Simplify the Season : Put Together a Baking Kit

Holiday baking is one of my FAVORITE things to do – I look forward to it all year! I make batches and batches of cookies and confections to share and to bring to Christmas events. I truly enjoy it. That said, it takes a little preparation and pre-planning. And it can be expensive, especially at this time of the year. I like to stock up on baking goods in November during Thanksgiving sales. My rationale is that we can bake on a whim – boring afternoon? Let’s make some cookies. Good thing we have all the ingredients! Or how about this theory? The cost won’t hurt as much in November as it would in December. So today, I’m sharing with you some baking essentials (in my kitchen) and hopefully it’ll spur you on to get a head start on your baking or at least make a little plan.

• nuts – pecans, walnuts, sliced almonds (Target or Trader Joe’s)
• sweetened condensed milk (organic, from Trader Joe’s)
• lots of chocolate – mini chips, white, milk, semi-sweet)  (Ghirardelli, from Target)
• sugars – powdered (from Trader Joe’s) – non-processed/organic ‘white’ (from Costco)
• all-purpose flour (King Arthur brand from Target)
• baking soda
• baking powder (no aluminum formula from Trader Joe’s)
• coconut oil spray – have you seen this? it works great! (from Trader Joe’s)
• coconut
• decorating sugar (from King Arthur Flour)
• molasses
• parchment paper
• muffin liners (Wilton brand from Jo-Ann’s)
• shelf stable whipping cream (from Trader Joe’s)
• spices – cinnamon, nutmeg, baking spice, cloves, pumpkin pie spice (from Penzeys)
• extracts – vanilla (from King Arthur Flour) almond (from Penzeys)
• in the refrigerator – milk, eggs, butter

What would you add? Share in the comments! And next week? A little baking help in the form of a printable!

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This post is part of a series designed to help you Simplify the Season. You can see all the posts here.