Holiday Baking Can Become Stressful!

The holiday season is creeping upon us very quickly. With all the holiday planning we have to do, it can become a stressful time for many people. Especially when it come to baking for the holiday. Everyone is very busy these days with shopping for gifts, parties to attend, school functions for the kids and house guests to entertain.

The stress levels can go through the roof. We have come up with a few holiday baking helpful hints to get you through the holiday season.

1. Start now! Write a list of all the baked goods you want to make for the holiday’s, from breads, cookies, pastries … etc.
2. Search the internet and your cookbooks for the recipes you want to use. Then print them out on a 4×6 card for each recipe. This way, they will be handy to use later on. I like those fridge clips with the magnets on them to place my recipe cards that I want to use for my holiday baking. That way they are easy to find when I want to start baking.
3. Start buying the ingredients now. The grocery stores can become very busy during the holiday season. Not to mention spreading the cost out over several weeks. Plus, be sure to check out the bulk sections, you can save so money by buying bulk. I also like to place all my baking ingredients in plastic containers so everything will be easy to find when it’s time to start baking.
4. Don’t assume everything has to be made from scratch on the last day. You can bake ahead of time, then freeze. Cookies are perfect for this kind of thing. Pie crusts and some breads can also be made ahead of time, then frozen.
5. You can even measure out all your dry ingredients a week or more in advance and place them in plastic zip lock bags for later use. Then place them into a plastic container with the recipe card. That way you won’t forget what it is that you are making.
6. On the day of baking, prep all your ingredients. If you look at our online cooking classes, you will see we always prep everything ahead. This can really help with stress. You have all your ingredients in front of you, there’s nothing worst than when you’re in the middle of a recipe and you realize you don’t have something. Probably because, your husband ate all the chocolate chips the night before.
7. If you are planning on doing all your baking in one or two days. Watch your cooking times. You don’t want to have that Eggnog bread ready to go in the oven when you have a batch of cookies in there, with two more batches of cookies still to bake.
8. Create a Make it, Bake it, Bring it, Swap it party. Get 5 friends and each person creates 5 dozen cookies or 5 quick breads or 5 pies. Then get together and everyone swap with each other. This is a perfect opportunity for your friends to share their favorite baking recipes. |n the end everybody has 5 different desserts for the holidays.
9. If all else fails, a glass of wine or two or three can really help with the stress levels too.
10. Have a wonderful holiday season!

For our holiday bread recipes go straight to the holiday bread section at bllblog.org