December Is Made for Baking!

Let the snow fall and the baking begin!

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     Winter starts off with a month of baking and cooking for Christmas and Hanukkah! December is the National Egg Nog and Fruit Cake month, along with many National Day‘s for various baked goods (Pie Day, Cookie Day, Brownie Day, Pastry Day and others.) My First Baking Book by Rena Coyle and the DK cookbook, Mommy & Me Bake, are great beginner baking books. And don‘t forget to share all of your own favorite holiday recipes! Consider sharing these baking themed stories: The Baker‘s Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale by Aaron Shepard, Hanukkah Cookies with Sprinkles by David A. Adler, or one of Jan Brett‘s Gingerbread stories (Gingerbread Baby, Gingerbread Friends, Gingerbread Christmas). So, get busy in the kitchen and bake some goodies to share. Bring a plate of delectable treats to your neighbors and those who can’t bake for themselves or live alone. Teach your children to pay it forward by spreading the kindness of the season and then snuggle up and read together!

Looking for more children's cookbooks? Find our favorites at the bottom of our book list:
Baking, Cooking, Gardening & Food Related Books

December
National Eggnog and Fruitcake Month

1st: National Pie Day

Peyton Picks the Perfect Pie by America's Test Kitchen Kids

Porcupine's Pie by Laura Renauld

All for Pie, Pie for All by David Martin

I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie by Alison Jackson

Ugly Pie by Lisa Wheeler

The Perfect Pumpkin Pie by Denys Cazet

The Apple Pie that Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson

A Apple Pie by Kate Greenaway

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman

How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.S.A. by Marjorie Priceman

4th: National Cookie Day

Cookies!: An Interactive Recipe Book by Lotta Nieminen

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

The Cookie Fiasco (Mo Willems' Elephant & Piggie Like Reading) by Dan Santat

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems

The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson

7th: National Cotton Candy Day

Fairy Floss: The Sweet Story of Cotton Candy by Ann Ingalls

Cotton Candy Clouds by Sara D. Moore

Captain Bad Breaker and the Cotton Candy Ship by L.L. Faer and E. Raven

8th: National Brownie Day

If You Give a Mouse a Brownie by Laura Numeroff

Clark the Shark: Too Many Treats by Bruce Hale

9th: National Pastry Day

10th: Hanukkah Begins

Hanukkah Cookies with Sprinkles by David A. Adler

Meet the Latkes by Alan Silberberg

12th: National Gingerbread House Day

The Gingerbread House by Laura Gia West

Gingerbread Mouse by Katy Bratun

Charlie's Gingerbread House by Melissa Ivey Staehli

A Year of Gingerbread Houses by Kristine Samuell

Gingerbread Houses by Christa Currie

Don't forget about Jan Brett's Gingerbread series as well (see above)!

13th: National Cocoa Day

From Cocoa Beans to Chocolate by Bridget Heos

15th: National Cupcake Day

Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcakes by Kimberly & James Dean

If You Give a Cat a Cupcake by Laura Numeroff

Little Mouse and the Big Cupcake by Thomas Taylor

Fancy Nancy and the Delectable Cupcakes by Jane O'Connor

Camilla the Cupcake Fairy by Make Believe Ideas Ltd.

16th: National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

17th: National Maple Syrup Day

Maple Syrup from the Sugarhouse by Laurie Lazzaro Knowlton

Almost Time by Gary D. Schmidt & Elizabeth Stickney

The Sweetest Season by Elissa Kerr

From Maple Tree to Syrup by Melanie Mitchell

M is for Maple Syrup: A Vermont Alphabet by Cynthia Furlong Reynolds

25th: Christmas Day

Christmas Cookie Day! by Tara Knudson

The Christmas Cookie Sprinkle Snitcher by Robert Kraus

A World of Cookies for Santa by M. E. Furman

For a more complete list of Christmas titles, look at our Holiday Books list.

26th: National Candy Cane Day

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

Katie the Candy Cane Fairy by Thomas Nelson

28th: National Chocolate Day

No Monkeys, No Chocolate by Melissa Stewart and Allen Young

Margret & H. A. Rey's Curious George Goes to a Chocolate Factory

From Cocoa Bean to Chocolate by Robin Nelson

     This year of focusing our blogs on our Bookworm Bakers division, where we blend baking, cooking and gardening with literacy, has come to an end. We hope that you will embark on filling your children’s growing years and beyond with memories of baking, cooking and gardening. These offer the best way to learn math and reading naturally through real world, hands-on experiences, building life skills and creating lasting memories that will hopefully be cherished and passed down to future generations. That is why we encourage you to write down family recipes and your own memories of childhood, for all too soon they will be forgotten and disappear forever. I think about the stories my mother has shared about my grandmother and her cooking and the get-togethers with other families who came to this country with her. I never had the chance to meet my grandmother, but I do have my mother’s memories and photos, and my grandmother’s own cookbook and handwritten recipes, so I do feel a sense of connection to my past. If we don’t document our life, past and present for our children, a bit more of our heritage will be lost and we will be unable to reclaim it in the future.

Happy holidays from our family to yours!

-Kate @ BTBL

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Author

We are three generations that seek a way to get back to basics. It’s not that we eschew technology, but sometimes simpler is better, especially in raising our children. Mom was a reading teacher, Amanda is an early childhood educator and Kate a children’s literature specialist and former school librarian along with the latest additions, a daughter (now 5) for Kate, and two sons (now 2 and 1) for Amanda. We advocate reading aloud, the simple toys that use imagination and encourage creativity and learning in the kitchen, which can be a fun mess but also teaches life skills. Join us in raising healthy, happy, inquisitive and intelligent children.