Holiday Baking Essentials
It's that time of year again!
Holiday Baking Essentials
Below, I've listed out a few holiday baking essentials that I find, well, essential during the holidays for baking up treats. Whether you're baking up cookies, bars, candies, or batches of puppy chow (also colloquially referred to as "reindeer poop" in our house, regardless of the time of year) this list is sure to have something to make sure your holiday baking goes off without a hitch.
These are my favorite baking sheets. I have the half sheets and they do the best job at distributing heat when baking, in my opinion.
Although these are only as good as the baking sheets they rest upon, they make the transferring of cookie to drying rack to plate/tin/my mouth simpler. I love my baking mats and use them every time I turn on the oven. Welcome to the world of nonstick baking. They are awesome for homemade granola.
This stand mixer is seriously one of the things I use the most in the kitchen. Right after my trusty sautee pan. It whips up cookies in a flash, makes frostings faster than you thought possible, and makes for a nice statement piece if you have one in your favorite color. Their colors are seriously dreamy.
Cookie scoops are my secret to getting uniformly sized cookies. Plus the scooper handle eliminates the messy thumbs from using just a regular tablespoon.
Silicone spatulas make scooping and scraping seriously easy in the kitchen.
Or, if you're my mother, a bunch of cut open brown paper bags that they used to have at the grocery store. Drying racks are safer than leaving your cookies out on brown paper bags in the freezing cold on the porch in the middle of December. (Sorry, mom.)
- Adorable festive boxes or cookie tins to showcase your baked goods is always a good choice. My mom uses the same ones, year in and year out. I've come to expect a certain type of cookie in each tin because they have been that way for so many years now...if they aren't I get a little confused. Check your local craft store. A.C. Moore and Michaels should probably still have some cute ones in stores.
Baker's twine is perfect to tie up boxes, bags, or jars with. Festive holiday food gifts aren't complete until they've been tied up and labeled.
A Fresh Container of Baking Soda
If you don't tend to bake very often (hello, this is not me...) consider replacing your container of baking soda. It's only supposed to retain its active properties a month after you open the container. Any time after that and your cookies run the risk of falling flat because the baking soda won't activate properly. Save yourself the headache and spend the $1.49 at the grocery store for a new holiday box of baking soda.
Printed Recipe Cards
- A list of all your required ingredients and preferably printed out recipe cards so you don't have to fish for them/look for them on Pinterest as you're elbow deep in cookie dough. This could be just because I'm a list-maker, but it's really helpful.
Happy holidays, and happy baking!
Looking for gifts ideas? Check out my gift guide for the foodieand gift guide for coffee lovers!