General Discussion

Hey, so while I know I could just google this and scroll mindlessly through listicles with 50 pictures of gingerbread and cakes, I'm wondering if I could get any advice, stories, or personal insight over here.

I (an amateur baker) was planning to bake some brownies and chocolate chip cookies to tack on to some gifts this Christmas, but they seem a bit plain to be honest. Does anyone have better suggestions? Favourite things to bake in general (that also happen to be reasonably transportable and won't fall apart in a tupperware box)?

Preferably recipes that don't require a mixer, as I don't have one :')

Oh, and don't worry, covid has died down where I live, so it seems very likely that we will be able to visit family/have gatherings.

This is a really simple one, but I've always found chocolate-dipped pretzel sticks to be a hit :)

If you're looking for something holiday-themed, Oreo snowballs are also really tasty! These are crushed Oreos + cream cheese rolled into a ball and coated with melted white chocolate. I think they definitely qualify as easy to transport!

despite having a stand mixer, i prefer doing things by hand... you gotta Feel the dough. but i also mainly make bread so

i make these matcha white chocolate chip cookies around christmas/new year's! very easy but a little fancier than chocolate chip. not everyone likes matcha, though, which is fair. it's a very assertive flavor

another option is biscotti!! it's really easy to make in bulk, easy to transport, and you can fancy it up by dipping/drizzling chocolate on it. add some citrus zest or extract to the dough to flavor it. throw in whatever nuts/dried fruits you feel like. very versatile. i personally really like pistachio + craisins with a little lemon extract/zest in the dough. there's tons of recipes out there. find a flavor you like and go wild

CHOCOLATE CRINKLE COOKIES! This is a good recipe.

My mom makes a spiced tea mix every year that can be packaged into little Mason jars or something of that ilk and given as gifts:

Then you can take the last part (3 teaspoons per mug of hot water) and write it all nice on a little gift tag and put on the jar.

Dress up your brownies!

Depending on if you've flavored your brownie (orange zest, almond, peppermint, tahini, chili) try a complimentary candy coating. Those candy melts or you could temper some chocolate (yeah, I buy the melts, too) make a great dip/coating for bite-sized brownies. Depending on your level of hand-eye coordination once dipped and set on waxed paper to cool you can sprinkle or otherwise decorate them with colored sugar, chopped nuts or random candy you have.

My favorite so far is a simple white candy melt over brownies made with some orange zest topped with candied orange peel.

Dress up a chocolate chip cookie with chopped toffee bits almonds or do a chocolate chip cookie bar and use cookie cut-outs to make shapes to decorate like sugar cookies. Choose fairly sturdy shapes since the chocolate chips make them a bit crumbly and prone to breaking apart.

@kragnes Oh mY GOODNESS someone else who is FINALLY aware of these amazing creations!! I bake these every Christmas with my mom and they're my favorite just aahhhh-


I Second this opinion of chocolate crinkles being the perfect holiday cookie

every christmas i make these norwegian christmas butter squares! they're basically just super rich sugar cookie bars and they're really really good and easy to make! just don't overbake them because they tend to get really hard.

also you really can't go wrong with decorated sugar cookies!! i love doing weird decoration stuff with christmas sprinkles. personally i love the premade frosting from the baking aisle of my grocery store but making your own frosting isn't hard!

@huskimoon02 Yes! Chocolate crinkle cookies are my favorite cookies of all time, but they are sorely underrated.