This post has been sponsored by Challenge Butter. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
This is my favorite time of the year. Connecting with loved ones, getting into the holiday spirit and making fun and delicious holiday desserts to share and enjoy with everyone. Baking for others is something that I love to do and now that my daughter is old enough, it’s a tradition that we do and enjoy every year together. For my holiday baking, I always head to the dairy aisle at my local Albertsons to pick up Challenge Salted Butter & Challenge Unsalted Butter.
I love using Challenge Butter because this is the butter that my grandmother used when she baked her delicious pastries and she swore by this butter. They are a family farmer owned company that’s been churning fresh butter made with sweet cream daily since 1911. I really love that they don’t use any artificial or synthetic ingredients and the taste is consistently fresh.
Two of our holiday favorites are Sugar Cookies in fun festive shapes & Hand Pies.
Sugar Cookies
Baking with my daughter is an adventure to say the least! She wants to be a big helper and be involved in every step, and sometimes that means little messes here and there, but that’s the fun part. Aside from mixing and pressing the ingredients, her favorite part of baking is the tasting.
These were so easy to make and fun to decorate together. I was able to get everything I needed for these yummy cookies from Albertsons. Before I shopped in the store, I checked my Albertsons Mobile app for any coupons that could be applied to my purchase.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup of Softened Unsalted Challenge Butter
- 2 3/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- Cookie Decorating Icing
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder & set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Cover and chill the dough for 2 hours.
- On a clean floured surface, roll out the chilled dough to 1/4 inch thickness and cut out shapes using cookie cutters.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from cookie sheet to cool on wire racks.
Hand Pies
For the hand pies we use Challenge Salted Butter in our pie crust. My daughter’s favorite part of making these was flouring the dough and helping me roll it out.
Ingredients
- 2/3 Cup Cold Challenge Salted Butter
- 2 Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
- 4 to 5 Tablespoons Cold Water
- Store bought pie filling
Directions
- Combine flour and salt in bowl. Cut in Challenge Butter with a fork until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in enough water with fork just until the flour is moistened.
- Divide dough in half and flatten slightly. Wrap each half in plastic food wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Roll out 1 ball of dough on lightly floured surface. Use hand pie molds to cut dough into shapes. Add the dough to the inside of the pie mold, add filling and top layer of hand pie. Press the mold to seal and crimp the edges.
- Bake for 25 minutes in a 400 degree oven.
Spending time in the kitchen with my daughter is such a memorable experience. Baking, making messes, having fun and making those special memories that I will cherish forever.
Wow, the Sugar Cookies and Hand Pies are definitely the best fit for Christmas season! I may try those. Furthermore, it’s looked more fun to do with kid tho?
Cooking and making cookies is the best thing you can do around Christmas time! I love the atmosphere!
I love to bake with the kids. It’s such a great way to create family memories.
Baking is such a great way to not only make a mess lol, but create those long lasting memories. Great recipe as well.
I’ve been baking with the kids every holiday since they were old enough to be in the kitchen with me. We always have so much fun together.
Baking is a great holiday tradition. It is such a refreshing and great experience to have with your daughter. The hand pies you both made together looks delicious.
Omg! Those little pies are the cutest! I can’t wait to try this recipe with my son. We usually have a “date night” once a month, but with the pandemic it’s been hard to find things to do with him. This will be perfect!
My daughter is now almost 2 1/2 and starting to really get into baking with me. I love it!!
Yummy! These pastries look really good. I’m gonna have to try making some of these for the holidays. Thank you for sharing!
Love this so much. We bake every Christmas Eve and it is one of my favorite days of the year.
Yummm these cookies and mini pies look so delicious!
Baking cookies is so fun and even more fun with family! These cookies look so yummy and it must be a great family tradition!
These turned out so well! And it looks like you guys had a blast together. I will have to try out the recipe!
When my kid was a youngster, we reevaluated all the traditions we had as children – and then reformed our own 🙂
Aw I do love a bit of baking. your cookies turned out so well and these look perfect to enjoy the holiday season xx
Baking is such a great way to spend time together, and great for any age! Yes, even my teens! 😉 Those hand pies sound awesome.
Wow I love your blog! It’s so cute and the theme is awesome! But I also love baking and this post is great for us mamas.
I would love some of these. My kids love baking gingerbread cookies with me.
This is so sweet! It looks like you all will have a great holiday with memories to last for a while. Making those traditions will surely be something your daughter and family come to cherish.
I love getting children involved in baking. It makes them more creative. Love the baked goods! So yummy!
This was a really interesting read. I’ve never thought about backing ginger biscuits with my son, but this will be added to our Christmas activity this year.
This concept is quite interesting, I have never thought baking with kids. Thanks for sharing!
Baking is such a great way to bond with your child. I love this tradition
this is such a tempting post!!! now i need me some pies…
Yummy! We started a new family tradition this year with baking and crafting
I love baking with my children during the holidays! These sugar cookies look delicious!