the Flare

Throw a Low-Fuss Cookie Baking Party

As the holidays approach, the thought of planning or attending another party can be stressful, but there's always a low-fuss option available when deciding what type of party to throw. One of my favorite solutions is sharing the workload with your guests. For instance, why not have a cookie baking party and invite friends and family to join you for a low-key afternoon of rolling, cutting out and decorating cookies around the dining room table? Kids and adults can work together easily to transform a few bowls of dough into piles of warm, beautiful cookies for everyone to share. An informal set up works well - kids can wander off periodically to play when they get tired of decorating cookies, adults can watch the football game if they aren't as interested in the baking but want to enjoy the eating, and those who love to bake can enjoy managing the timers and bringing fresh cookies to decorate to the frosting station.

How to further distribute the work load? Ask friends to bring salty snacks for everyone to munch on, to balance all the cookies (and cookie dough). Designate one person to bring decorating supplies, such as sprinkles, red hots, jimmies, etc. Ask a couple of friends to bring baking sheets and cooling racks so that you will have enough to keep batches in constant rotation during peak production times. Someone can bring board games to amuse the kids between cutting out cookies and decorating them. If you don't have a pile of aprons in adult and kid sizes (like my mom who collects them), ask friends to bring their own. (Let's just say that when frosting is involved with kids, it's safer for all to have aprons handy).

Set up is easy: for rolling out and decorating cut-out cookies, I recommend covering the dining room table with plastic or oil cloth which you can easily wipe clean. Have bowls of frosting ready with plenty of knives or dip spreaders handy (small hands tend to find the small dip spreaders easier to maneuver when frosting cookies). Make a batch of cider or hot chocolate and keep it simmering on the stove, and you are all set!

Now, not everyone loves making cookie dough, so if you want to short cut this part of the party prep, pick up a couple tins of Lacey Sue Z. Yummy Cookie Mix at Golden Fig. Developed by local foodie personality, Sue Zelickson, these cookies will make you look like a great baker and humanitarian, because the proceeds from all sales benefit kid's charities. While you are at Golden Fig, pick up some of Laurie's delicious infused sugars. Try topping cookies made from a simple refrigerated sugar cookie dough with the cinnamon orange sugar or gingerbread sugar to transform them from humble to extraordinary!

Don't forget to encourage your guests to fill a tin with cookies to take home at the end of the party, so that everyone can continue to enjoy the delicious results of their hard work.

- Colleen Fox Slack, Home & Culinary, the Affair