Sunday, October 14, 2012

{31 Days to a Stress-Free Christmas} Day 13~ Sweet Relief






Holiday Baking has always been special in our family. My Mom & Grandmother spent weeks before Christmas, baking all kinds of cookies and other lovely treats. Over the years, I have found some helpful hints to make our Christmas baking run smoothly. 
The first thing I do is to gather my recipes. Like everyone, we have several recipes that we always make but I also like to try some new ones each year. I like to make one master shopping list on the computer where I type in the ingredients I need for each recipe. Some years, I have done a separate shopping trip for baking supplies, other years I needed to spread out the purchasing over several weeks. Either way, all of the ingredients get purchased before my baking day and I don't forget any of the ingredients I need. 
Another thing I found helpful is to plan one day as a mixing day and one, or more, days as a baking day. I mix up the dough for all the cookies I am making , wrap it up tight in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Then over the next few days I bake the cookies. It is so nice not to have to wash all the mixing bowls and measuring cups between each batch of cookies. I also bake several weeks before Christmas and freeze the cookies in air-tight containers. They stay fresh and I can pull them out as needed. (It also helps make them last  longer) 
What holiday baking tips to you have? Leave me a comment- I'd love to hear other time saving ideas.
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2 comments:

Kristin said...

For years now, I've gotten together with Mom and Kati (and Sarah when she lived here) and we bake together for an entire day. We plan our recipes ahead of time and split up the ingredients. We only have 2 people in the kitchen at a time while someone else is on call for the kids or on call to run to the store if we've forgotten something. Or...sometimes we have two in the kitchen and someone adding sprinkles or putting cookies on cooling racks at the table.

I still do a little baking on my own, but it helps to have the bulk of it done with the group.

October 14, 2012 at 9:23 PM
Jodi-Marie said...

Kristin- you are so right. I would love to start a baking day tradition with mom & Britni with this year. Unfortunately I don't eat cookies any more. But I usually try to make something like spiced pecans sweetened with stevia for myself.

October 14, 2012 at 10:15 PM

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