Friday Funday Baking Essentials

As we get ready for the weekend, the first weekend of Spring Break no less, I can’t help but get excited for some desperately needed downtime. Most students will use this break to get some much-needed sleep and hang out with friends. Though I plan to do all that too, I’m really more excited for the free time I will have to devote to my true passion…baking!

Friday Funday will from here on out be devoted to my favorite and most simple baking from scratch recipes. But before we can start baking we need to have our baking essentials ready to go. I’ve compiled a list of all of my baking necessities that are a good idea to invest in if you don’t have them already. Trust me, you will never regret having too many mixing bowls.

My Baking Essentials

You cannot cook or bake without the right tools. First and foremost you need mixing tools. From left to right: Whisk, egg separator (for egg white recipes), spatula, measurement spoons, wooden spoon, rubber spatula, flour spoon.

Second to mixing tools, you need mixing bowls. I prefer the large measuring cups so that you can actually use the bowl when measuring your ingredients. However, I also use my larger plastic bowl for bigger recipes. You can never have too many bowls! Most recipes require dry ingredients to be separate from wet so at least two good sized bowls are needed.

Any baker must have an electric mixer. You will use it for almost every recipe so it is worth the investment. My Sunbeam stand mixer was about $80 but if you prefer you can get a hand mixer for under $30.

Next up for any baker: Get a good roll of parchment paper. I use this brown one because it is over safe (very important!). It is pretty cheap too, about three dollars a roll and it’ll last quite a while. You’ll never regret using parchment paper on your pans to avoid being stuck with burnt cookie residue that you can’t get off.

Last but not least, you need good containers. Most baking recipes are large, meaning you will likely have a lot of cookies and cupcakes left over (sometimes). I like flat containers like the one below, especially for cupcakes. You can fit about a dozen cupcakes in and the frosting won’t get ruined.

There are some essential baking ingredients to always have on hand as well such as all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, almond, anise and vanilla extracts, vegetable oil, but more on that to come!

Hope my essentials help you out as we start our baking journey! Check back next Friday Funday for some yummy coconut treats!