Your Holiday Baking Goals

Now that it's December , it's time to start thinking about goals - namely your holiday baking ones. What do you want to achieve. The perfect array of cookies? Delicious pies and cakes? Traditional fruitcakes or airy mousses? It's all up to you.

First of all, any goal requires a plan. With baking it's simple. Make sure you have enough flour and sugar along with mixes, milk , eggs and butter. Also make sure your cookie cutters  and cake pans are up to par. If not go out and get yourself some new ones. Make sure you have extras such as a sieve or strainer for sifting confectioners sugar as well as for dusting onto baked goods. A pastry brush comes in handy , especially for brushing breads and rolls with melted butter or beaten egg.Also  have or get a ruler. This is important when you're making the pieces for gingerbread houses and you have to have exact measurements. I can't stress how crucial it is to have a roll or two of parchment paper. This is  a must if you/re baking certain cookies and definitely meringues. Holiday cupcake papers should also be part of your holiday baking plan. You know you're going to bake at least two dozen whether for a family or school party. Now is also the perfect time to test out your cookie press, making sure that one, the barrel isn't cracked and two, that the press still works. Make sure you have the holiday imprint discs too for those candy canes, angels, wreaths and trees. This is the time to assess baking extras and frills. Do you have to go out and get candy decorations? White and dark chocolate for dipping cookies into and for drizzling onto  surfaces? Do you have any sanding sugar left over from last year - and it's good to use for three to five years.

Now that you have your arsenal loaded, the next question is what to bake. I've been asked to bake  whole gingerbread families  including their dogs. Of course these families require housing. I know from my Mom baking  them, gingerbread houses require a certain level of skill, to bake, assemble and decorate. I know I can't handle the first. It would just be non-stop baking, while putting everything else on hold. I plan on just buying the kits (I have about three to four houses to "build" and frost). Luckily Target has Wilton's Ready To Decorate gingerbread houses that are not also already baked but assembled. All you have to do is just put a few icing swirls here and there, outline the windows and doors, and ice the roof. The kit also has extra silver and gold candy discs to create a front path.My one goal is a simple and elegant one : a two layer chocolate cake with a peppermint buttercream icing, dusted with silver sanding sugar. The only fanciness will be how the icing will be piped. I'll be looking through Carey Madden's great book Buttercream Basics : Learn The Art of Buttercream Decorating for inspiration for the cake's sides. I've also been asked to make scratch cookies and I'm thinking peanut butter blossoms and cookie press cookies in pink and green.

This is the time to think about your holiday baking goals. What do you want to achieve this season? Some elaborate masterpiece or a family classic? It's all up to you and what you can handle.