Holiday Baking Tips
Plan your baking menu. Pull out those favorite recipes and choose which cookies
and confections are on the holiday list this year. Make a list of the supplies
you'll need.
Take inventory of your pantry. Always purchase fresh yeast, baking soda and
baking powder. These leavening agents are inexpensive compared to high-cost
ingredients such as butter and nuts that would be wasted if the dough or batter
failed to rise.
Take stock of your supplies. Do you have all your decorating tips?
Are your metal cookie cutters rusting? Now's the time to find out, not when
you're up to your elbows in dough. Do you need to replace your baking sheets?
Count your containers. Do you have enough containers to properly store finished
baked goods? What about cookie tins and decorative trays for gift giving? Tins
can be expensive, but they are the best containers for homemade gifts. Discount
stores are a good source for small to medium-sized tins.
The best cookie sheet is one made of heavy-gauge metal, so it will hold the
heat evenly and won't warp over time. It should not have high sides, which
would hamper the even flow of heat over the cookies. Non-stick surfaces work
well for cookie sheets, but dark surfaces cause the bottoms of cookies to brown
too quickly. Double insulated cookie sheets will also keep the bottoms of
cookies from browning too quickly.
Get an early start. Butter, chocolate and nuts are expensive ingredients.
Purchase several blocks of butter when it's on sale and freeze it until needed.
Check out prices at your local discount shopping club for discounts on quantity
items. If the amount is too much for you, see if you can split it with a friend.
Measure, don't guess....In baking, accuracy really counts. For measuring
liquids, use transparent or 1- or 2-cup marked measuring cups. Set the cup on a
flat surface. For measuring dry ingredients, graduated cups make it easy to
obtain the exact amount needed by leveling off with the sweep of a long-bladed
spatula or knife, rather than just judging by sight.
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