*cookies with toosie*

 last thursday, Oliver and I headed over to my Aunt Susie's house which O lovingly calls..."Aunt Toosie" to make candy cane cookies.

you might know what these are...melt in your mouth almond flavored butter cookies shaped in red and white candy canes.

yum!!

 

 i grew up with these cookies. my stepmom would make them every year for Christmas and they would be gone before the new year. they were so good and so fun to have during Christmas.

 

i had never baked with Oliver before (a little scared to try i guess) so i was really excited to see how he would do. my aunt is a retired elementary school teacher so i knew she would have thought of all the details to keep a toddler preoccupied while baking. when we got there, she had the dough already made and little stations set up for each of us. see...i knew she would be prepared! ;)

 

 i brought an apron with us for Oliver (an awesome gift from my friend Rachel) guessing he'd get pretty messy from flour and dough..which he did. smile.

 

we started out with flour, this is something i've shown Oliver before (only outside in a large bowl) and he loved playing with so it was an immediate hit. next came the dough. he played with it, tried to roll it out but then wanted more dough...and then some more...

 

 my aunt and i pretty much did the candy cane rolling part which we had such a fun time doing..and i think i might have mastered the candy cane twist!

 

 after a little bit, Oliver was bored with his rather large pile of dough. ha!

so i showed him other things he could make...like a snowman.

 

Oliver is obsessed with Frosty the Snowman and will watch the movie every day if i let him.

oh and every snowman he sees, he says "Crocky Da Noman!!". hehe!!

 

we ended up making around 18 cookies. some turned out better then others. ha!!

Oliver ate three...i think he approved.

 

the best part, a tradition was born. my aunt and i agreed that we should do this every year before Christmas. i absolutely love that Oliver will grow up doing something special with his aunt

around the holidays!