Can you believe that it’s December already?  I’m freaking out just a little bit. There’s so much to do!! I’m okay, really. Deep breaths.

It can be hard to find the time to do much Christmas baking, but the kids love it so much that I make sure to set aside some time to bake with them over the holidays.

Baking with kids can be challenging, because it requires a lot of patience. A LOT of patience.

More deep breaths.

Here are some things I’ve learned to keep your holiday baking with kids from turning into a gong show.

Be prepared for messiness: You have to expect that it’s going to be messy and just let it go. Prepare for it as best you can by putting out a washable tablecloth or newspaper first. Cover the floor with something, too, if you have carpets. I learned this the hard way when Bennett dribbled huge globs of cheesecake batter onto the carpet. I admit, there may have been some yelling on my part when that happened.

Kids learn by doing: Although it’s tempting to crack all of the eggs yourself, let the kids have a chance to practice these trickier parts of baking.  It’s how they learn. If you’re worried about eggshells in your batter, have them crack the eggs into a separate bowl first. Or you can do it like me and just scoop out those eggshells using one of the empty shells. It does the trick.

Play games: If you have more than one child and they’re all fighting over what part of the baking they get to do next, we like to play a game, like rock, paper, scissors. You can also try flipping a coin, rolling dice, or guessing what number I’m thinking of.

Put on the Christmas tunes: There’s something about playing Christmas music that puts everyone in a good mood, including me. If mom is happy and singing, the kids are happy as well.  It sets the tone for a more enjoyable baking experience.

Relax: Sit back and enjoy the chaos, because they’re only little for a short time, and as hectic as it seems when you’re in the middle of it, you’ll miss these times when they’re older…or so I’ve heard. But truly, I have fond memories of baking at Christmas with my mom, and I want to build those same kind of special memories in my children’s minds as well. I try to remember this when I see cheesecake and Oreo crumbs ground into the carpet, eggshells scattered on the counter, children hitting each other, and a toddler sticking dirty fingers into the batter. Deep breaths. Serenity now!

This year, Epicure gave us a bunch of holiday baking goodies to try, including a Perfect Petites baking tray and Eggnog Cheesecake Mix.  I knew what I had to make: mini Eggnog Cheesecakes! I searched Epicure’s website and found a great recipe for Big Batch Eggnog Bars with Rum Ganache.  I adapted it slightly and came up with these cute Oreo Eggnog Cheesecake Bites.

I liked the way these looked with the Oreo crumbs on top, so I left them upside down like that. It was also more forgiving, since the top of our cheesecakes got a little messy with stray oreo crumbs. Ours didn’t look perfect, but they tasted so good!

Epicure Holiday Giveaway

I’ve teamed up with The Pampered Baby to bring you this giveaway from Epicure. 3 lucky winners will receive a Party Time Gift Collection. It includes a BLT dip mix and stoneware baker. It’s perfect for holiday entertaining.

This contest is open to Canadians only, and will run for 1 week, from December 3 until December 10th.  Use the Rafflecopter form below to submit your entries.

NOTE: Some readers have commented that they are not able to see the Rafflecopter form to enter the giveaway. Try refreshing the page, or using a different browser.  You can also leave a comment asking to be entered in the contest, and I will manually add your name and email to the draw.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclosure: I received complimentary products from Epicure for the purpose of this post. All opinions are my own.