Less & More: The WFH Mom Edit

Because nothing is more relaxing than covering my kitchen in sprinkles and sugar, apparently…

With the inevitable merry meltdowns in mind, I told myself it is super important to make time for the things I WANT to do….and I wanted to make a ton of cookies. I wanted to make a ton of different recipes and gift them to our amazing neighbors and my husband’s coworkers. Every year I say I’ll do it and I allow the hustle and bustle of the season to push it to the backburner. As a former Mrs. Fields cookie slinger – my job through high school and most of college! – I know that cookies are so much fun and I look forward to baking things even when I’m super busy.

Here’s the thing, baking is legit relaxing. Just me? This October article from Better Homes & Gardens hits the nail – baking feels like self care to me and the best part for me is being able to share the goods at the end (I actually can’t even have gluten so I am here for the smells). Packaging everything up in cute tins and “ding dong ditching” our neighbors was so much fun and we spread a little bit of holiday cheer. A while back I found myself making a weekly habit of buying bananas on sale and making a loaf of banana bread (more on that later cause I’ve made some wild banana breads now). I love gifting those to people year round and it is something I enjoy doing in between the busy busy of my usual day.

As I dust the flour from my shoulders and shake the sugar out of my hair, here are the top cookie recipes that made it to the plate during Christmas Cookiefest 2024.

I wound up making TEN different types of cookies over the course of a day and it was so relaxing but, also, can someone else clean my oven and deep clean my floors now?

1. Peppermint Oreo Chocolate Chip – I know peppermint isn’t for everyone but I love peppermint and Oreo together. Smash them up and add to chocolate chip cookies? Ooof. So decadent and minty good.

2. Christmas Crinkle Cookies – These are SO easy and festive! My kids love helped when I let them and you can change up the colors for the season.

3. Christmas Gooey Butter Cookies – My youngest is obsessed with gooey butter cake. OBSESSED. So I tried this gooey butter cookie recipe and he said it tastes just like the real thing.

4. Sugar Cookie Bars – Easy and cute. I love to make cookie cakes and bars because you can add cute sprinkles and icing decorations. My husband ate about 1092092 of them.

5. Snowballs – A holiday twist on Italian cookies! I used walnuts, mostly because that’s what I had on hand.

6. M&M Sugar Cookies – Have I mentioned enough times yet that I worked at Mrs. Fields? If not, I worked at Mrs. Fields. We made the most delicious sugar cookies with these big crackly M&Ms on top. These felt nostalgic and, pro tip, warm them up before you eat em for the crackly, melty chocolate goodness.

7. Candy Cane Chocolate Thumbprints – My oldest loves thumbprint cookies so I made a candy cane version for him. He has a plan to make some for Christmas day and incorporate egg nog…may the force be with us both when we make those.

8. Oatmeal Chocolate Chip – Y’all, these aren’t Christmas cookies but my husband asked me to make them so many times I was like, “Fine! I already have all the ingredients! Also, that sounds very delicious!”

9. Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies – Same as above. Also, I love ET so my kids were VERY excited for this one and I wanted to have something peanut buttery in our gifting tins.

10. Christmas Snickerdoodles – A simple, cinnamon sugar classic. I usually make giant snickerdoodles but opted to make them bite sized. They’d be perfect for dunking in coffee.

I love to bake and cook all the time and save lots of great recipes over on Pinterest if you want to follow along. Now that I’ve scratched my baking itch for at least a few weeks, what are your favorite cookie recipes to make during Christmastime or year round??

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