Simply Kenny

My plan for testing, baking, and freezing Christmas cookies before baby #2 arrives.

Welcome to the chaos! ♡

Christmas baking in October? Yep, that’s where we’re at this year!

Between entering my third trimester, chasing around a toddler, preparing for baby girl, and keeping up with everyday life, I’ve decided that getting a head start on Christmas is probably one of the best things I can do for myself this year.

I love making homemade Christmas cookies, and I have a habit of wanting to try way more recipes than I realistically have time for. This year, I’ve already gathered around 50 recipes, printed them out, stocked up on baking ingredients, and officially started working my way through them!

But my goal isn’t just to bake a ridiculous number of cookies.

It’s to make December a little less hectic so I can spend more time enjoying the Christmas season with my toddler instead of feeling like I need to be in the kitchen every day.

And because I’m trying to be intentional about the ingredients we use, getting organized ahead of time is especially important.

So here’s how I’m planning, baking, and freezing our Christmas cookies this year.

Step 1: Gathering Around 50 Christmas Cookie Recipes

The first thing I did was start collecting Christmas cookie recipes.

And by collecting, I mean I ended up with around 50 recipes!

I know, I know. That’s a lot of cookies.

But I love having options, and there are so many recipes I want to try that I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to start building a collection of our favorites.

I printed out all the recipes so I could keep everything together and have them ready whenever I find time to bake.

I also wanted a way to keep track of which recipes we actually love, so I’m planning to rate each one after making and tasting it.

That way, I’ll know which cookies are worth making again, which ones might need a few adjustments, and which ones just aren’t our favorites.

Eventually, I’d love to have a collection of tried-and-true Christmas cookie recipes that I can pull out year after year.

I’m not necessarily expecting to make every single recipe this Christmas season, especially with baby girl on the way. But having everything printed and organized means I can choose what sounds good whenever I have the time and energy.

And who knows? Maybe we’ll discover a few new family Christmas traditions along the way.

Step 2: Planning Ahead for Ingredients That Meet Our Standards

One thing I’ve learned about trying to eat as cleanly as possible is that it takes extra planning, especially when it comes to baking.

Finding ingredients that meet my standards at a regular grocery store can be surprisingly difficult.

I can’t always walk into a store and find the exact flour, chocolate chips, sugars, or other baking ingredients I’m looking for.

I prefer to use organic ingredients whenever possible, and I’m intentional about checking ingredient labels and choosing products that align with how we want to feed our family.

That often means researching products, comparing ingredients, and ordering certain things ahead of time rather than grabbing whatever happens to be available locally.

And when you’re planning to make a whole bunch of Christmas cookies, that becomes even more important!

The last thing I want is to get halfway through a recipe only to realize I’m missing something that I can’t easily find at the grocery store.

That’s one of the reasons I started by gathering my recipes.

Once I had a good idea of what I wanted to bake, I could look through the ingredients, figure out what I needed, and make a plan to stock up.

For me, preparing ahead isn’t just about saving time. It’s also about making it easier to stick with the ingredient choices that matter to our family without making every baking day more complicated than it needs to be.

Step 3: Stocking Up on Christmas Baking Ingredients From Azure Standard

Once I had my recipes printed and organized, the next step was making sure I had the ingredients to actually start baking.

So I placed an order through Azure Standard.

If you’ve been following along with Simply Kenny, you’ll probably be seeing plenty more Azure Standard hauls around here because it’s one of the places I like to look for ingredients for our from-scratch cooking and baking.

For this order, I focused heavily on Christmas baking essentials.

I stocked up on things like:

• Different types of flour, including all-purpose, bread, and pastry flour
• Chocolate chips
• Cocoa wafers
• Cane sugar
• Brown sugar
• Powdered sugar
• Coconut
• Ceylon cinnamon
• Apple pie spice
• Other baking and pantry staples

Having these ingredients on hand makes everything so much easier.

Instead of having to make another grocery trip every time I want to try a recipe, I can look through my printed recipes, choose one, and hopefully already have most of what I need.

And because we do so much cooking and baking from scratch, these ingredients won’t just be sitting around waiting for Christmas.

Plenty of them will get used for everyday meals, snacks, and baking throughout the year.

I also picked up a few other pantry staples and ingredients we were running low on for our homemade chicken feed, but the baking ingredients were definitely the focus of this particular stock-up.

Step 4: Starting My Christmas Cookie Baking Early

Now comes the fun part!

I’ve officially started baking, and my first recipe is already finished.

My plan is to make at least one Christmas cookie recipe each week leading up to the holidays, although I’m leaving myself plenty of flexibility.

Some weeks I might feel like making more than one recipe, and other weeks I might not feel like baking at all.

And that’s okay.

The whole point of starting early is to take some of the pressure off, not create another overwhelming to-do list.

I want to enjoy the process of trying new recipes, experimenting with ingredients, and finding cookies we genuinely love.

And since I’ve printed all my recipes, I can keep track of how each one turns out.

I’m planning to rate the cookies based on how much we like them, whether I’d make them again, and eventually how well they hold up after being frozen.

Hopefully, by the time Christmas rolls around, we’ll have a nice variety of homemade cookies ready to enjoy without having to make everything at once.

My First Recipe: Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

The first recipe I decided to try was Peanut Butter Stuffed Chocolate Cookies from Stephanie’s Sweets.

And they were so good!

I made them using all organic ingredients and ended up tweaking the original recipe a little along the way.

That’s another reason I like printing my recipes. I can make notes directly on the pages about any adjustments I make, how the cookies turn out, and what I might want to do differently next time.

These cookies were definitely a promising start to my Christmas baking project.

I’ve already put them in the freezer, so now we’ll have to wait until Christmas to see how well they hold up.

I haven’t tested how they taste after being frozen for several weeks yet, so I don’t want to say for sure that they’re a perfect make-ahead cookie.

But that’s part of the fun of this whole project!

I’m not just trying recipes to see whether they’re good fresh out of the oven. I also want to figure out which ones are worth making ahead and freezing for future Christmas seasons.

I’ll be keeping track as I go so I can share which recipes end up being our favorites.

Step 5: Freezing Our Christmas Cookies for December

Rather than trying to make everything fresh during Christmas week, I’m planning to freeze as many of our cookies ahead of time as I reasonably can.

Depending on the recipe, some cookies might be better frozen after baking, while others might work better if I freeze the dough and bake them closer to Christmas.

I’m going to take it recipe by recipe.

The goal is to have a variety of homemade cookies available when we want them without needing to spend hours baking during an already busy season.

I’m also being intentional about how I’m storing everything.

We try to avoid using unnecessary plastic, but I also don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars buying glass containers just to store cookies in the freezer for a few months.

So I’ve been figuring out a more practical, budget-friendly way to freeze our cookies while still keeping our preferences in mind.

I’m planning to share a separate post about how I’m actually storing and freezing everything because I know I’m probably not the only person trying to balance those things.

For now, I’m just excited to start building up our Christmas cookie stash!

Why I’m Doing This During My Third Trimester

Pregnancy with a toddler is a little different from pregnancy when you can rest whenever you want.

Between keeping up with our toddler, everyday homemaking, caring for our animals, and preparing for baby girl, there’s already plenty to do.

And as much as I love Christmas baking, I know I’m probably not going to have the same energy in December that I have right now.

The further along I get in my pregnancy, the more I expect I’ll want to slow down.

So rather than waiting until the last minute and trying to make everything happen in a couple of weeks, I’d rather take advantage of the time and energy I have now.

Making one batch of cookies here and there feels so much more manageable than planning several full days of baking right before Christmas.

And if I don’t end up making as many recipes as I’d originally hoped, that’s okay too.

At least I’ll have gotten a head start.

Making More Time for Christmas With My Toddler

Honestly, this is probably the biggest reason I’m doing all of this.

Our toddler is at such a fun age for Christmas, and I want to make the most of it.

I want to decorate, do Christmas activities, look at lights, watch holiday movies, and enjoy all those little moments that make the season special.

I don’t want to look back on December and feel like I spent the whole month worrying about everything I still needed to get done.

Especially with baby girl on the way, I want to be intentional about making time for our toddler and enjoying this season together.

And while I absolutely still want to bake some cookies in December, I’d rather have those be the fun, cozy baking days we choose to have instead of something I feel pressured to squeeze in.

I want Christmas music playing, homemade treats in the oven, and our toddler getting to be part of the fun.

Not me rushing through five different cookie recipes because I waited until the last minute.

If doing a little extra preparation in October and November gives us more time for those memories in December, then it’s absolutely worth it to me.

I’m Still Planning to Bake During Christmas

Just because I’m starting early doesn’t mean I’m trying to finish every single Christmas task before December.

I still love baking during the holidays.

There’s something about having Christmas music playing, the house smelling like fresh cookies, and spending a cozy afternoon in the kitchen that I don’t want to give up.

I’m just trying to take away the pressure of needing to do all the baking during those few weeks.

Having cookies already in the freezer means I can choose when I want to bake instead of feeling like I have to.

And if we’re busy enjoying Christmas activities, spending time together, or simply having a slower day at home, I won’t have to worry about falling behind on my baking plans.

That’s exactly what I’m hoping to accomplish this year.

A More Relaxed Christmas Season

This year, I’m trying to be a little more intentional about preparing ahead.

I’ve gathered around 50 Christmas cookie recipes, printed them out, stocked up on organic baking ingredients from Azure Standard, and officially started testing and freezing cookies.

There’s still plenty left to do, but I’m excited to see how everything comes together.

I’m hoping to discover some new favorite recipes, build a collection of Christmas cookies we love, and figure out which ones freeze well enough to make ahead year after year.

But more than anything, I’m hoping that a little extra preparation now means a slower, more enjoyable Christmas season later.

Because at the end of the day, it’s not really about how many different cookies I manage to make.

It’s about enjoying the holidays, making memories with our toddler, and getting ready for the next chapter of our family with baby girl.

And if I can do all of that while still having a freezer full of homemade Christmas cookies?

I’d call that a win.

Love, Kenny ♡