Christmas Baking 101 Christmas Baking with SusieJ

Beginning

So you've decided to bake, but you don't know where to start. Or, you are already baking, but you still feel a bit lost. Start here!

Intermediate

Now you know you like baking and want to get into it a bit more. This is about upping your skills.

A toddler standing on a short, purple chair in front of a kitchen counter.

Flavor combinations

Sometimes, baking the same recipe again and again gets boring. You can pop out of the flavor rut without needing to learn a new recipe. Try out the following combinations with the basic recipes on the site.

A sheet of parchement paper with small piles of spices on it.

Going big

When it's time to bake big — anything from a 12-inch birthday cake to a day of Christmas cookies to a full wedding cake — prepartion and planning will make the day successful and retain your sanity.

Kitchen counter with three bowls of ingredients; each bowl has a post-it not stuck to it.

Allergies

Baking for people with food allergies is not the hardship that legions of disgruntled hosts and hostesses make it out to be on forum across the Internet. With some common sense, careful reading of ingredients and some cleaning, you too can avoid sending anyone to the hospital.

Parchment circles

This is where you get to dust off your high school geometry skills, or, if you prefer, your origami skills, to keep your cakes from sticking.

An overhead pickture of a pair of caucasian hands holding a circle cut from parchment paper, and the pan it's about to go into.

Easy cocktails

If you want to get into cocktails, but don't have the budget for a lot of mixers, or don't yet know what you might like, these simple and classic coctails are a good starting point.

Dark cocktail in a squat cocktail glass in front of three liquor bottles.