Holiday Baking Panel: Pro Baking Tips, Cookie Inspo & More!

Hello, everyone and thank you so much for joining us today. We are ready to kick off the holiday season and I hope you are too. We have a special series. It's the 12 days of Cookies where we'll be sending a new recipe to your inbox every day for the next 12 days of December. So we're not quite, we're not started yet. So that means you still have time to get signed up so that you don't miss a single recipe. Uh We will start on December 1st with our first recipe and you guys are not gonna be disappointed, but this is a fabulous lineup of amazing holiday cookies from amazing chefs across the country and I am fortunate enough to have two of them amazing bakers with me today. Um So please welcome a Lisa Strauss and Colette. Um We are going to be streaming live to you today and answering some of your holiday questions about baking or gifting packaging tablescape. You name it, we're ready to talk about it and we cannot wait to get started. So this is sort of an extra bonus to our 12 days of cookies and on top of that each of us will be going live next week to be teaching one of our favorite cookies. So, um, Alisa, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Tell us what type of cookie you're going to demo for us next week and why you chose that cookie? Ok. Well, thanks for having me. I'm so excited for me to learn about more cookies. Um, I actually fun fact. I actually love cookies like way more than cake. So, um, this is very exciting because now I get to eat cookies at the same time. Um, I'm Lisa Strauss. I'm the owner of Confetti Cakes Bakery in, in New York. And, um, I teach a lot of cakes and I'm crafty and creative cake and, um, for my cookie, I'm doing a chocolate snowflake cookie. So I'm very literal as my family will tell you. So they are actual snowflakes. They're not just like dusted in powdered sug. Um, and what I love about them is that no matter what you're doing, whether you want to use it as an actual Christmas ornament. Um, you can make really large ones or if you're having just a little party, you can make little tiny snowflakes. Um, and they're very easy to decorate. I mean, to be honest, I think they're beautiful on their own. I don't know if you could see this, but with all the different holes and everything, um, but if you want to and what I'm going to show you next week is to um decorate them with royal icing, which is our cake decorators blue um and sanding sugar. And I could show you how to paint on them. There's really no shortage of ways of using them. So I think they're great. They're super versatile and you can do the same exact thing. I have a vanilla sugar cookie that works just as well. Excellent. And hopefully, um we can get a link up to that particular tutorial with Alisa so that our viewers can just go ahead and sign up for it. Nowhere is going to be and that way they won't miss your amazing snowflake tutorial. I personally love snowflakes. So I'm super excited to um, tune in and join you for your tutorial. And uh, we, we also have colette with us. Colette, what are you going to be teaching us in your tutorial? Well, I'm going to um, my name's Colette Christian and I'm a long time craft sea instructor and chef instructor based out of Los Angeles. And I'm going to be teaching Dulce de Leche Alpha filled Alpha Jess. So I'm really excited to, um, put a holiday spin on this cookie will be using traditional cookie cutters. You don't traditional holiday cookie cutters, not that you have to typically they're cut into rounds, but I found they work really well, you know, using any cookie cutter that you want. And the great thing about the Alpha hots is they differ a little bit from a traditional sugar cookie and that a big part of the um basically the flour component is cornstarch. So there's super tender which makes them a little bit challenging to handle. But I have lots of great tips to make it easy and simple. And they are filled with a filling that you can buy. So that's a bit of a time saver because I don't know about you guys, but I have holiday delusions of grandeur. I always think that I can do all this stuff and then the day just, you know, go by and uh I don't get half done of what I had planned to. So a few time saver like uh being able to buy the filling and I also will have a recipe for my, for you guys who like to diy everything. I totally get it. I understand. So all bases covered. That's awesome. I love Dolce de Leche. So that's an amazing uh filling to add to your collection. If uh that's not something you've ever tried before or if it's uh something that you have had, I love the fact that you're going to provide a recipe as well. That's absolutely fantastic. Um And I saw you have snowflakes too, which is so exciting because I of course enjoying snowflakes. These are my little snowflakes. Um I am going to be doing a holiday Spritz cookie in a few different ways for you. And the fun part about holiday spritz cookies is that traditionally you are to use a machine. It's like a, a hand pump. You can get an electric version, you can get it in a hand pump version. Um, but I have made this recipe it and been able to use it in a tip of any sort. So I am using Russian tips for a handful of the cookies that you see on the screen there. And um I want to show you guys how to alter your batter in order to utilize something that you might already have. So whether it's a star tip or a round tip or something as decorative as a snowflake Russian tip, you can still make these holiday spritz cookies and you can get a lot of detail to them. I mean, this is the amazing part is you can get such amazing detail from a Russian tip that um you don't have to do anything else. You just pipe it out and off. You go maybe a few sprinkles on it just to bring some glitz and glam to it. But other than that, it's a great cookie. It's tasty, delicious and um super fun and they can be done in a lot of shapes. So those are the three of the tutorials that we will be doing for you live next week. Um Please check the chat box so you can see uh which days those will be uh viewing and then um of course, click on those links so that you can get on recipes too. That's kind of um the beauty of this particular uh session for you guys is you get a whole lot of things, you get recipes for cookies. And now we have the opportunity to answer any questions that you all have, whether it be about holiday baking or maybe packaging cookies or how to gift them appropriately. And one of my favorite things is to include them as a part of my tablescape. So we'll get to that. Um But if you guys have any questions, please make sure you're dropping those into the chat box for us so that we have an opportunity to answer those for you. Um Of course, we all love, I don't know about you ladies, but we love talking about all things baking, in my opinion, we could probably go on for hours and hours. So why don't we get to one of our first questions? Which is um maybe what are some of the more unique, unconventional ingredients or flavors that can add a twist to a traditional holiday cookie? Maybe. Um Maybe what do we got colette? Do you have any ideas for what else we can substitute in there? Yeah, I just immediately Alisa Macha came to mind. You get that top of green and typically if you're gonna add at least from my experience, it would be 15% 10 to 15% match powder for the flour and then sift that together and, and then you would get sort of that dusky lovely tea flavor and then that really pretty green. The only thing last thing too would be maybe to just watch them in the oven. So they, they don't take on any extra crust color. Yeah, that's a great tip. Especially with the, the crust color. You have to be a little bit cautious. Um, this is just another baking tip from Colette, obviously. Um She knows her stuff which is so exciting. Um, try not to over bake your cookies and try to bake them. I have a tendency to bake them on a lower shelf if they're colored because then they'll get golden on the bottom and cook all the way through, but you'll keep your tops nice and colorful rather than getting that little hint of golden color. What about you, Alisa? Do you have any favorite flavors that you like to substitute around the holidays? Well, not really because I'm a traditionalist, but I do remember um making some like kind of a, a spin on a hot chocolate but with a savory twist. And so I remember my kids we were experimenting with cayenne pepper or Chipotle and all the like just adding a hint of a sa what you would think of as a savory spice rather than a sweet and it just, I don't love overly sweet things. So it just adds like a little nice, I don't know, calm down from all the sugar that we get. Um, and it also just talking about baking. You guys are such pros. Um, and I think everyone knows this, but I also don't want my cookies to burn. And so remember if you leave the cookies on the sheets, they're going to keep cooking when they come out of the oven. So, um, that was my oven thingy. So, um, anyway. Yes, excellent. Yeah. And I uh have to admit I love a good rich dark chocolate for my cocoa because um you're right, you know, you're you're around the holiday time. We tend to have lots of sweets with us anyway. And so they make really great dippers, you know, those sweet cookies in that rich dark chocolate um is just a great combination together and I love adding um other things even like cinnamon and nutmeg. Um those flavors really accent the flavor and bring out the chocolate even more. Um But again, tones down that sweetness, so love that idea. Um I I will share mine and then we're gonna grab a couple more questions but I love substituting um either eggnog or even a little bit of an alcohol like a rum or a um any sort of creamy beverage like a Bailey's alcohol. You can sub out some of that alcohol for a little bit of your milk in your recipe. Sometimes you can sub it out for some of your extracts as well. So those are easy ways to bring flavor to a recipe you already have, but put a bit of a holiday twist on it. So make sure you raid your liquor cabinet. See what kind of flavors are in there and add those to some of your traditional recipes as well. Yeah. Poet. What do you, what else? I've got a piggyback off of that. Um So talking about baking with liqueurs during the holidays, it's really fun and festive. But if you're not a liqueur drinker, you know, and it's like this big bottle just sits there. So what I do because I don't tend to bake with liqueurs except at the holiday. I'll go to the liquor store, bevmo, whatever and I'll buy the little air plain sizes, you know, and just get like the little Bailey's the little champ or whatever. And I have to, I sometimes, like, I feel like they look at me funny, like I'm some old wino. But, um, but it's a great way to have a nice assortment of liqueurs to bake with and, and, and then not be stuck with those big bottles year round. Yeah, that's an excellent idea. Um, that's not usually a problem around my house but, but I, I actually love to gift a little bottles of Lior. I have a tendency to want to put them with a recipe that I might be using or some homemade hot chocolate mix with a little nip of an alcohol too. It's just a fun way, um, to add a little holiday spirit. So fantastic. Well, ladies, we have a ton of questions here. We're gonna stick to some baking questions first and then we'll move into some of these other ones. But, uh, Geraldine is asking how do you know when the cookies are fully cooled to decorate without letting them sit too long? She worries that they're gonna get stale. So, which of you wants to take this question? I mean, I'm sure both of us could. Exactly. I just said I'll just quickly add, there's usually so much sugar in your, they're not going stale anytime soon. Um, and it is really important that they've cooled completely and if you're really nervous about cooling, you can always, um, you know, uh, send it to a wire rack or flip it over. I mean, in general, I would say after an hour everything's kind of ready to be deaned and de molded. Um, whether it's a cake or a cookie, but either way I wouldn't go and package them right the same day. I would just, you know, the cookies aren't going to go stale for a good few days and especially, you know, if you're doing gingerbread or something that has molasses and dark brown sugar. Um, yeah, I don't know. Colette do you have, well, I'll just, just to piggyback on, that's going to be my word of the day. Piggybacking I apologize. You guys, I'll try to think of something else, but I think you're totally right. They're not going to stale. But on the science side, one thing to think about you guys is that sugar naturally attracts moisture. So, because as ELISA said, our cookies are full of sugar. They're, they're, they're attracting moisture from the environment and they're, you, we don't have to worry about sting. And then so, so let, let them cool because it's so disheartening if you've got your beautiful royal icing made and, and the cookie is a little bit warm. It just, everything begins to run into that. Oh, we wanna avoid those oh no moments. And if you're not ready to decorate them the same day, I just throw them in um a airtight container. That's what I was just gonna say because I'm in Denver and we're really dry here in the winter. And so for me, if I leave just a soft sugar cookie out on the table, it does dry out pretty quickly. And so one of the things you need to make sure of is that your, your cookies are fully cooled and then put them in your airtight container. Because if you put them in your airtight container before they're cool, that moisture and heat is still going to circulate and you're gonna, your cookies. So as a Lisa said, an hour is more than enough time, let them cool. Put them in your airtight containers set them aside and you can refrigerate or put them in the freezer if you really want to, if you're not going to get to those for a week or two. don't, don't feel like you can't do that. You can. Um, but I only, I, and this is another personal preference, I think, but I only freeze on decorated cookies. Uh, I don't ever freeze things that have royal icing on them because that's going to attract moisture as it defrosts and ruin all your hard work. So make sure you're only, um, refrigerating or freezing undecorated cookies. Um, I'm sure there are exceptions to that rule, but if you just use that rule in general, you will never find yourself wasting, uh, or throwing away cookies because they, you know, didn't look great. So that's, those are like amazing tips from all of us. This is fantastic. I love that you guys are so fortunate that you have three, amazing bakers who come from similar yet very different backgrounds as well. And so we can, we all have, I'm sure we all have our take on every one of these questions. Um, I'm gonna say to snowman off of that rather than piggyback. Um A is saying, um, that her cookies always get crumbly and too dry. What's up with that? Is it my flour or my fat or my water? I'll start just by saying it very well. Could just be that you're over baking them. And that's probably the number one reason why cookies are dry is because the, you know, you're just over baking it. Now, if you're talking about your cookie dough being dry or crumbly, um, well, then it's, it's likely a moisture issue whether that be your fat or whatever fluid you're using water or milk or, um, even sour cream, those types of things. So you definitely want to take a peek at your recipe. Um, Allison, if you are here, if you wanna let us know, is it your dough that's crumbly and dry or is it your cookie? Um, once it's baked. And, uh, ladies, uh, do you want time in on that question to let you go and then you don't have to piggyback or a snowman off? Exactly. Well, I would really want to take a good look at the formula and see the ratios between, as Rachel said, between the fat and if there's any liquid in there, you know, what is, what are the binding agents? And, uh, and, and then, and, and then see kind of what's going on because I feel that if they're crumbly like something is off and also too, are you weighing or are you using cups? Because, you know, when we measure by volume, it's a slippery slope. Yeah, I love colette just said, I mean, I just love it. You, you gotta weigh your ingredients because my cup in New York might be very different from her cup in L A based on he ha heavy handed or skimpier or, um, the type of flour or the weather. Um, you know, so, I mean, if you absolute, like, sometimes if I'm on vacation I love to bake and I don't have a scale. Um, I just make sure to really use the cups, like I use a spoon to get in the cup and I'm really particular about how high it is and things like that. Um, but yeah, II, I would start with probably the recipe isn't great if your cookies, that's the number one thing I always ask people, where do they get their recipes from? Um, so you should really make sure you're getting it from a reputable source, not just off the internet. Then you go. Um, one of the things that I will say too is, uh, converting your recipes is much easier than you think it is, especially because creative cake design actually has a conversion she sheet that you can download. Um, maybe we can get one of our helpers behind the scene to, uh, check for that. But we have a beautiful little chart for you. It tells you how much a cup of flour weighs, um, in ounces. So it's an easy transition from one recipe, uh, to, you know, using from volume, um, over to, uh, weighing things. So, uh, don't think that that's like a, a hard thing to do. It's definitely not. It's very easy. Of course, if you have an ingredient, you can just look up online how much it does a cup of peanut butter way and it will tell you. And so you can go through and convert your recipes as you're using them. And, um, I definitely agree with both of these ladies. You have to weigh. That's the only way to make sure that your recipe is accurate. Um, with that said, I give a lot of recipes that are based off of volume versus weight. Um But that's because I think a lot of us here in the US are just used to that. Um But I can guarantee you, I have both and most of my recipes include both. But um but yeah, try to try to use a weighing system if you can. That's the best way to do it. We've got um two more ingredient uh questions which I just love and uh Collette, I'll come to you for this one because I think that you are just the chemist. Um you have that chemists brain behind you. But uh Marcella is asking can I use bread flowers to bake cookies or is that a? No, no. She just happens to have a lot on hand. It's a no. And, and I don't mean to be like it's an, well, you could use it if you mixed it with other flowers. But here's the thing. Bread flour has the highest protein content of any flowers that are available to in to us in retail markets. So the problem is if we make our cookies with them, we, our dough will be stronger, which means our cookies will be tougher. So the best thing to do with that surplus of bread flour is to make bread. And we do have some excellent bread making classes on craft C and and so maybe use it up, use it up for bread and then get yourself a really good all purpose flour to make your cookies. And I'm, I'm sure that we, you know, between the three of us we have our favorite. But the one thing that I would like to really warn people about is bleached all purpose flour. So, so I OK, first of all, I wanna backtrack really quick, Rachel and just say, I'm sorry, I like to be a cheerleader. And I'd love to have said yes, you can use that bread flour, but it's just too strong. You'll have a better result using a good all purpose flour. Now, I'm gonna finish my thought about bleached flour. So, you know, we just got through the Thanksgiving holidays and every supermarket had, had flour and sugar and those great displays of baking ingredients on sale and it makes our baker's hearts. Just go pitter patter, right? But you have to watch bleached All purpose flour is always cheaper because when you bleach flour, you extend shelf life so they can drop the um price and, and, but gluten formation and glutens form when we mix a dough, whether it's a bread dough or a cookie dough, which is why we're really careful of how we mix our cookie doughs and with bleached flour. There's a real springiness that happens. You'll notice pie crust springing back, cookie dough, springing back. So I just wanna just say you guys buy unbleached all-purpose flour for your cookies. You'll have a much better result. And um, uh it's always on the bag. It always is labeled on the bag. Ok, I'm on that box. She's off her snowman now, so I love it. I love it. That is an amazing tip. And um, if you aren't familiar with a lot of the science behind baking, it truly is a science and that's why I was so excited that Colette was going to be a part of our panel today is I know that um the science, the chemistry behind uh baking is one of her passions for sure. And um, and I know she's just a wealth of knowledge for those types of questions. So, um, absolutely. Thank you. I appreciate that. I'm sure. Um Alisa and I probably both have that information in our heads too. But um, but I, I just know how much uh colette is. Uh just on that. So, thank you. Um We've got a question from Howard. I, this is cute. Is it a crime to use regular salted butter or what's the penalty in the end result if you don't use a sweet cream butter? So, um, Howard thinks for the giggle. First of all, that's fantastic. Um, and, uh, either of you want to tackle this. How about a Lisa? Lisa? Do you want to try this one? Short colette has a, a more scientific. Um, but I just say like, you know, a, I'm a control freak, right? Like, look at what I do. So if you start with unsalted butter, you can control what you're doing. Um I was just listening to a podcast, I think it was Cherry Bomb, which is a fun, you know, cake pastry, whatever people are interested, I don't know, membership. But anyway, um and there was someone there that only uses salted butter and I was horrified but intrigued. So I, you know, I'm not gonna say never ever if it's in the kitchen. Sure. I hate to waste above everything. Um But for me anyway, I just, I like to control the salt I put in sometimes I put salt in sometimes I don't. Um again, depends on what else is going on. So I always use Unsalted. I would agree with that. I think it's really just about making sure that, you know how much salt is going into your recipe because the salt of course can affect um the end result of your baked good. You know, if you have salted butter and you're adding salt because your recipe calls for it. Um, well then that, that presents problems from a chemistry perspective. Um, um, so, yeah, if you have the opportunity to just use the, uh, unsalted butter and add your own salt, that's obviously the preferred way. Um, but I agree, uh, you know, I think sometimes you just have what you have and you throw it in and most of the time it works just fine. So great. Well, we'll move on to a slightly different topic just so we can, uh, cover a few different things today. We've got lots and lots of questions. Um, but one of the, uh, things that I love more than anything is decorating around the holiday seasons. Um, I decorate for, I would say winter, spring, summer fall, I don't, I don't do all the holidays but, um, Christmas is by far my favorite holiday to decorate for and I have a tendency to stay on the modern inside and go maybe a little bit more winter than just pure Christmas because then I can leave it up for a couple of months and not nothing twice about it. Um, but one of the questions we have in regards to decorating is, um, what are some creative ways to display cookies, um, to make them visually appealing. Any what? Hm. I really like to hang them. Um, you know, and, and, um, I was actually, I'm so inspired by our conversation here that I'm thinking about, like, I'm thinking about Alisa snowflakes hung like, um, a swag on the window. I think that could be really cool. So, that's my two cents. Um, so I actually thought of the same thing with Alicia's cookies because she has a snoop flake that has the holes inside of them. It makes it perfect for hanging, um, or even, you know, clustering them together to make a wreath that would either hang on the wall or even just a wreath decorated on a platter in the center of your table. You know, you can kind of pick off what you need at that point. I am always for trying something that's unique and different rather than just putting them flat. Uh I like to hang, I like to paste them to the wall and make you pluck them off. Um I have done all sorts of things. Um If, if I had thought of that uh question earlier, I would have uh brought a picture with me, but I have made um backgrounds out of basically like a vinyl and used royal icing to glue macarons to the wall. So, um my guests literally come in and pull them right off the wall in order to enjoy them, which is just sort of a fun and unique, different way, you know, to display your cookies. I would say more than anything. I just enjoy making them a part of my decor rather than just having like a table with all the cookies on it, which is totally fine. It's very traditional way to display your cookies. But if you look on me, um, I actually have a platter of cookies just sitting in, uh, the center here, but I have an assortment of other decor along with it. And that is, um, how I most often will display my baked goods. Now, I tend not to do that with like hot foods or cold foods, but your baked goods are a great way to incorporate them. Not only into, you know, just a beautiful display like this, but you could do it on your tablescape as well. So um we have another camera set up to show you. I just wanted to show you what you could do. Um with this, you can display your marshmallows or candies or cookies and add them, but you can also make them a place setting. So depending upon what you might be packaging, you could also make it a part of your table itself. So it's just um a great way to be able to incorporate your desserts into a sort of the setting. You could put a cookie on each plate. Um You, you could do so many different things. Um I personally love packaging as well. So why don't we talk about packaging for a moment while I have this up? But you could use either um some clear boxes or even just a regular bakery box works, but put a little bit. Um I, uh I love snowflakes as you can tell my whole house literally is snowflakes for the entire winter. Um, but Alisa's snowflake cookies, if you package them inside of a box and then attach the cookie cutter that went with it. So buy a few, right? Um, but this allows your guest if you're gifting this, um, to then remake your recipe. So you can include a recipe in the card. Um Use the cookie cutter as a little bit of a decor with your cookies on the inside and it just sort of jazzes things up a little bit and cookie cutters for the most part are really inexpensive. So it's a great way um to kind of customize a gift and just add a little extra flair. So ladies, um, do you have any other input on um Incorporated? Yes. Yes. Um Well, I mean, you guys are awesome and it's so funny. It's kind of role reversal because I think of you as the um more like smart and more scientific people, but you both went all creative on me like hanging my snowflakes and stuff. And I love this question because I didn't even think of this. But I was thinking you could make like I've made these lollipop cookies before. Oh, actually I was thinking you can make the snowflakes on the lollipop cookies and then you can put them in, you know, the jars on the table and you could even put um, you know, curls or any kind of candy on the bottom and it would be so much fun and I was real, I mean, I was so boring when I heard this question, I was like, you just wanna make sure you have an odd number because you don't want and you wanna make sure you have a beautiful cake plate or, you know, and different highs and lows. Like I'm like the most basic at answering questions, but I love you ladies and yes, make no fakes. Yes, for sure. Well, I think that's what's so great about um gathering like minds together, right? Like we all uh well, while we're all bakers and we all are decorators as well. Um It's so fun to put these types of creative minds together in one place because we all have different ideas and um as colette has said the whole piggyback snowman thing, but that's what helps creatives continue to be creative is coming together and thinking about how you might do something. Um And it sort of takes a light bulb, um you know, turns a light bulb up in your head so that you can think of as something different and go a different direction. So I love it. What about packaging? Um You know, these are, this is a traditional box, uh jazz it up with a little bit of a cookie cutter, but other ideas on packaging your cookies. One thing I wanted to say just, I'm so grateful to have actually lived this long because back when I was, I'm still a young baker. But when I was a younger baker, you could not get the packaging that we can get today. I mean, I'm sure that all of us have gone down the rabbit hole that is cake packaging and cookie packaging on Amazon. So I just wanted to say we're very, you know, grateful for that. And, um, just, um, I'm done, Alisa, I could say a lot on packaging. I could come at it from, you know, a busy mom and baker and like colette, you know, gave the intro to we're all really busy this time of year. And I think what's so great about all the different cookies you're going to learn through the 12 days is that you learn all the tips and tricks like I can make the dough way ahead of time. I can freeze the dough. I agree with you. I freeze it, you know, either baked or on or before before I bake it but not decorated. Um, I do know people who have put it in plastic bags and have decorated it and freeze it and then you just let the moisture come out on the outside. Definitely not preferable, preferable. Um, but that said, so I'm just gonna come at it with a really basic, um, tip that leave more time than you think. Ok, because everyone underestimates. So whether you're an actual baker doing this for a living, charge people to package. You have no idea how long it takes for you to wait for that cookie to cool, decorate it. Put it in. Usually if I'm doing a cookie like this, I'm cutting, um, a piece of cardboard so that if it's going in transit, um, it won't break and, um, and then it's going in a cellophane bag and then I'm cutting a ribbon and tying, that's one cookie. So, um, you know, think about that, think about who's getting the cookies. Like, is it going to a family? Ok. Well, I know my three kids don't all like the same cookies, maybe get a tin and divide it and put different cookie, but just really plan it out. Sit down, I'm a list person, you know, decide what you're baking and don't go overboard because really everyone's happy with just one cookie. Yeah. And I think too, you know, just making sure that, um, you're not overdo it and enjoying the process. So that's the main, I think when I think of holiday, uh, cooking and baking it gets overwhelming very quickly. So I love the idea of leaving some extra time but don't be afraid to keep it simplistic too. You know, you don't have to do 12 different cookies and pick three. Maybe, you know, maybe 1/4. If you get really ambitious, don't pick so many that you feel overwhelmed. And now the process is no longer enjoyable. So, um keep that in mind as you're choosing your cookies. How about you collect? I have uh just a quick tip and this is something I tell my culinary students all the time because I, I teach for a remote culinary school and they're very, they have deadlines right for their assignments that they need to submit. And so we can kind of think of like if you want to make, you want to enjoy the holidays, you wanna express your creativity. We love baking. I always say one of my taglines is baking. Makes life sweet. So this is our time to shine. But then our lives get in our way. So my suggestion and this is what I tell my students and it it it snowman's off of what ELISA said. Break down the tasks, maybe scale out or measure out your ingredients one day, make the dough the next and make, make sure, you know, and so that over a couple days you get your cookies done and it's really good psychologically even. Ok, I have my packaging ordered, maybe cut your ribbons, have everything, all Tickety Boo and then start in on the recipe. But, but I think a big mistake that we make is we, we work, work, work or get a day off. We're gonna do everything on the day off. And you know, that's when life really happens. Whereas even on a normal work day take 10 minutes to scale out your ingredients, organize your baking supplies, read through the recipe. Watch the demo again and then when you have your small window of baking time. Enjoy. Mhm. I love that. That's fantastic. And I think that's so important to, um, keeping the happiness as you are baking. Making sure, try not to, like, overset your expectations. Um, just go into the kitchen and enjoy the process. Um, that's what I tend to do and I actually, I invite my niece and her. Well, she has two little ones now but, um, I invite my niece up to, uh, make all of the holiday cookies a couple weeks before Christmas rolls around and it's always such a fun process to bring her into the kitchen. Have my son in the kitchen and really, um, just try to enjoy without being overly, you know, controlling. I, I'm a bit like, uh, like all of us. Right. We're all perfectionists if we're a baker. Um, but, uh, I tried really hard just to enjoy the process and whatever we get done we get done, you know, and if there's a cookie that doesn't get made, it's just ok. Um, if you find more time wonderful, but if not, don't stress over it. Um, one of the questions that I was excited to see is what pairs well, with baked goods. Um, I think that's often something that we overlook, right? Like we're so worried about all the cookies and the baked goods that we forget. Maybe what else we could do with it. Colette, do you have any suggestions for what you want to pair with? A baked good? Oh, just really a cup of re, well, a really good cup of coffee or a really lovely steaming cup of tea. A nice, I mean, cookies are sweet, like a, a not too sweet wine maybe. Yeah. Or maybe you guys a cold glass of milk. I, I could think of a few people who might agree with that last one there. Oh, Lisa. What do you like to pair with you? I, I also went to drinks. I was like, oh, my, this, you know, my snow flake cookies are this dark Rich. I use a dark, um, valona cocoa. Um, that pairs really well with wine. In fact, I have a little, um, get together coming up and I was, and it's at four o'clock in the afternoon and I was thinking like, what do you serve? You know, it's, it's not dinner time, it's past lunch. I'm a baker so I can't just serve like cheese and crackers. So I'm going to do some hors d'oeuvres, some cookies probably. Um, maybe some brownies. And then, yeah, I'll have a whole assortment of drinks to go with it. But I also, my husband thinks I'm strange. I very often will have sweet before savory and then I go back to sweet. So, um, I'm all good. Like having this then having some cheese and crackers and then going back, you know, it's like popcorn. Yeah. Well, I, I, um, definitely don't mind sweet and savory together. So I tend to do big charcuterie boards around this time of year because they're easy. You just put a bunch of stuff on a platter and you're done. You don't have to think about lots of extra plates and things like that. Um, but I actually really love putting cheese together with cookies. I know that that sounds really odd. I wouldn't eat them at the same time, but from a presentation perspective, there's no reason not to. Um, I have a tendency to use cookies, candies marshmallows. Um, and then I go more savory and I do some dark uh dark spiced chocolates. Um, and then some different cheeses that pair well, with either the chocolate or the cookies. Um, and there's definitely lots of uh different things like espresso beans that can be, you know, coated in chocolate that would pair nicely with your baked goods. I think it really just depends on what your baked good is. Um And if you have an assortment, you know, trying to pair that. Well, if you don't have any nut allergies to worry about, uh, obviously putting, you know, candied nuts alongside your baked goods is a great way, dried fruit. Um All of those things can really bring out not only the flavor of your cookies, but also just be a beautiful decoration and I of course, always go to beverages too. I am, I am, you know, as, as fall turns to winter, I tend to move from cider into um, hot chocolates. But uh, I, I'll go back to put a little extra spirit in your holiday and, you know, add a little extra rum or something to, to one of your favorite beverage is we have a tradition that my husband brought to. Uh the family is when they were growing up, they all had Santa mugs that they would drink hot chocolate out of on the morning of Christmas. And we kind of took that tradition. We changed it a little bit. We all have snowmen and snow ladies. So we, we definitely stuck with the tradition. But um, you know, we changed it up a little bit for our family. We all have Santa mugs as well. But um but yeah, I think, you know, it's just so fun to kind of incorporate um those different traditions. Um Now Alisa, I know you don't celebrate Christmas and that's totally fine. You have plenty to celebrate with Hanukkah. Do you have any special, like holiday, baked goods or beverages or things that you incorporate into your holiday celebrations? Yeah, so I have um, oh gosh, I have no picture but I have a lot of um you know, Hanukkah cutters from dreidel and um Jewish stars and things like that. Lots of white blue. Um We have lots of different backgrounds in my family, which is nice. And so that's probably the reason I gravitate towards snowflakes and things. So, you know, no matter what we're celebrate reading, I mean, in my house we're celebrating Hanukkah, but we go to other friends and family and love to get in the spirit with them too. Um, and of course we love hot chocolate. So I love to serve hot chocolate. And if you make the cookies with like a little slit on the side, you can have a little gingerbread cookie. Um, you know, on the side of the, the mug and I just love using cookies as a blank canvas and letting kids decorate them. And like you said, it's hard for me to let go. But um it's a great thing. So whether they're decorating snowmen, gingerbread snowflakes, just something really easy that they can add candies to sanding sugar. Um But I just find it to be a great activity. Yeah, it's a really fun activity to definitely get the kids involved in as well. And you mentioned putting that little slit in there that's called a mug hugger. And I know and one of the 12 days of Christmas or the 12 days of cookies, um is one of my mug hug that I did from last year. It's a beautiful sugar cookie decorated as a little house, sits on the mug and I love the idea of doing snowflakes or snowmen some of the other shapes were great as well. Colette, what are your traditions? Revolving? Baking? Well, Rachel. I, I have to be honest. I, I don't do a ton anymore because I've sort of, I've aged out, I'm kind of the Yoda of baking. Um, it's pretty much, I'm a society of one but I will, um, what I do traditionally and, and whether, you know, in my old family life and now as a society of one, I will gift my neighbors. I make coffee cakes, really beautiful coffee cakes like brioche dough that's braided with a gorgeous fresh cranberry filling. So I would say, I mean, I know that's veering off a little bit of cookies. But in my current season, as the podcasters like to say, I tend to uh that, that's my, that's my consistent baking tradition. Well, I love it. I would um love to be one of your neighbors to receive that because that just sounds absolutely divine. Um I, I don't take a lot of time to make brioche and some of the breads and coffee cakes. Uh So um you have my heart. Oh, excellent. If I go ahead. No, go ahead. I'm just going to put my address in the chat. So cool. I think we all might be ready to do that. It's your cranberry coffee cake. Just sounds fantastic a lot. Um I definitely um have tried my hand at some of those doughs and brioche. I love a good cinnamon roll. That's another tradition that we have uh Christmas morning. We always have fresh baked cinnamon rolls and um cookies and our, you know, Santa uh snowman mugs. Um So those are some of our traditions that we really enjoy doing every year. But um if you guys all have some traditions that you want to share, feel free to drop that in the comment section, we'd love to hear from you and what it is that you do to celebrate the holiday season, we've got about 10 more minutes. So if you have other questions, feel free to drop those in the chat box as well. And we want to make sure we're answering all of your questions too. Um What about gift giving? Because I know that that is something that we all think about. And I think in the current economy that we're in, um, there are lots of people who are trying to find slightly more inexpensive ways to gift. I think baked goods are a great way um, to show your love towards somebody as colette does for her neighbors, which is fantastic. Um, but do either of you have any, um, budget conscious, uh, type tips for our viewers in regards to gifting? Hm. I mean, I think, I don't know what colette would say. I mean, the problem is that I use the best ingredients always like, I rather have one really good cookie than 50 really bad cookies. So I mean, I won't lie. Ingredients are expensive. Now, I'm using good butter, good chocolate, good cocoa. Um, I guess what I would say is just maybe, you know, making something that is easy to, you know, get in a pan like a sheet of brownies. I bake almost all of my things that aren't round cakes. Um, on these 13 by 18 cookie jelly roll pans. Um, and then, you know, out of a pan like this, I can probably get depending on how I cut them 60 to 80 brownies, you know, if I do bite size. And I think at the end of the day, I know it sounds cheesy but people are so overwhelmed by you remembering them. Like I actually just started making a list of all the people I want to like, you know, the woman at the pharmacy that greets you with a smile and like the crossing guard at my kids' school, you know, that greets us every day no matter what the weather. I mean, who knows what time he has to get up to get there. Um So anyway, so I just feel like it's not about the quantity. It's definitely about the quality. You know, sometimes I honestly I'll just give three brownies because my kids insist that I give to everyone. So, you know, three kids times how many teachers times, you know, all the other people. So um I would just say, you know, like a good sheet cookie, um, lemon bars, something, lemon bars are kind of hard to transport, but brownies are amazing and you can infuse so many different, you know, sprinkles or any, you know, anything with them. Absolutely. And one of the places that I, um, love to visit is the Dollar Store because I'll be honest, they have some really amazing things for packaging, especially I was there, uh, during, uh, Thanksgiving time and I ended up getting these little pumpkin plates that were a dollar 25 now, but a dollar 25 each. And I was able to put a few different types of pumpkin bars and pecan bars and some brownies on one plate and wrap it up with some cellophane. And it was absolutely adorable. So it's an inexpensive way to be able to gift somebody, uh, a plate of cookies, um, that, you know, you don't have to spend 5, 1020 bucks just on a platter. Just go to the dollar store, get something that's cute. And they've got some plain stuff too, which works for any season. And I think that, um, that, that will be certainly the way that I move forward. They also have lots of cookie sheets there. They have some smaller ones that I was thinking would be super fun to like glue, like six little gingerbread men to it and wrap it and gift it. And that would, you know, they have something practical and use, um, useful at the end as well. Collage thoughts. I agree with both of you. I, I think Alisa, you're totally right. Just like a nice, beautiful little, uh cellophane bag or a little box with people. You know, everybody's really health conscious and they don't want to be overwhelmed. Oh my God, especially here in L A. Like, you know, it's really crazy. Um But uh just so you can keep it small, you can, you can. But again, people really love being thought of. So that's a savings. And then the Dollar Store, I really got schooled during the pandemic when the pandemic hit, I was, we as we all were caught off guard and my job, my day job because I've got like a million baking side hustles like you have no idea. It's crazy. But um my day job was teaching for Sir Latta at the Farmers Market, the grove here in L A which is like, it's like Disneyland. It's, it's, it's, it was, it's a, was a flagship store and we were very busy and blah, blah, blah. I was free pouring Nielsen Massey vanilla paste because they were a corporate sponsor. Like I had no idea. I was running around like not to diss Zaha Gabor, but I was like a baking Z Gabor and then the pandemic hit and there were no ingredients, there was nothing and I had to really and my job was gone. So, um in fact, the store would soon be gone. So I found the Dollar store and you just packaging and you have to keep your eyes open because sometimes they'll get stuff like one of my most favorite. Unbleached all purpose flowers from a mill in Utah. I think it's called Leigh. I find it at the dollar store. So, again, you know, we don't want to buy anything that's substandard. I totally agree with Alisa. Our ingredients reflect our, um, our ref reflect our finished product, but I have found a blue diamond almond flour from macarons. Really good Lily's chips, which are pretty interesting. G deli, you just, you just, you know, we all have that favorite dollar store. I would guess many of us do just just keep your eyes open because you never know. Absolutely. And um, as I mentioned with, you know, packaging from packaging to ingredients, to ribbons, to anything that you can think of. I mean, it's a great place to find some of those items that you might be able to find somewhere else and certainly not as cheap either. But, um, don't, I guess bottom line is, don't sacrifice your quality for quantity. Um, try to give as many as you can, but keep in mind that everybody is receiving lots of baked goods this time of year. So don't feel as though you need to send this huge platter. I love the idea of just a couple of cookies packaged up pretty maybe through a cookie cutter or something. On there for them. Um, just as a little extra special note or uh print off a beautiful little recipe card with their name on the back and their, their recipe on the front and it's just a great gift. Um, I have a tendency to look for fun little things. Um, and I found uh these, these are, were only a dollar, literally. It's a little, you know, it's a cute little, um, gifting sack is the way that I say it, but it's multi purpose because of course, it's an oven mitt. You can use it as a trivet. Um But I like to find a little wooden spoon. Um You can put a recipe card inside. Um You could also uh premeasure all the ingredients for a recipe. That's a great inexpensive way um to be able to uh gift somebody something that's thoughtful still. Um but not um not overly expensive. I know good ingredients are expensive. You can still do that and, and just portion things out so they can make one recipe worth so lots of great ideas. Um But we've got only a couple of minutes and I wanna really wanna take that time to say. Um First of all, make sure you sign up for our 12 days of cookie recipes that will hit your box starting December 1st. You are gonna get 12 different recipes throughout uh those uh few days and it is just a fantastic collection of all sorts of different cookies and cinnamon rolls and um, different decorative style uh, cookies versus things that are just full of flavor. So it's a nice variety of a few different cookies. And, um, it, I really hope that you all right. Sign up for it. Don't miss it. I promise you will not be disappointed. I saw all of the cookies that are gonna be included in that, um, collection for you and they're all just fantastic. Remember too that next week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the three of us will be going live for our individual demos of those cookies. So please make sure you check the chat box. I saw all the links get posted in there. Don't miss any one of those because I know as just as we were today, we're all packed full of tips and tricks for the holidays and for baking and for presentations. And I know that both Alisa and Collette are gonna just, um, knock your socks off with their cookies and their tips and trips. Trick ticks. Oh boy, I got a little time died there, but there's also the tips and tricks that we'll all be sharing with you. And of course, we thank you all so much for joining us, especially Alisa and Colette. Thank you both for being here. I just adore the two of you and we are all just packed full of so much knowledge and I I'm just thrilled that that both of you were able to be a part of our joint um uh between uh creative Peek design and crafty. Uh pulling this together for all of you at home to be able to be here with us. So, thank you again to our uh lovely ladies as well as everyone who was able to be here for us. Any closing remarks, ladies, just please don't forget to join us next week for our demos. Thank you so much for having me be a part of this. It was, it was, it was just great. You guys are awesome. Yay. Happy day. Let the baking begin. Yes. You know the season it is time. Get those, um, get those recipes and start baking. I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and thank you again for joining us and we'll see you soon.