage to squeak in a treat every now and then. I would buy the big batches of Tollhouse premade dough and line the kids up. As I scooped out the dough, I passed it to one child who rounded it up (made for prettier cookies) and then put it on the pan. Then that kid would go to the end of the line for the next one to get a scoop of dough. By the end of it, we had some sticky hands, lots of fun, and yummy cookies. Also, the kids did NOT fight at all in the middle of this.

    I got told by my 14 year old son the other day how he missed the cookie conveyor.

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  24. Baking for birthday cakes, for sure.
    Even if it means baking and frosting from scratch 4 different cakes -this year:one chocolate, one marble, one carrot and one orange - in a 2 weeks span ;)

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  25. Hm ... don't know if I qualify since I am in Denmark. But anyhoo, I love to bake. I have just started making pumpernickel bread and love the fresh homemade smell. Other than that, letting the girls lick the bowl.

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  26. My kids (5 and 3)and their friends do monthly cooking "classes" where we do basic learning in the kitchen I love spending time in the kitchen with my boys!

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  27. [not an entry for contest] - just wanted to say Brooklyn looks so grown up in that pic...and I love her pink hair extension! :)

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  28. My husband is our cookie baker. My daughter got an Easy Bake for christmas. My husband made a HUGE batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, froze in small lumps so that they could be put in the easy bake for future use without buying all the premade mixes...guess how many actually made it to the easy bake, versus some unsuspecting stomach? HAHA!

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  29. My mom and I bake tons and tons of cookies and pies and various candy at Christmas time. Several years we have gone on cruises, but my kids always insist we bake cookies to take on the ship as it is "tradition" for us to bake. I may be almost 4-0 but I still need my "mommy time"!!!

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  30. You must know that I'm experiencing hormonalness and would/could but should not eat the entire thing all myself.

    My blog post for yesterday was "Just hand over the chocolate and no one will get hurt." Um, yes. Cookies and chocolate would be grand!

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  31. I bake all the time! My kids and I sit down before birthdays, holidays, school parties, etc with my favorite cupcake book and they get to pick which cupcake to try this time. On baking day, I measure everything out and the kids (when I tell them it's time) get to put the ingredients into the mixer. My son (age 4) puts the liners in the cupcake pans, and my oldest daughter (7) is pretty good at scooping the batter into the pans. My youngest (2) is good at taste testing!!

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  32. My favorite baking tradition is holiday cookie making. We bake them for just about any holiday you can think of; it's something that all of us can do together and we all enjoy it!

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  33. My kids and I like to eat baked goods too. We enjoy the time together while baking cookies, brownies, cupcakes, and cake. My youngest would sit on the counter and put stuff in the mixer for me. The time together is perfect with a "sweet" reward at the end!

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  34. My favorite baking tradition is going to my mom's house and acting like I don't know what I'm doing, so she'll do all the work. :) But really, I'm not acting....

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  35. My favorite baking tradition is making various types of cookies around Christmas time. I make Cherry Winks, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Sugar cookies and more!

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  36. We like baking sugar cookies at Christmas time even though they always turn out horrible and I swear that I'll never do it again! I'm always looking for an excuse to bake cookies (other than sugar)...would love this giveaway!!

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  37. I try to bake challah every Thursday evening. I have a 13-month old daughter and when I get home from work, I put her in her high chair with some cheerios and turn her towards me and the counter-top so she can see what I'm doing. I narrate everything-- what goes next, how I'm measuring the ingredients, etc. Thankfully I use a bread machine because there's no way she would last through the entire kneading process, but at least this is a start. I am hoping that as she grows up, she'll want to be more involved and bake this with me every week. Maybe by then, I'll stop using the bread machine and we can knead the dough together. :)

    (Also just want to say that I recently discovered your blog and now can't get enough of it. Sending good wishes your way...)

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  38. i am just learning to bake... i am 43 gah... i am a late bloomer ok... but i love making breads of all kinds the one people seem to love most is cinnamon buns... lovely gooey yummy sickeningly sweet billion calorie cinnamon buns... and i am getting better with cookies... mine are usually a bit on the well done side as in they get really hard so... dunking in coffee or milk is a must.
    I would love to win :) love these give aways.

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  39. I love it when my 11 year old son says "Mom, can we make brownies?" He's now able to make them all on his own, which makes me so happy to see him take an interest in baking - something I love to do!

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  40. I took cake decorating lessons but it was actually my son that wanted to go. He's 13 and wants to be a pastry chef. Our tradition is that I bake the cakes and make the icing and he decorates the cakes. He's actually sold a few for friends birthdays! We have tons of fun :)

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  41. Our baking is very laid-back & easy--nothing complicated or lengthy! My girls pull a chair up to the counter to help add things--I will measure, they will add or break eggs for me (and I fish out chunks of shell!). Mostly I just love the looks on their faces as they watch the process and delight in making something :). My husband likes to buy a brownie or cake mix, write their name on it, and make it appear from the cupboard as if it came that way! "Oh, look what *I* found! And it has *your* name on it!!". The girls wonder how did Betty Crocker know their name?!? It's hilarious :).

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  42. My daughter always triesto snitch too!

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  43. Dawn,

    I used to bake cookies with my grandma. We used to make her ginger crinkles all the time.

    The first time I made cookies without adult supervision, my friend and I put in 1/4 cup of salt instead of 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Nothing like chocolate chip cookie play doh!

    Karen

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  44. My favorite tradition is making Christmas cookies with my kids. My girls love to decorate anything we make with sprinkles.

    http://christypedersen.blogspot.com/

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  45. My baking tradition is to bake often!
    Eileen

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  46. My daughter and I don't really have much for traditions but we love to bake together and see what fun stuff we can create

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  47. Pennsylvania Dutch Funny Cakes for Christmas morning! My kids and I love to make these together. What better than "cake" with lots of butter on it for breakfast on one of the best days of the year?!?

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  48. I bake A LOT. It's a stress-reliever for me. I have 4 kids. This means a lot of stress. Therefore, I bake A LOT.

    As far as traditions go, I guess my favorite is Christmas cookies. The kids especially like cut-outs and this year my (then) 3-year-old put the sprinkles on...one.at.a.time. Fun!

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  49. Every fall I make Anadama bread from scratch. It's a lot of work, but it makes the house smell SOOO good and everyone loves it!

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  50. I love baking with my boys! Every holiday we bake together..it is a time to talk with them about what is going on with them. We have a good time together laughing and talking!

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  51. One of my favorite baking traditions is/was teaching my kids how to bake and letting them create many yummy treats to share!

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  52. Into each love LOTS of sprinkles must fall. So sweet. I just love being in the kitchen baking and cooking anything with my kids. It's one of the rare times they're not fighting! Well, as long as the recipe calls for TWO of everything to be dropped in... Thanks for the chance.

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  53. In college my roommate and I loved having flour fights. Our kitchen was covered ceiling to floor in flour by the time we were done. There were even footprints leading to the bedrooms. This friend and I have recently reconnected. I can't wait to get together with her and have flour fights including my kids!

    -Donna W.

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  54. Awesome and funny!! and giving away free stuff, who could hate that. I used to bake with my mom, and now my daughter bakes with her all the time, I just like to reap the rewards!

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  55. Holy sprinkles Batman.

    My favorite baking tradition, Christmas cookies at my mom's house. Then the mess is there, not at my house.

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  56. I bake a huge batch of Snickerdoodles (German cinnamon/sugar cookies) for my cookie swap every Christmas, and since not many people have either heard of them or make them themselves, it makes my cookies the most-looked-forward to of the swap. It's a nice feeling!
    Since my kids came along, I decided that a fun way to spend a snow day was to bake homemade chocolate-chip cookies, as both an activity and a treat with their cocoa when they come in from playing outside. In the past few years, it's been a real treat. This year, however, we've already had six blizzards and two sets of two snow days IN A ROW (with a total of six so far), so we've been making cookies galore. When I finally had to get dressed for work the other morning, my pants didn't button. Oh well; at least I'm making memories with my boys!

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  57. Sunday is baking day around here. I haul out the flour, and the eggs, and the butter, and there's always at least one loaf of bread rising on the oven. Oatmeal cookies are a must, sometimes with bits of fruit, sometimes with chocolate. It's the only way some people in the family get any fiber at all. Sometimes when I'm feeling decadent brownies happen, but it's always a time to relax, enjoy the house smelling good, and get ready to have nutritious food all week.

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  58. OOH!!OOH!! ME, me, me!!!! **Wildly waving my hand** Pick Me! Pick ME!

    LOL! My daughter would love something like that. She's 10 and just getting in to baking. What fun this would be for her.

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  59. I LOVE baking cookies with my kids. For their birthday's I make a big Cookie Cake and decorate with FUDGE icing...YUMMY!!

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  60. This looks so easy! I would love to win your prize!

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  61. Since my son has multiple food allergies, we bake a lot. He loves to make granola bars and pretzels. As long as he can get his hands messy, he is a happy camper!

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  62. We LOVE to make cookies for all of the holidays with the different cookie cutters to match. And decorating them is the best part!

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  63. How fun!
    Our favorite baking tradition around here is Christmas baking with the kids. Then we package them all up and take to friends and family as gifts!

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  64. I love to bake cookies with my family.

    Sammirichardson@yahoo.com

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  65. I am not a baker by any stretch of the imagination! We did do cut-out sugar cookies for Christmas for the first time last year though and we will definitely do it again this year!

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  66. Wow Wow wOW... Everything does look good with sprinkles! I recently tried baking a batch of cup cakes with my daughter, it was a lot of fun.... heres hoping that we get to bake these cookies soon!

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  67. Our baking tradition is birthday cupcakes. The kids pick a theme and we run with it. We've had Harry Potter inspired ones, lady bug, Ariel, Tinkerbell, sushi, even ardvark (remember Steel Magnolias?). My kids love to come up with outrageous ideas and then figure out how to execute them together.

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  68. My favorite is rolling out the dough to cut out sugar cookies - one year with the kids covered in flour and up to their elbows in cookie cutters, it turned into the perfect Christmas card picture!

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  69. I decided to start a tradition of baking cupcakes with my 2-year old son. He helped crack the eggs into a bowl and I measured all the other ingredients into small bowls. Once we had everything measured out he dumped all the separate ingredients into the large mixing bowl. Just as I was getting ready to tell him the next step he promptly told me "I go watch football with daddy." So I was left to finish and do all the extra dishes that were created from putting everything into little bowls. It was worth it though when we the cupcakes were done and everyone was eating them he kept saying "Mommy and J make cupcakes. I wanna do again." And so the tradition has begun!
    ~wendy~

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  70. My life right now isn't so much about baking (four kids 6 and under) but my kids love to help me in the kitchen. Right now my 2 year old son makes dinner with me almost every night. If something needs to be poured or stirred, he's on it!

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  71. My husband & I didn't save the top of our wedding cake. Who really wants to eat year-old cake, anyway? We ordered a replica for our first anniversary. Now, I bake us a cake every year for our anniversary instead. I tool a Wilton decorating class, just so I'd have a clue what I was doing!

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  72. I love baking with my kids. They make a mess but it's still tons of fun. Their favorite thing to help with is waffles. Can't go wrong with egg shells in a waffle mix. :) Thank goodness I don't eat what they make.

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  73. I have to say I don't know if I was much of a baker before having kids - now it's fun to have a little helper (ok, not always sanitary - but fun). Our favorite baking tradition is to work together to decorate cookies for the current holiday.

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  74. I don't have any baking traditions other than I HAVE to make a cheesecake at Thanksgiving. Other than that, the baking has been turned over to my youngest daughter who really loves it and prefers that I stay out of her way. LOL

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  75. Aww, what a fun little cookie-making tin! My favorite baking traditions are usually centered around the holiday season, which is making me think I should probably come up with a Valentine's Day baking tradition... ;)

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  76. Cute tin! And I love Brooklyn's hair. How did you do it? My 7yo daughter just asked for a pink strip in her hair.

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  77. My DD and I's favorite baking tradition is at Christmas time we will make ginger bread men, women, trees, etc, and then frost them with cookie frosting and decorate them with different candies and sprinkles! Then we give them away to family, friends, and teachers to show our apperication for what they do for us!

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  78. I love to bake, but just like you, it's mostly for the finished product :) We have a tradition that every year in early December all the girls (daughters, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters) get together with my mom and bake for the Christmas season. We take home pounds and pounds of Christmas goodies for the rest of December. Then come the New Year's resolutions to lose the pounds and pounds....

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  79. Whenever my kids are stressed, or one of them had a bad day, I pull out the mixer and we start to bake. We never use a recipe per se, instead we just pull out the basics like flour, eggs, butter, etc and anything else we can find. I then let the kids decide what we will make. Sometimes it's been cookies with gummy bears and marshmallows, other times banana chocolate chip oatmeal raisin muffins. Baking together helps to open the line of communication between my kids and I, and I find they share more with me around the mixer than they do face to face.

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  80. I have many baking traditions for each holiday but this time of year..Valentine's require truffles and heart shaped cookies..one side dipped in chocolate!

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  81. When I'm too tired to bake batches of cookies, I've been known to press all the dough into pie pans and bake big cookies.

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  82. We have a new baking tradition in our house. My mother-in-law lost her battle with cancer this past August, and she used to make the most delicious sugar cookies. Not only were they delicious, but they were beautifully decorated - works of art, really. Since we lost her, my 4 year old son and I decided to make cookies using her special recipe, and decorate them this year. He also loves the sprinkles! We made 2 batches of about 6 dozen each, and shared with our family and friends. And my son shared the sprinkles with our kitchen floor. This way, we remember Grandma Deb when we eat those cookies (and we'll need to make up another batch for Valentine's Day!), and when I continue to mop up sprinkles, 2 months later...

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  83. The morning of a birthday in our house I make pancakes for breakfast. The birthday person gets a pancake in the shape of the number they are turning. My kids really look forward to when they get a "5" pancake or an "8" pancake!
    Stephanie A.

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  84. Baking Christmas cookies with my kids. It's the one time of year where we have time to all be in the kitchen, relax, and enjoy baking! I look forward to it every year!!

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  85. Well, I bake probably once a week, but our favorite baking tradition is just sugar cookies. I make the cookies, then make a bunch of different colors of frosting or icing, and set out a plate of different sprinkles and let my son go for it. ;) He loves it, and I don't feel bad if he eats his creation (unlike play-do).

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  86. We love to bake all year long. We love cookies :-) Usually the 2 youngest kids love to help the most. The older 2 just want to know when they are done.

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  87. Christmas cookies!! My daughters and I bake a number of Christmas cookies every year.

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  88. I love to bake with my daughter! It's a fun and gives us time to do something together.

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  89. Dawn, you're awesome!

    I love making cookies from scratch. Creaming sugar with butter and shortening with a big wooden spoon is so comforting to me. My husband makes fun of me and uses a hand mixer when he makes cookies, but it just isn't the SAME!!!!

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  90. In addition to lots of different Christmas traditions with cookies, we also enjoy backing cakes and cookies throughout the year. I don't do many things from scratch but we have multiple recipes that we use from boxes, mixes, and even the refrigerator dough. I always baked brownies from scratch as a kid. The box mixes are almost as good.

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  91. We do Christmas cookies each year, and as messy as they are, we could never skip them. Thank you!

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  92. Every weekend, we bake, and our little one loves to lick the mixer spoon and the spatula. Her favorite is banana bread. :o)

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  93. Our baking tradition is staying the heck out of the way of my brother's wife while she makes Xmas cookies and then eat them!

    If we're quick we can nab some hot ones!

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  94. I don't know that it's necessarily a tradition, but I haven't made cookies by myself in years. I usually have at least two helpers who take turns adding ingredients.

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  95. I do most of my baking at Xmas time and it is mostly whatever the kids ask for, some long standing recipes and some new stuff to try. So a hodge-podge with exception of this one tradition, that is not directly baking in itself, but a result of my baking... It all started with a pear tart that required 2 tbs of brandy <- you get the idea, right?

    http://loshadka.blogspot.com/2010/12/brandy-eggnog.html

    I enjoy your blog!

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  96. Favorite traditions start way back with MY mom. Every since I was small I can remember standing at the counter on a stool, mixing cookie doe with her. Now MY Grandchildren stand on that same stool to mix cookies with me!

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  97. We would have "Bake-a-Thons" where we would spend and entire day or weekend sometimes baking for our holiday presents. Often times it was 10 or 12 kinds of cookies, 2 or 3 breads and muffins. I dont bake on that scale now...but ahh those were the days!!

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  98. I love making fresh bread. The whole house smells so yummy!

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  99. I remember my mom making pies and using the dough scraps to make cinnamon sugar pie crust cookies. My sister and I loved Thanksgiving and Christmas for those pie crust cookies. :)

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  100. I just love to bake! Cookies and brownies especially... I also never make individual choc chip cookies, just spread them in the pan!

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  101. This looks fabulous! I'll have to buy one of these. I always bake with my boys. However, my oldest son does not like chocolate (clearly they mixed him up with another child in the hospital but he's cute so I've kept him) so when I make chocolate chips cookies I have to either keep some chip-less or use white chocolate that he believes is vanilla.

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  102. A big baking tradition starts the weekend after Thanksgiving every year. My grandma used to ask for all of the grandkids to come over to her house and we would all sit around and bake traditional Italian Christmas cookies together. When she passed, my dad took on the tradition for us. I'm nearly 30 now, but I still love baking Christmas cookies with my dad after Thanksgiving.

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  103. My favorite tradition is making spiced nuts with my Mom during the holidays! I also love to make the chocolate roses you taught us to make!

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  104. We love to bake, but cookies are probably are favorite thing to make. Cuz who does't like cookies, right?!

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  105. :) My kids beg me every morning to make cookies while running around with spoons screaming "cookie dough! cookie dough!" (the little ones are 3 and 4) Then they hop up on the counter with thier sppons and wait (impatiently) for me to make some majic with my trusty KitchenAid! We have a big family of 6, so a batch of cookies gets eaten every day! Thanks for the chance to win some love!

    Kimberly

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  106. My grandma and I used to bake all the time together, never needed a "reason". As an Adult, I love to bake. When we were in Wisconsin in the winter I baked because it made me happy, made me think of my grandma. I'm blessed enough to still have her even after the scare of a life time the last week. Now, I bake with my kids making all sorts of goodies. I'm known and "cookie" mom by the band kids because I make goodies for them to take for their marching comp's. Baking for me is a little bit of sunshine.

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  107. I dislike cooking but LOVE LOVE LOVE to bake. Each year my sister and I get together for a long weekend in December, and make upwards of 100 dz cookies. We give these to the workers at my husbands plant, and hers to those she works for and nothing better than sweet treats :)

    Thanks for the opportunity! I have a feeling it is safe to say Brooklyn loves PINK :) Sooo cute!

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  108. Our baking tradition: I ask my 12 y.o step son if he wants to help me make cookies. His eyes light up as he says, yes. I ask him to get out the mixing bowl, spoon, eggs, etc and he stares blankly at me. I get out the mixing bowl and tell him to get the eggs out of the fridge. He opens the fridge and stares blankly into it. I remind him to move his head AND eyeballs, and he finds it. Amazing talents this kid has! I ask him to get the vanilla out of the pantry (as I am finishing getting out everything else). He asks what the vanilla looks like and I respond by asking him why he is in the honors program at school. By now my toddler is in the kitchen wrapped around my legs screaming, "Hold you! Hold you!" I pick her up and hold her while trying to find the recipe in the cookbook. I instruct my stepson to read the instructions and turn on the oven. He stares at the cookbook for 5 minutes while I stop to pick up the baby and change his poopy diaper and clothes, with my toddler wrapped around my legs screaming, "Hold me! Hold me!" I return the the kitchen (scrub my hands) and help my step son measure and mix the dry ingredients while holding the toddler and putting the baby in the exersaucer. The baby screams, I pick him up, tell my stepson that I am sure he can read the recipe and make the cookies himself. I retreat to the playroom with the little ones while stepson finishes the cookies. This means checking with me every. single. step. of. the. recipe... The cookies finally get into the oven (45 minutes later) and stepson disappears. I put the baby on the floor of the kitchen with tupperware to play with, and hold the toddler while cleaning the kitchen (that looks like a cyclone hit it) one-handed. If I put her down she either screams, "Hold me!" while clutching my leg, or she "helps" by pushing the baby over every time he tries to move. I pull the cookies out of the oven, pour myself a glass of wine, and I eat the yummy (if slightly salty) chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. The toddler runs off to get her big brother and they get to eat cookies too!

    I am glad you and Brooklyn had so much fun!

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  109. I don't make very many things from scratch, but I do make homemade, cut-out sugar cookies for holidays. The Halloween ones are my favorite--ghosts, bats, and pumpkins. It's less stressful doing them at Halloween than at Christmas time when there are so many other things going on.

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  110. I used to bake more when the kids were home, now, it is nice to purchase prepared dough and just bake away!!

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  111. I don't know if this is a good tradition, but whenever I stress out, I start baking things. When life gets crazy, I know I can make some muffins and they will turn out okay. It's be nice to bake something for FUN. :)

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  112. Hi! My baking tradition is that I have my hubby and boys (2,4 & 6) mix up all the dough, and then I bake it all. We also make sure to bring Grandma and Grandpa a sample from each of the boys.

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  113. My favorite baking tradition has always been baking molasses cookies with my sister + Mom and then getting to ice them and put sprinkles on them. Yum!

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  114. A recent tradition is baking peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. My kids LOVE them (and so do I). They are SUPER easy and quick to make. It only takes about 15 minutes from start to cookie-eating! YUM!

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  115. Yum! Always tell people that my kids make cookies in 2 varieties: cavities or extra cavities!

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  116. Cookies - Yum-O! Love how Brooklyn matched her hair to the sprinkles!! My favorite baking tradition was making chocolate chip cookies with my grandmother Mamie! And her chocolate pies! I'm now 40 and just about have perfected it. Cool giveaway. Thanks! Jenn

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  117. I love baking cookies from scratch. Chocolate chip or fragile crispy sugar cookies...doesn't matter. I just love it. I also bake when it's snowing or I'm housebound. Then I normally make cakes. Gotta love some good carrot cake! Chris in PA

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  118. We love chocolate chip cookies and pumpkin pie.

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  119. My kids and I love baking but most of all I love your blog and look forward to reading it everyday.

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  120. Every Christmas we bake cupcakes together and I have the kids decorate themselves. They pile on the frosting of all colors and I get to eat half a bowl of unbaked cake batter -- and that's my favorite part. :)

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  121. Baking Christmas cookies with the kids! One of my daughters has recently decided to try and bake more things on her own. She is always thrilled when she gets yummy results!

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  122. We love to bake here, too. Chocolate and butterscotch chip cookies are the favorite but sometimes in the name of "health" we'll make oatmeal. I really like the pan cookie idea - all the love, half the fuss. I think we might try that one soon!

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  123. It's not really a tradition but I take my 2 girls to go see there Nana, Blah Blah, and Yoyo every week. I always bring some kind of baked treat for every one to enjoy. I don't think the week would be the same without seeing the grandparents and eating a yummy snack.

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  124. We don't have any baking traditions yet, but I can't wait until my daughter is old enough to start some! She's 10 months now...

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  125. My kids and I make the same yummy things every Christmas. White chocolate covered trail mix, peanut butter cookies ("I wanna do the criss-cross!!"), chocolate fudge and buckeyes! If you live in Ohio, you gotta have buckeyes!

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  126. With the addition of great-grandkids, our family decided to start doing gingerbread houses at Christmas. Now, a group my family members gets together every year to bake all of the gingerbread house pieces from scratch. It's a loud, messy, long, involved process, but we wouldn't skip it for anything!

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  127. We love baking here! Just made cupcakes about an hour ago.. like my butt needs them lol! I remember baking with my mom when I was little.. I always wanted to make cupcakes and ice them. I'd ice one and be on my way.. my daughter now returns the favor ;)

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  128. Love B's hair! I have some pink hair too, and it so much fun to wear! Enjoy your treats.

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  129. That cookie looks very yummy! I love baking cookies from a recipe that my mom used to make when I was little. Hopefully some day, my kids will bake the same cookies for their kids.

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  130. Every year at Christmastime, my family celebrates "Christmas Cookie Day." My mom, sister, best-friend, and I would spend the entire day baking (and eating) cookies. Now that I'm married, I celebrate the same "holiday" with my sisters-in-law. I look forward to the day that I can share it with my own children!

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  131. I don't bake much at all, but my one tradition is to make my grandmothers chocolate pies every Thanksgiving and Christmas, and at my husbands birthday. I'll also make her homemade dinner rolls a couple times a month. I'll occasionally make cheesecakes

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  132. My girls ALWAYS have to add "the love" when we bake. Nothing makes my heart warmer (besides a hot chocolate brownie!) than to see them lean waaaay over that bowl and wiggle their fat little fingers over the dough.

    You've been in my thoughts and prayers!

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  133. In our house, we bake up an "edible advent". We make 12 different desserts and box them up and open them one at a time as a countdown for the 12 days of Christmas. In addition, the leftovers that we don't box up for our countdown are put onto plates and handed out to neighbors.

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  134. My daughter told her aunt that her middle name is "Sprinkles"!! . . . my favorite baking tradition is home made bread. My mom used to make loaves on saturday and she'd divide the dough between us four kids and teach us how to knead the dough (push with the heal of your hand and roll over). A week ago I was making donuts and my 4 year old daughter wanted to help. I stood behind her like my mom did with me and taught her how to push with her hands and roll the dough under neath. It was one of those moments that I'll forever remember (only the sun will be shinning on my clean kitchen counters bouncing onto my spotless kitchen floor; birds will be singing at my window and the doe and bunnies will watch us through the floral trellis around my sliding door) :)

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  135. I love to bake cookies on Sunday evening so that we have goodies to tide us through the week!!

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  136. When my daughter was 4, all of her stuffed animals and her rocking horse were all named Sprinkles. :)

    Our favorite tradition is getting together with our homeschool group a couple weeks before Christmas. Everyone brings a dozen cookies and a batch of white frosting. We tint the frosting all different colors so there's a whole rainbow to choose from, and let the kids have at it. We have tons of sprinkles, jimmies, candies and frosting everywhere before we're done!

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  137. oh yum...our baking traditions usually are at Christmas but we could start a new one for Valentine's Day too!! What a cute and sweet (pun intended) idea! It looks like you and Brooklyn had a wonderful time baking! Love her matching pink hair...

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  138. I know it's trite, but I love baking Christmas cookies with the kids. They love eating the dough and frosting. They don't end up with very many finished cookiesl

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  139. Looks like you had some fun and ended up with a yummy treat all at the same time. Good times.

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  140. Every Christmas my mom and I spend a couple of days baking all sorts of goodies to give to my dad's colleagues. I look forward to it every year just to spend the time with her. :)

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  141. Yum! Cookies! Our favorite baking tradition is to bake & decorate a birthday cake for Jesus every Christmas. The kids get to decorate the entire thing all by themselves. It's fun to watch how their styles (and skills!) have changed over time. :)

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  142. My boys (ages 17 and 12) love making blueberry muffins with me. We love them fresh out of the oven with lots of butter. Before much longer, it will just be me and the youngest son baking together. *sniff*

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  143. My favorite baking tradition is homemade sticky buns for birthday breakfast.

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  144. I hate baking. But when I do bake..my kids asked me "Why are you baking" with bugged eyes. Goal is to bake more often for all 5 kiddos.

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  145. I love to bake some times it takes to much time to do so... My son is home schooled so we do cooking and baking on a regular time table. This would be great!

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  146. My mom is probably the worst baker ever. My dad made the mistake of taking over one Christmas because she was so frustrated with her burned cookies. He did such a great job, my mom gifted him the job of baking each year. Now at every Christmas time my dad has a baking marathon where he tries to get it all done in the matter of three days. It's quite the job because he probably makes about 100-300 dozen cookies for gifts and parties.

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  147. My favorite thing about baking cookies is that my very clever British SIL doesn't know the difference between when I make them from scratch and when I did as you did with your cookie tin. I got really good at making them both ways and she couldn't tell. And I will never tell! :)

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  148. I'm designated as the pie baker for all family gatherings. I love it. Ironically, I can't bake a cookie from scratch to save my life. Thank goodness for pre-made! It makes it easier for my son to help too. He's not old enough to make pies with me...yet. :-)

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  149. Baking is such a wonderful activity to do with kids of all ages. It's not only educational but also fun for all involved. (Shhhh! Just don't tell 'em, tho, that they're doing math, reading, and using measurments while having fun! LOL!) Plus using semi-homemade baking kits like the one you and Brooklyn did makes it much easier for little kids who aren't known for their patience (or neatness!) I have fond memories of baking with my mom and grandmother. My grandmother use to make the best oatmeal raisen cookies. We'd always cut open large brown paper bags and lay them out on the kitchen counters to let the piles and piles of cookies cool on. And of course I always got to lick the beaters clean. Yummy! :) In more recent times, my now 8 yr. old niece loved to bake and cook with her grandma and auntie (Moi!), altho sometimes the concoctions she'd dream up were ... ummmm ... let's just say "interesting"! LOL!

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  150. My baking memory is with my dad, and its one I hope to pass onto my daughter. My dad never bakes, except for his famous zucchini bread. It is the best bread in the world and he only makes it at Christmas. He would bring me out a chair to stand on and hand me a spoon. And I would mix and mix and mix until my arm felt like it was going to fall off. I would call him over to look at the batter and he always told me it was perfect, just like me. He would pour the batter into the pan and then would hand me the spoon and bowl to "wash" (I licked them clean). My dad now has a stool for my daughter to stand on while we "wash" the dishes.

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  151. Oh my daughter would love to make a giant pink cookie too!! LOL What is it about Sprinkles?? :)

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  152. My favorite tradition is that I love baking cookies and making treats at Christmas time so I can fill tins with assortment of goodies and give as gifts. It is more affordable and the recipients seem to appreciate a homemade treat as this.

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  153. Making sugar cookies at Christmas and decorating them with my boys, just like I used to do with my mom!

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  154. I like letting the kids make small cakes (one cake mix divided into 2 cake pans) & let them ice/decorate "their" cake anyway they like for their dad & me for our birthdays. They enjoy it.

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  155. I just sent a comment about my son and his Cub Scout bake-off. However, I'm at work (shhhh, don't tell) and my co-worker was signed in on her account. So, now I'm resending this under my account. Thanks, Dawn!!! Have a great weekend!

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  156. My favorite baking tradition is making brownies with my daughter.

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  157. My son (who is 5) LOVES to help me bake and I love for him to. The more and more he becomes a little boy and loves boy things the less we have in common. However, this is time that is ours. Just ours. So I love baking ANYTHING with our little man!

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  158. Baking my mom's old recipes with my kids makes me happy. Seeing my daughter ooh and aah about using a cookie press was amazing.

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  159. Christmas cookies and candy. i have a huge list of things i bake and give as gifts...that is, what doesn't get eaten! ;-)

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  160. My favorite baking tradition is eating cut-outs at Christmas! =)

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  161. Our baking tradition is to make gingerbread men to hang on the Christmas tree. Over time, arms become missing and sometimes heads...teeth prints in their ginger guts. I love it!

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  162. Giant cookie? Sounds good to me :)

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  163. I don't know that we have a "tradition", but my 3 girls are just like me and we love to eat all things carbohydrate...so we make whatever we feel like at the time. Lots of cookies, but lately we have started making homemade yeast rolls and cinammon rolls. Since my oldest loves to knead, it makes it so much easier on my old, beat-up shoulder and I don't mind making them now.

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  164. We love to bake cookies at our house. Or rather everyone loves for me to bake cookies.

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  165. Baking Christmas cookies with my mother and grandmother- using recipes passed down from generations ago. :)

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  166. Dawn, you could really bail me out and share your tins with me. I have got to get the wost Mom award. My step-son in stationed in Korea and wants cookies. Well, I have good intentions, but they never seem to bake themselves, orpackage and mail themselves either.
    Maybe your tin would cut out a step (or two)??

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  167. Fun! I love to bake with my kids. It's messy, but they love making the things that they can eat!

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  168. My grandma used to make Krum Kuchen (a coffee cake) every Easter and Christmas. It was a recipe from her mom. Now my oldest son and I make it every year. My grandma is still alive but has Alzheimer's and my family is too far away to spend most holidays together so it makes me happy to carry on a tradition from my childhood with my sons.

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  169. My favorite tradition is sending my 4 kids to Nana's house to make the required 4 dozen holiday cookies for their school's holiday cookie sale.

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  170. My baking traditions mostly are centered around holidays.

    But my go to recipe is choc chippers!

    XO

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  171. Most days I don't have time to bake but I always, always make my kids' bday cakes!

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  172. My favorite cooking traditions, is baking Chrismtas cookies, while my kid eat all the dough !

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  173. Our baking tradition is dipping mini Ritz peanut butter cracker sandwiches into melted white chocolate candy melts. Way too addictive.

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  174. If a friend has a birthday, my kids help me make a cake for that person before he/she comes over for dinner. It would be such a nice surprise for our guest, but my daughter likes to tell the person AS THEY WALK IN THE DOOR, "Hey, we made a cake for you!!!"
    Katie L.

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  175. Looks tasty and easy (which is sometimes good with kids) SPRINKLES and all!

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  176. Growing up my mom and I would make lemon merangie and coconut cream pies. I would stir the lemon and she would stir she coconut. I remember it seemed like forever for them to thickening up.

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  177. Every Christmas eve my mom used to prepare yummy rolls with brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins and tons of butter. In the morning we just pop it in the oven and enjoy. This had become quite the tradition and even though these are so yummy I could eat them daily, we ONLY make them on Christmas. It makes them that much more special!

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  178. My favorite time baking I can remember was with my 3yr old. He was so excited when mommy let him make a cake with her. I never forget the smile on his face that day.

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  179. I only have boys, but they have loved cooking and baking with me since they were small. We love to bake cookies to take to school or church...and of course we love to bake cookies just to eat!!!

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  180. Whenever we make our special oatmeal-choco chip cookies, we add an extra egg. It makes it taste better <3.

    Ohhh, I really hope I get chosen! :D -Natasha

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  181. Who doesn't love cookies (and cookie dough)? I can sympathize with Brooklyn's attempt...after several rough weeks, a couple of spoonfuls of cookie dough seems to work magic :)

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  182. I'm not sure if this a tradition, but I just LOVE holding my kiddos up on the counter while they watch the mixer mix the dough; it absolutely amazes them for some reason!!

    davneynowak@gmail.com

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  183. Am I too late? I could really use this - I have been making cake balls all day for my son's teachers on Monday and I need something to make for myself!

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  184. Our favorite tradition is baking cookies on Christmas Eve and decorating them. Eating as much frosting as actually gets on the cookies is a very important part of this tradition!

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  185. Licking the beaters after. It was one of my favorites and sadly my children look at me weird when I offer them a beater.

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