A Christmas Baking Day and Homemade Cookie Boxes
Spend a cozy Christmas baking day in the kitchen with us as we make homemade cookie gift boxes for teachers filled with sugar cookies, soft gingerbread cookies, peppermint brownie cookies, and salted caramels. Easy ideas, family friendly tips, and all the equipment linked.
Every year I get the itch to do a big holiday baking day, and this season I finally committed to it. We made cookie gift boxes for our teachers and school community, and it turned into one of my favorite days of the whole season. Nothing fancy, just lots of sugar, sprinkles, kids in aprons, and a kitchen that looked like Christmas exploded by noon.
I grew up with a mom who used to cover the counters in newspaper and wax paper and let all eight of us kids go wild with decorating. The cookies were messy and hilarious, but they always tasted like Christmas to me. I love recreating a little bit of that magic with my own kids. Except now I try to stay slightly more organized. Slightly.
Below is how our whole cookie box day went, start to finish. You can follow this guide step by step, or watch my full baking day on my Holiday Cookie Box Marathon video. It was casual and chaotic in the best way, and everything we made fit perfectly into the gift boxes I ordered from Amazon.
Starting the Day With Sugar Cookies
We kicked things off with classic sugar cookies using the recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction. The kids love this one because they get to help with every step. I doubled the batch and used my stand mixer with paddle attachment (Ankarsrum) to cream the butter and sugar.
We rolled the dough between parchment sheets using my adjustable rolling pin with measuring discs, which guarantees the dough is the same thickness every time. Highly recommend if you bake with kids.
After rolling out a few sheets, we stacked everything on a sheet pan and popped it into the fridge to chill. While those cooled, we moved on to recipe two.
Soft Gingerbread Cookies With Maple Glaze
These soft ginger bread meets molasses cookies were such a hit and honestly so simple to make. We followed the recipe from Pinch of Yum, and the girls helped with everything from creaming the butter and sugar to cracking the egg and scooping the dough with our big cookie scooper. The dough turned this deep amber color and the whole kitchen smelled incredible.
I love a ginger cookie that is not overly spiced and does not turn into a rock the next day. These stay soft, which makes them perfect for a cookie box.
For the glaze, we melted butter, added maple syrup and milk, then whisked in powdered sugar until it reached that perfect dip and drizzle consistency. We dipped each cookie halfway and topped them with the cutest sprinkle mix from Amazon that has tiny ginger bread men.
Cutting Out and Baking All the Sugar Cookies
Once chilled, the sugar cookie dough was super easy to cut. We used a variety of cookie cutters. The kids were in charge, which meant we had everything from perfect snowflakes to slightly questionable gingerbread men, and honestly it made the day better.
We kept rolling scraps together and re-rolling until we used every bit.
Royal Icing Time
Just like my mom used to do, we made big bowls of royal icing, added food coloring, and set up a decorating station across the whole table. I covered everything with parchment paper because I didn’t have newspaper on hand.
This icing recipe also came from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I mixed it in my stand mixer and divided it into bowls. The kids went wild decorating and mixing colors. We had a few questionable color disasters (like the time we attempted “brown” and got something very much not brown), but it all worked out.
Peppermint Brownie Cookies
These were my favorite cookie of the whole day. They’re chocolatey, fudgy, and topped with white chocolate and crushed peppermint. I’m sharing the full recipe in a separate post that you can grab here: Fudgy Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
I made these in two sizes: big dramatic cookies and cute tiny ones using a tablespoon. If you are making the mini versions, I would suggest only baking these for 10 minutes. After baking, I gently pressed the tops with a spatula and iced them with a festive almond bark drizzle and candy cane pieces. These are the perfect Christmas cookie!
Homemade Salted Caramels
I wanted something extra cozy and nostalgic to add to our cookie boxes this year, so we tried homemade salted caramels for the first time. We used the caramel recipe from Americas Test Kitchen, and it turned out so well. It does feel a little like a science experiment, so a reliable thermometer makes a big difference. I linked two options below, one that is more of a splurge and one that is budget friendly:
ThermoWorks Thermapen ONE
Taylor Stainless Steel Candy and Deep Fry Thermometer
Ingredients
Their recipe makes about 50 caramels, and the ingredients are simple:
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 1/2 teaspoons flaky sea salt
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
Instructions
To start, we split the vanilla bean, scraped out the seeds, and warmed it with the cream, butter, and 1 tsp of the salt. Once it reached a gentle boil, we covered it and let it steep. While that rested, we prepared an 8 inch square pan with a parchment sling so the caramel would lift out easily later. Grease the parchment paper.
In another pan, we combined the corn syrup and water, then poured the sugar right into the center. The key is to let it cook without stirring. It melts, turns a pale golden color around 300 degrees, then deepens to a rich amber at about 350.
Once it reached that stage, we took it off the heat and slowly added the warm cream mixture. It bubbles up quite a bit, so pour carefully. Then it went back on the heat until it reached 248 degrees, which gives that soft chewy texture you want. When it was ready, we poured it into the pan, smoothed the top, sprinkled the remaining salt, and let it cool before chilling it in the fridge.
Once firm, it lifted right out of the pan and cut into clean little squares. We wrapped each piece in waxed paper and added them to the cookie boxes. They looked adorable and tasted incredible.
Packing the Cookie Boxes
The next day we were rested and ready to assemble everything. I used simple brown cookie gift boxes from Amazon and added the parchment sheets and thank you stickers that came with them.
Each box got a mix of:
• Sugar cookies
• Gingerbread cookies
• Peppermint brownie cookies
• Homemade caramels
Nothing too fancy, but everything made with love. The kids packed and labeled the boxes themselves, which made the whole thing even sweeter. My kids cannot wait to give these to their teachers!
Wrapping Up
By the end of this project, my feet were tired, my kitchen was a disaster, and I was completely content. We ended with warm bread and cozy lentil stew, Christmas movies, and a slow quiet night at home. These are the little moments I hope my kids remember.
If you want to try a cookie box day of your own, I linked all the equipment in my Amazon storefront for you to easily grab! If you make cookie boxes this year, please tag me so I can see all the delicious cookies!
The full video of my Christmas cookie baking day can be found below!
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