Earlier this week I told you about attending the Auction in Colonial Williamsburg and how much fun we had. And how my friend June got the cutest little cooking utensils and gingerbread mixes for her nieces Caroline, Ella and Morgan.
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She got three bags and each bag came with a little muslin bag filled with child size wooden spoons, spatulas and a rolling pin. So, needless to say, we had to make Gingerbread Cookies at June’s this year and we had a wonderful time!
The Saturday before Christmas we arrived at June’s and started baking. Keith and I made Christmas M&M Cookies before the girls got there and when they arrived, their Mom Denise wanted to make some chocolate chip cookies, a favorite of theirs.
I love how Morgan decided it was still OK to wear her Halloween pumpkin shirt.
Caroline and Morgan were all about helping. They helped put all the ingredients in the bowl.
Morgan and Ella wanted to help measure, too, but luckily Denise made sure everything was measured out correctly.
Baking with two five year olds and a three year old was entertaining.
Caroline was intent on watching everything get mixed up. After Denise got her dough ready we started baking the Chocolate Chip cookies. We had an assembly line going. My friend and their Cousin Betsy and I were baking the cookies while Aunt June got everything ready for the girls to make their Gingerbread cookies.
The mixes were perfect for the girls because all the dry ingredients were in the bag, they just added milk and maybe an egg or two, I think. Keith helped get everyone’s mix in the bowl.
Once he got everyone’s mix in their bowls, he started showing them how to put on eye black (like baseball and softball players do) with the mix.
You take a finger and dip it in the flour mix…
And then you wipe it under your eyes to keep the sun out.
Well Ella decided she wanted a smiley face on Keith’s forehead. She did a really good job.
Keith is such a good sport.
Now it was time to mix it all up. Caroline commented that this was messy.
Very messy.
Ella didn’t mind getting messy.
And you didn’t have to tell Morgan twice. She was all in!
After everything got mixed together it was time to roll out the dough. Everyone’s little rolling pins came in handy at this point. Keith helped Morgan with rolling out her dough.
Caroline rolling out her dough.
Ella had a little issue with her dough rolling around her pin. So she added a little flour.
A lot of flour.
Then it was time to cut out the cookies.
Morgan liked the bear cookie cutter.
Ella liked the reindeer.
Caroline was the first to actually use a gingerbread man cookie cutter.
The girls really enjoyed making their own cookies.
They made all kinds of shapes and styles.
In between baking trays of cookies, Cousin Betsy kept everything cleaned up.
With three batches of Gingerbread Cookie Dough, there were lots of trays of cookies to bake.
The girls were great. They really did most of the work themselves, but they had about 2 adults each to help if they needed it.
And after the cookies were baked and cooled it was time to decorate them.
Aunt June thought of everything. She had googlie eyes, holly leaves, candy canes….
Marshmallows, frosting, icing….
Sprinkles, you name it! And everything was in cute little jars or dishes for each girl to have her own decorating station.
The actual frosting of the cookies was done by the adults, but the decorating was all Caroline, Ella and Morgan.
Ella was so precise in her placement of decorations. She even did some of the icing herself. The little tubes of icing were perfect for little hands.
Morgan liked adding eyes to her Christmas Trees.
The girls were very specific about their cookies and what went on each one.
Most had multiple kinds of decor. We don’t do anything plain in this group.
Ella was so proud of her Gingerbread Man!
Here Caroline is working on her batch. Notice the pink “C” that she has? Denise made sure each girl had their own initial letter. And of course Caroline’s had to be pink!
Didn’t they do a great job?
We have some artistic little girls in this group. We were going to make Sugar Cookies but after three batches of Gingerbread Cookies the girls were pretty much done with baking and we did not want to push our luck. But, it just so happens that Santa came early for June’s husband Bill!
His present was delivered to the driveway!
Here is my reflection selfie. Pretty shiny new toy, huh?
And it only took the girls a second to hop on.
Do you think they wanted to go for a ride?
I know Ella was ready. We had a great day at June’s making memories while baking with the girls. I think this will become a tradition for June. I cannot wait until next year!
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