The Five Days of BAKE-Mas!

IT'S TWO DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

By the time you read this, it will probably be too late for you to use this idea this year, but I wanted it to be out there!

The last week of school was secret santa time at my school. The survey we were given to fill out was NOT very helpful, so I took matters into my own hands by doing something I called "The Five Days of Bake-mas." Basically, I committed myself to baking something different each night. The ingredients added up to the daily price points, and I felt like it was better than a cheap little $5 gift each day and a $20 gift the last day. I put a lot of effort into each thing I baked, and I just hoped my secret santa did too!

Feel free to copy/steal/borrow my ideas - that's why I'm posting them. I put a link to each recipe so you can make them too! Also at the bottom is a link to get the labels I used for each day. They aren't editable, but if you know how to manipulate them feel free!

Day #1: Spritz Cookies!

I'd had my Spritz cookie gun thingy sitting on the top shelf of my baking cabinet for forever, and thought little Christmas trees would be a nice start to bakemas. I just used the recipe that came with my cookie gun (what is it even called??), but you can use pretty much any recipe for Spritz cookies. Here is the one I used from the package of mine:

Classic Spritz Cookies

• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. 
2. In medium bowl, combine flour and baking powder.
3. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg, milk, and extracts; mix well.
5. Add flour mixture; mix well.
6. Fill cookie press (so THATS what it's called...) with dough and fit with desired disks; press cookies onto ungreased cookie sheet. Do not use with parchment paper (the key is that when the cookies come out of the gun, you WANT them to stick to the surface. They shouldn't stick after they're baked though :) ).
7. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheet; remove to cooling rack and cool completely.

Makes 7-8 dozen cookies.

If I remember correctly, I THINK I cut the recipe in half (that was fun with 1 egg...). I wanted to dye the dough green for the trees, but I didn't have any. So I added red, white, and green "ball" sprinkles from the dollar section of Target. I really loved the way it came out, and will definitely do that again!

The sprinkles I used from the $ section of Target

My sprinkles. So cute :)

I put the cookies in a "Chinese Food" container I got from Target - you can get a pack of 5. I only put maybe a dozen since I was going to be baking all week. I didn't want to give her a huge amount each day and overwhelm/sugar her. I gave the rest to my boyfriend to take with him to work. Then I printed the label and taped it on the closed box. It was ready to sneak into her mailbox on Monday!

Day 2: Chocolate Chip Cookies

My family has had a secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies that I almost didn't post here.... except that it's not that much of a secret. Because it's actually just the recipe from the package of Crisco. here is a link to the recipe I used. I usually use a *hint* more of salt, which really makes them extra tasty because they're sweet and salty. These are super tasty and addicting, so I'm really glad I gave the rest to Brandon to take to work again (he was the office hero that week, ha ha ha). I also undercook them just slightly so that they are more chewy. SO good.

I put them in another kind of box that I got in a 3-pack from Target (they have an AWESOME Christmas section. All of the boxes came from the baking part of the Christmas section), stuck the label on and was ready to go!

Side note: I also baked the "balls" for the cake pops the next day on this night

Day 3: Skinny Cake Pops!!

These. Are. To. Die. For. Seriously. SO good. And they are skinny (like 150 calories or less). I got the recipe here from my favorite "Skinny Cooking" blog. Here are a few tips that I found after making these.

The weekend before I did a practice run because these looked a little difficult, and I'm glad I did. It really let me learn what worked and didn't work so that I could make them look much nicer for my Secret Santa.

The balls from my practice run!

Also, I just used the same sprinkles as I did from the Spritz cookies on Monday!

Tips:

1. Get two (or more) of the Nordic Ware cake pop pans. That way you only have to make two rounds and not 4, because it's a pain in the butt! Target (sadly) didn't have them, but I found mine at Walmart!
2. Buy another can of non-stick spray. Because you will use up a lot of yours.
3. Spray the pans A LOT. Because it likes to stick!
4. Check the package of cake mix - make sure it's close to 16.5, because not all of them are!
5. Buy 3 - 4 styrofoam blocks. The recipe makes 48 + cake balls, and if you plan on making all of them and not wasting any batter, you will be glad you did.
6. The Nordic Ware pans each come with a few cake-pop sticks, but you may need more! I got some really long ones at Target (Christmas baking section again), but you can also get some at your local craft store in their baking section. You'll need around 50!
7. Get actual chocolate melts, not baking chocolate. This was the biggest pain in the butt for me was dipping the balls. I followed the directions exactly and it still didn't get melty enough. I found that Wilton's Candy Melts worked best for me (from Michael's). It still didn't get melty enough, so I followed their directions and added some canola oil and stirred to make it more melty. It adds calories, but it works much better. And yes, you will need 3-4 bags for a full recipe!

   

   The melts I used

8. These helped me A LOT. I didn't have these for my practice run, and when I saw these after for my "real round", they saved me a lot of time. Again, they are in the baking section of Michael's, near the cake pop sticks.

   

   Short Dipping Containers

9. It's a nice touch to add little packages. These were at Michael's by the cake pop sticks. It came with 50 baggies, and I had to hunt down the colorful twist ties. They were still in the baking section, but where all the baked goods gift containers are. The baggies make it a little neater for the giftee, and easier to share. People can grab one and save it for later if they want, because it's nice and protected in it's little bag :)
   
10. No patience, like me? After dipping and sprinkling, pop them in the freezer for a few minutes until the chocolate is no longer sticky before wrapping in their packages!

After I was FINALLY done with these guys, I put as many as I could in the same box from the chocolate chip cookies. I added the label, taped the box, and was ready to go! Again, the boyfriend took the rest to work.

According to my bf, these were gone before 9 am at work. They are SO good. Later my secret santa said the same thing: These were the best thing all week! SO worth the hassle!

Day 4: Oreo Mascarpone Cookies

Omg. I LOVED these. I doubled the recipe because I didn't think it would make a lot, but I probably didn't need to. When I doubled them, I accidentally used half of the butter called for, but these still turned out irresistibly delicious, so if I make them again, I will probably still half the butter to get rid of some fat. You can find the recipe here. I just used regular Oreos, but I bet these would be great with double-stuffed or some other kind of crazy Oreos they have now!

As always, I stuck them in the last box I had from Target, taped it closed, and taped on the tag. One more night to go! Which was good, because I started coming down with a weird virus from my kiddos, starting with tummy pains and an ulcer in my mouth :(

Day 5: Popcorn!

One useful tip that survey DID give me was that my secret santa likes popcorn. So on the day of the big reveal, I gave her two different kinds of tasty popcorn.

Sweet N' Salty Christmas Crunch

Find the recipe for Sweet N' Salty Christmas Crunch here. I made a half recipe and it was still a lot!

Oreo Popcorn

I already had Oreos from the other day, so I used more of them here! I made a full recipe for this one since 1 bag of my popcorn made more than the 5 cups it asks for! Click here to get the recipe!

I used two of the Chinese Food-like containers from the first day of Bake-mas and taped them together. Then I stuck the label in between. I was FINALLY done, and my boyfriend had two huge things of the popcorn to take with him to work. It was less popular since it's harder to take and go, and we are still eating it at home.

All in all, my secret santa said she loved having new things to eat every day! Not sure if I'll do it again next year since the person might know who did it... but we'll see, since I really enjoyed trying all of these recipes! 

To get a free copy of all of the labels I used, click here! I don't have editable ones as of right now, but if you're interested, let me know!

Have a great Christmas! I'd love to see pictures if anyone tries this!

Until next time...Mischief Managed