The Baking Cupboard

I think this may have to be my personal motto:

So if you couldn't figure it out from the huge sign above, I love to bake!  Sometimes its just throwing together some muffins with 2 year old B and other times its spending some extra time trying out new recipes or working on making my own recipes (stay tuned for my personal Snickerdoodle recipe in the fall).  My favorite thing to do is make chocolate chip cookie dough and keep it in the fridge (its good in there for about a week).  Just before I take the kids back to bed I put a couple of cookies in the oven so that when I emerge into the relaxing quiet hours of the night I can enjoy a nice gooey, warm, delicious chocolate chip cookie.

I could go on and on about baking, but what this post is really about is my baking cupboard.  I keep almost all of my baking supplies in one cupboard so that they are easy to find and use.  I use the cupboard that is conveniently located just above the mixer so I can have everything in one place.

Here's a view of the baking area in the kitchen:

And here is the baking cupboard in all its organized glory:

The picture is pretty straightforward, but if you keep reading on, I'll give a rundown of all those exciting organizational details shelf by shelf...

The cookie cutters didn't fit into the baking cupboard, so I organized them into tubs and put them in the cupboard on the other side of the microwave - still within reach of the baking area, of course! :)

Before I got started, I made a list of how I would like to organize the baking items:
- tub for cookie cutters (separated into categories)
- piping bag, tops, food coloring, etc. in bin
- dry and wet measuring items together
- mixing bowls
- gasket jar for cupcake liners
- plastic tubs for flour, sugar, powdered sugar, and brown sugar
- see through containers for sprinkles

Then I took everything out of the cupboard (I'll spare you the picture of that disaster) and then started putting it all back in the cupboard in its new tubs and containers.  Keeping all of my baking items organized has actually saved me quite a bit of time and money because I'm not searching for things and I'm not buying double of what I already have.

And that's it - the wonderful baking cupboard!!

On second thought, I think this might be my more specific personal motto:

Want to know what I used to help me organize?  I ended up purchasing all of the organizing containers from Storables.

Jar for cupcake liners:

click here for where to buy online

Containers for sprinkles:

click here for where to buy online

Containers for flour, sugar, etc.

click here for where to buy online

Bins for holding wet & dry measuring, food coloring, and sprinkles containers:

click here for where to buy online

Sugar Cookies

There are so many traditions and fun activities to do during the holidays, but my favorite one of all is making cookies, specifically cookie cutter cookies.  Every holiday season my mom and I would transform the kitchen into cooking baking central where we would mix, frost, decorate, and best of all, sneak bites of cookie dough in between batches.  As an adult, holiday cookie baking has looked different for me every year. Some years I have made them at my mom's house or sadly made them on my own when we were living in San Diego (although that's not as fun, but can be made more joyful by blasting the Christmas music while baking) and one year I even got Nick to make cookies with me. Last year my friend Chelsea and her baby came over to bake with B and I:

Aren't they the cutest in their matching bib & apron!

Baya did a lot of tasting, but very little baking!

This year seemed a little more special than others.  The reason... 2 year old B is able to actually bake with me.  She has been helping me "make cookies" for a few months now and it warms my heart every time.  She gets her measuring cup and teaspoon and bowl and big spoon and she "mixes" her ingredients while I'm mixing mine.  She even sneaks bites of her cookie dough (which I woudn't recommend since I only give her the dry ingredients).

Before we started the cookie cutter process, we needed to make the dough and let it chill overnight in the fridge.

Making cookies is serious business!

2 year old B had to be sure she was wearing the proper attire.

This apron and hat were made by a teacher I used to work with.  She makes the most beautiful and adorable kitchen clothing and makes sure that all of us teachers with kids have matching bibs and aprons (see the photo of Chelsea above).

Baby M helped pick out which cookie cutters we were going to use.

Then it was time to start baking!  The girls and I spent the afternoon with my mom, friend Patsy, and even my dad took part in the decorating and frosting cookies.

The first step was to roll out the dough and cut out the cookies.

2 year old B quickly got tired of cutting out the cookies and enjoyed decorating the cookies much more.

Did I say decorating cookies?  I meant pouring decorations on the cookies.

Here is her very green and very sprinkled tree.

Even baby M tried to get in on the cookie decorating.

We decorated half the cookies and baked them and the other half we baked without decorations so we could frost them.  2 year old B chose 2 cookies that she frosted to death.  One for daddy and one for mommy... so sweet!

That's not chocolate frosting... Apparently B is into mixing colors!

Somebody learned how to sneak licks of frosting very quickly.

Everyone has their own favorite sugar cookie recipe.  Here is mine.

1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 cups flower

1. beat together butter & sugar
2. add the egg
3. first mix the sour cream and baking soda, then add to the butter, sugar, and egg mixture
4. add the baking powder and flour
5. the dough gets dry by the end so you will need to hand knead it to make sure it is all mixed together
6. wrap in plastic wrap and chill overnight
7. bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, but don't over bake them or you will have hard cookies and those never taste quite right

P.S. I don't save cookie cutter cookies just for the holidays.  One year I made special cookies for a few of my friends for a girls night.  Check out the martini glasses, red heel, and wedding dress for that bride-to-be:

Merry Christmas everyone!