Thanksgiving is a cherished time for meeting up with loved ones around good food. But all the errands, coordinating, and cooking can end up making the holiday more stressful than it should be. Here are some of our pro tips for a season full of easy, cozy bakes!
-
Stock your pantry with some holiday essentials.
The beautiful thing about holiday baking? So many recipes call for the same spices and ingredients. Do a quick scan of your pantry to see what’s running low and what may be expired—you don’t want to be stuck with inactive yeast, dull spices, or expired baking powder when the baking gets going!
Some items to put on your holiday checklist include:
- All-purpose flour
- Fresh baking powder
- Fresh yeast
- Baking soda
- Brown sugar
- Oatmeal
- Raisins and cranberries
- Pumpkin puree
- Nutmeg
- Cinnamon
- Clove
- Allspice
- Ground ginger
- Maple syrup
- Butter
- Eggs
- Molasses
- Chocolate or white chocolate chips
This is a good time to stock up on some savory essentials as well, like chicken broth and onions for soup season.
Pro tip: Need to revive last season’s hard-as-a-brick brown sugar? Try adding to an airtight container with a slice of apple for 24 hours, blitzing it in a food processor, or microwaving it covered with a damp towel for 20 seconds.
-
When in doubt, use what you have.
If you have run out of something, seek substitutions first to save yourself another grocery trip. Most nuts, dried fruits, sweeteners, oils, chocolate chips, seeds, milks, creams, and flours can be substituted with a simple internet search. Plus, you’ll be saving money and waste by using what you’ve got on hand!
Pro tip: have excess of something? Freeze common baking ingredients like ginger, lemon zest, and even buttermilk into ice-cubed size portions for later!
-
Get cookie dough delivered.
Save time, stress, and food waste by getting your cookie dough delivered. We suggest keeping our Butter Pecan Meltaway Cookie Dough in the freezer for the holiday season and then popping out the preformed dough as needed! This allows you to bake precisely how many cookies you want (even if it’s only one!) without having too many left over.
-
Mix your dry ingredients ahead of time.
Want to save some major time over the baking season? Set aside 20 minutes or so to batch some dry mixes.
For instance, you might want to go ahead and mix some pumpkin spice for Thanksgiving to have on hand for all your cozy desserts. Maybe you make your famous cookies on repeat, or have promised to serve some kind of bread at Thanksgiving.
Mix your dry ingredients now and save them in a jar to save time the day of. If you make multiple batches of something over a season, go ahead and make extra to save yourself washing all those measuring spoons again.
-
Put your touch on it!
One of the best ways to curb holiday stress around cooking is to do little things that help make it special for you! Put on a favorite holiday apron so you can get ready for Thanksgiving ahead of time and not get food on your clothes. Take notes on recipes so you can make them better next year. It’s all about having fun and enjoying this special season.
We hope these tips were helpful in curbing your holiday stress this year. In a pinch or out of baking energy? You can always order David’s for all occasions and we’ll be there!