There’s nothing that screams holiday cheer like baking goodies for the people you care about: cookies, cupcakes, brownies, the list of treats goes on and on. However, despite how simple the recipe may appear, baking is a lot harder than it looks.

Recently, I wanted to try and make some treats for my family and friends so I made a plan to bake four different desserts.

Chocolate Chip Reindeer Cookies-4/10

With hundreds of recipes and many brands with simple instructions, cookies can’t be that hard to bake right? With this mindset, I confidently bought a package of cookie dough mix from the store and added the needed ingredients.

Despite the amount of effort I put into my beautiful cookies, they sadly turned out slightly burnt. After they cooled off I used a moose cookie cutter to cut out a shape similar to a reindeer. They didn’t come out exactly how I wanted, so I give this experience a 4/10.

Ingredients

• You’ll need…
• 1 pack of chocolate chip cookie mix
• 1 stick of softened butter
• 1 egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Stir cookie mix, butter, and egg until dough is formed.
• Put the dough on an ungreased pan. Make sure the balls of dough are 2 ½ inches apart.
• Bake for about 8-10 minutes and let them cool once done.

Sugar Cookies-7/10

Like the chocolate chip cookies, I bought a package of sugar cookie mix. While mixing the dough, I noticed that it seemed a little dry so I added some water. Too much water made the dough weird, but luckily I remembered a little tip from my mom. She told me, “if you add water, make sure to add some flour so it evens out.” So I did.

I popped the cookies into the oven and once again burned some of them, so I give this experience a 7/10. Luckily they still tasted pretty decent despite being extremely crunchy. After icing a couple I put them in a little baggie to hand out to family and friends.

Ingredients

You’ll need…

• 1 pack of sugar cookie mix
• 1 stick of softened butter
• 1 egg

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375°F
• Stir cookie mix, butter, and egg until dough is formed.
• Put the dough on an ungreased pan. Make sure the balls of dough are 2 ½ inches apart.
• Bake for about 12-14 minutes and let them cool once done.

Brownies-5.67/10

After burning two batches of cookies, some of my holiday cheer faded. Despite the negativity in the air, I kept going and made some brownies.

Right before I put them into the oven, I suddenly remembered that the pan was ungreased. Feeling demoralized, once again I scraped off the mix with a spatula, greased the pan, put the mix back in, and put them into the oven.

The brownies were a little uncooked in the middle but thankfully my older sister, Anna, appeared just in time to help save them. They looked a little burnt on the side but Anna said they were “just extra crispy.”

As a sad attempt to make them more pleasing to look at, I used a mini cookie cutter to add fun shapes to the brownies. This experience was definitely a 5.67/10.

Ingredients

You’ll need…

• 1 pack of sugar cookie mix
• ½ cup of vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons of water

Directions

• Preheat oven to 325°F
• Stir brownie mix, oil, water, and eggs until dough is formed.
• Spread the mix onto a greased pan. Make sure the balls of dough are 2 ½ inches apart.
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until you can stick a toothpick in and it comes out clean.

Peppermint Bark-8/10

Growing up one of my favorite things to make during the holiday season was peppermint bark. The recipe has only four ingredients and doesn’t even require an oven, so it is safe for younger children.

I forgot to buy white chocolate chips so my sister had to get some leftover ones from her bakery box, and this meant the recipe had to be cut in half. Despite changing the recipe at the last minute, the peppermint bark actually looked and tasted okay.

I’d have to rate this an 8/10.

Ingredients

You’ll need…

• 6oz of semisweet chocolate chips
• 8oz of white chocolate chips
• Peppermint extract

Directions

• Melt the semi-sweet chocolate chips for 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
• Spread the chocolate onto parchment paper. Place in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
• Melt the white sweet chocolate chips for 30 seconds and stir with peppermint extract until smooth.
• Spread the chocolate over the layer of semi-sweet chocolate. 
• Cover the white chocolate with crushed candy canes and let it harden in the fridge.

Although my experience baking cookies, brownies, and peppermint bark did not turn out exactly as planned, the joy I felt making the treats made it all worth it. If you get bored this holiday season and want to try something new, try making something for someone you know, or maybe just buy some at the store.