Martha Stewart's Baking Basics

Martha Stewart's Countdown to Christmas is a series of short cooking and crafting videos that I just discovered.

On this page, I am sharing a basic video called, Christmas Baking Basics in which Martha shares some basic information about baking ingredients. What to choose, how to store it, and so on.

One secret that Martha Stewart shares that I use is to buy unsalted butter and to freeze it because it lasts longer that way. I particularly like doing this because I can stock up when butter is on sale.

Another thing to think about that she mentions is that spices do not last forever and she's right. I recently pulled out some pumpkin pie spice that I made a year or two ago and decided that it just wasn't as strong as it should be.  Spices do lose their strength.

Here is the video for you to enjoy. I think that it is a good refresher for experienced bakers and also an introduction for those new to baking:

Martha's videos are so beautiful, don't you think?

Happy Baking!
Brenda

Personalized Kitchen Labels For Christmas Baking

Those of you who do lots of Christmas baking and share it with friends and family need to own some of these wonderful, personalized From The Kitchen Of stickers or labels.

We found them here on Zazzle and we love how easy they are to customize. You can see on this label that we inserted the name of this blog, 'Culinary Favorites' though it is just as easy to put in your own name like Mrs. Claus, Mrs. Miracle or Martha Stewart or whatever your name just happens to be.  They would also be a great way to coordinate the baked goods at a community bake sale table.

We love the cheerful colors, the baking tools image and the slight retro feel of the tools and colors chosen in this design. How about you?

See you
in the kitchen!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Buy your own personalized kitchen labels.

10 Habits of Starbucks Coffee Drinkers

A friend discovered this fun Youtube video called 10 Habits of Starbucks Drinkers, which showcases some things you may or may not recognize from amongst your coffee drinking friends or, quite possibly, yourself.  Someone obviously had a lot of fun putting it together! Personally, I am not a coffee drinker but my family and friends would tell you that I am rather particular about my tea!

Enjoy!

See you
in the kitchen
(or at the coffee shop!)
Brenda