Kitchen Tip Tuesday

Holiday Baking Tips

1. ALWAYS wear an apron or clothes you don't care about. Inevitably, you will probably get something on you that will stain your clothes. I have several outfits I now have to wear for baking/cooking because I stained them previously while cooking/baking.
2. Use parchment paper. I realize this may not be frugal, but you CAN reuse the same pieces over and over. It makes it much easier. You don't have to spray your cookie sheets with cooking spray or butter them! You also don't get that left over cookie film to scrape off all the time.
3. Let your cookies sit for a couple of minutes before trying to move them to a cooling rack or waxed paper to cool.
4. Start baking early. The holiday season is hectic enough. Almost all goodies--fudge, cookies, peanut clusters, candy can be frozen and will thaw nicely.
5. Think ahead to what you will need goodies for, make a list and then divide up your goodies appropriately before you freeze them and then mark the container.
6. If you like to give away goodies as Christmas gifts, keep your eye out during the year for nice containers for cheap to give them away in. I like to buy china or tins at second hand stores. This year I was able to pick up a 4 place setting of Christmas dishes for $2.50 at a garage sale. I've put goodies on them and given them away as gifts.
7. Another cheap way to package goodies is in a ziploc bag placed inside a decorative lunch sack. They have them at Christmas time for a quarter, or better yet, you can buy lunch bags, decorate them yourself, punch holes for a ribbon and have just as pretty a container!
8. Listen to something you enjoy. My kids were gone while I was doing some of my baking, so I listened to Anne of Avonlea on my phone. It was more fun to bake "with Anne".
9. For more great kitchen tips, visit: www.tammysrecipes.com/node/3066