5+ Ways to Get Organized for Holiday Baking Season–Stuffing yourself and your loved ones full of beautiful, delicious baked goods doesn’t just happen without planning. 

Find out how to make holiday baking easier and more efficient.

5+ Ways to Get Organized for Holiday Baking Season

 

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Hello, and welcome to fall, which means it’s time to get organized for holiday baking. 

We’re going to clean, we’re going to make lists and we’re going to be organized and we’re going to be jolly little elves. 

Make a tentative baking list.

I know what you’re thinking. 

Jennifer, how do I know now in September what I’m going to bake for Thanksgiving and Christmas?

But that’s the beauty of starting now, before October is upon us.

You’re not going to wait until November or December to start baking.

You’re going to bake a few batches of something in October to give yourself a jump start.

Think about what you usually bake.

Are you going to do your usual holiday plans or are festivities curtailed because of the pandemic? 

Are you going to need to bake more than usual because you’re not going anywhere? 

Perhaps that hostess with the mostest who usually has a cookie exchange party has cancelled it this year?

Create a Special Ingredient Shopping List

Using your tentative baking list as a guide, take note any special ingredients you’ll need.

Do you need sweetened condensed milk for your grandma’s fudge recipe? 

What about walnuts or pecans or pistachios? 

How about powdered sugar or almond paste?

Some cookie recipes used pudding mixes like my butterball recipe, which happens to be an egg-free cookie.

Will you need any pudding mixes? What flavors?

Think about fall and holiday baking from previous years.

Is there an ingredient you always forget about until you’re knee-deep in flour and butter?

Now that you have your list–wait. Don’t shop yet. 

Check Your Pantry for Supplies 

Do you have any of the special ingredients left from last year?

How much sugar and flour do you have?

How’s your vanilla supply? 

What about brown sugar? 

Cream of tartar? 

Baking soda?

Baking powder?

Chocolate Chips?

Sanding sugar or colored sugars?

What about food coloring? 

Sprinkles?

Unsweetened baking chocolate? This one always gets me. 

There’s always one recipe I forget I want to make that calls for unsweetened squares of chocolate. 

It’s always late at night when I realize I need it. 

Well, after 8 p.m. anyway because that’s when our grocery store closes during the fall and winter.

And I’m 20 miles from the nearest Walmart. 

Spices? 

Speaking of spices, smell them. If you haven’t baked with them since the last holiday, you should probably replace them. 

You get the idea. 

Also, remember pandemic, we’re still in one and supplies of certain things can still be in short supply.

Images are racing through my head right now of all the brands of toilet paper I’ve bought over the past six months. I never dreamed there were so many brands.

I’m a pretty brand loyal girl and I can rarely get the one or two brands of toilet paper I like anymore. 

So, if there’s a certain brand of baking item you prefer, grab it sooner rather than later.

Check Your Baking Equipment and Tools

Does everything still work? 

Did you forget that you’re missing one of the beaters for your hand mixer? 

How are your spatulas? Any chunks missing? 

Does your kitchen scale need batteries?

What kind of shape are your baking pans in? 

Do you know where your pie plates are?

Check Non Food Baking Supplies

Do you have parchment paper? 

What about wax paper?

One of my favorite tips from Christopher Kimball–the founder of Cook’s Illustrated–is to tear off a large sheet of wax paper for your counter top before you begin baking so cleanup is simple. 

Do you have a supply of containers for storing baked goods or freezing them until time to eat?

Are you going to give away cookies or other treats as gifts? 

One thing you should know about me, I’m not into cutesy–that includes my gift packaging.

So one of my favorite places to buy disposable containers is a restaurant supply store. 

They have simple cardboard takeout containers as well as aluminum ones with secure fitting lids you buy separately.

Clean Your Kitchen and Cupboards

I saved the best for last. Kidding. I dislike cleaning. 

At this juncture, I can’t pay for a house cleaner and still contribute to my 401k so I’m living in squalor and funding my retirement.

Kidding.

My house isn’t that bad.

But, even though I don’t like cleaning, I know I have to do it because I bake better when everything is sparkling and organized. 

There you have it

 Now spill. What are you planning to bake during the upcoming holiday? 

What do you always bake?