Bakeries busy mixing up holiday treats
The Christmas season has local bakers up to their ears in flour, sugar, icing and eggs, but the end results of their labor will ensure delicious holiday cheer for neighbors, families, offices and more.
Michael and Nicole Hall are a father-daughter duo who opened The Munching Moose on May 1 on Main Street in Zelienople.
Their bakers have been using their expertise to experiment with various cookies in anticipation of a busy Christmas cookie season. One variety even took first place at a recent competition in Pittsburgh.
The Halls are delighted that their Emerald Kiss, a pistachio cookie dipped in chocolate and finished with a pistachio crumb, beat out 20 cookies from Pittsburgh-area bakeries at the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Mothers’ Milk Bank “Milk Bank & Cookies” competition on Nov. 6 at Stage AE in Pittsburgh.
“We are ecstatic,” Nicole Hall said. “It’s very exciting, after only being in business six months.”
She said the Emerald Kiss, which will be in rotation on The Munching Moose Christmas trays, may have taken the top spot because it is an elegant cookie that boasts a nice, soft texture.
“And pistachio is very popular right now,” she said.
A variety of the additional Christmas cookies to be prepared by The Munching Moose are thumbprints, lady locks, gingerbread cookies, peanut butter blossoms, salted caramel cookies, chocolate chip and double chocolate.
“Everything is made from scratch and a lot of heart,” Michael Hall said. “We don’t use any frozen cookie doughs.”
The Halls have total confidence in their head baker, Jake Warren, and part-time bakers, Amy Leech and Amber Barkley, to turn out a delectable array of holiday cookies.
“The cookies are baked with love, but it’s a science,” Nicole Hall said.
She said the business is ready to provide dozens of homemade delights this Christmas.
“We want to wow our customers,” she said. “We want them to see the passion in our baked goods and come back for more.”
Michael Hall is excited about owning a bakery in his hometown, where his family goes back four generations. He has played Santa locally for 28 years and served as announcer for the Zelienople Fourth of July Parade for the last 40 years.
“I just love this area and I never plan on leaving it,” he said.
He bought the bakery after becoming bored during his first month of retirement. The shop was formerly a bakery and came with all the equipment that allow his bakers to pump out a plethora of holiday confections.
“My father and I don’t know anything about baking, but he’s very good at running a business,” Nicole Hall said. “We’re a very family-oriented and family-friendly bakery and that’s what we want to instill in our product.”
Megan Halstead, owner of Mainstreet Bake Shop in Saxonburg, is another local baker who is dedicated to providing cookies to make her customers’ holidays bright.
Halstead has been baking dozens of Christmas cookies at her shop for 11 years, and she averages about 100 dozen per holiday season.
She said her chocolate chip cookie is the most requested variety each Christmas — and throughout the rest of the year.
“People can tell it’s a traditional recipe,” Halstead said.
She said the jelly- or icing-filled thumbprint cookie is a close second to the chocolate chip.
Halstead orders at least 150 extra pounds of flour — and the same amount in extra sugar — in preparation for the holiday rush. She said she began ordering in early to mid-November.
“We start (preparing cookies) right after Thanksgiving or the first week of December,” she said.
Cookies are carefully wrapped and frozen and kept in deep freezers until they are arranged on trays and picked up by customers.
“You can tell everything is made here,” Halstead said. “We are not just buying frozen cookies and baking them off. Everything has that homemade touch.”
Salted caramel bars, filled pizzelles rolled up like a cannoli and decorated sugar cookies appear alongside other varieties on each tray each Christmas, she said.
“Christmas is my favorite holiday, and knowing I get to be a part of so many family get-togethers is special,” she said.
Halstead has her own band of elves who help during the merriest — and busiest — time of year.
“My mom and aunts come in and help out, so I really start to depend on family the last week before Christmas,” she said.
Halstead also embraces the spirit of the season, as she takes trays of cookies to local nursing homes or donates cookies to families in need.
“I try to give where I can,” she said.
The Munching Moose’s ginger snap cookies recipe
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of ginger
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
7 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of corn syrup mixed with molasses, evenly blended
Combine flour, baking soda and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix together.
Combine wet ingredients in another bowl and mix together.
Smooth all ingredients together in dry ingredient bowl.
Roll dough into balls and place on cooking sheet.
Coat the balls in sugar for extra flavor.
Place in refrigerator to cool for about 30 minutes, and preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Remove cooking sheet from refrigerator, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies are a golden brown.
Enjoy!
