Melissa C. writes about food for the Blog Content Guild. She asked me to place a post at my blog for her. There is some good advise in these words she has written. I will for sure be putting this advice into action. Thank you so much Melissa.
Holiday Baking Extravaganza: Make It Easy With a Printable Grocery List
Baking is an exact science. There is a precision involved with the chemistry of baking that seduces some, while scaring others. Any way you look at it, baking does require organization. If you are baking this holiday season, you will need to get all your ducks in a row before you begin the process. To avoid waste and mistakes, take the time to sit down with all of your recipes and input your ingredients into a printable grocery list.
Start by taking inventory of your pantry and refrigerator. If you mean to get busy with more than just one pumpkin pie this season, seriously take stock of all your spices, oils, dry goods, tools and accouterments necessary to pull off your goals. The last thing you want is to get home with all the stuff to make sugar cookies and realize you only have one color of food die and no parchment paper. This also applies to the freshness of your spices. I once made a 2-gallon batch of apple butter without checking that my cinnamon was 4 years old and ruined everything. When you buy spices, date them. 6 months is the life expectancy of a spice. Old baking soda needs to be replaced as well. If you’re worried about spending the money to buy a new batch of ground ginger for one round of cookies, check to see if you can find a bulk spice section at a gourmet market.
Once you know what you have and what you need for all of your recipes, and you've printed out a fresh, clean list, it’s time to head to the store. You cannot make great food from poor ingredients. The quality of goods you choose to make your recipes with will determine their success. Cheap, bottom shelf flour and sugar will get you a cake, but you might as well make one out of the box. When you cook from scratch it gives you the opportunity to use good quality ingredients to enhance the flavor.
Take matters into your own hands this holiday season and bake to your heart’s content. Get organized with a complete and printable grocery list and head to the store to begin!
Melissa C.
Great article, and great for beginners, or inexperienced bakers for sure! Don't forget to mention that baking powder also has to be fresh if you want the nice light and airy product... I made that mistake once, and boy was I upset with myself!!
ReplyDeleteThank you for adding that tip SpunGlass. I have also made that mistake.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely printable. Thanks for sharing. Yes indeedy...very helpful.
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