“Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays…” And by home, that song definitely meant the kitchen. The kitchen is where holiday memories happen, whether it’s decorating sugar cookies with the kids, sipping eggnog in the evenings or trying to master grandma’s secret recipes. Before the madness of the season descends, stock up on a few essentials (and a few “just because” treats) and get your kitchen ready for a season of baking adventures. Cue the holiday music.
1. DIY Kitchen Towel: With lots of baking comes many, many messes. But when towels are this easy and fun to personalize, you won’t even mind wiping up yet another shower of sprinkles. (via Brit + Co)
2. Snowflake Dough Cutters ($15): Cover a pie with these lacy embellishments for some serious kitchen cred. It also looks like a sneaky way to dress up a store-bought pie when the holiday season gets too stressful for homemade treats.
3. Silpat Silicone Cookie Sheet Liners (from $22): Save yourself from last-minute trips to the store to get wax paper or spray grease and invest in one of these cookie sheet liners. The French swear these liners are the secret ingredient to pastry perfection… and they do seem to know what they are talking about when it comes to baking.
4. Milk Bottle Market List ($10): Stick this cute notepad on your fridge to make sure you are stocked up on all the essentials like flour, eggs and butter. Lots and lots of butter.
5. Customizable Cookie Stamp ($15): The set is equipped with the entire alphabet so you can personalize your cookies with every single lyric from “Jingle Bells.”.
6. Stone Canisters ($10): This is the year to finally get all your spices and baking supplies out of that ugly plastic packaging and into something a little more counter-friendly. The wooden lid seals the containers and you can always print off little labels so you don’t mix up your cinnamon with your nutmeg.
7. Five Ingredient Baking by Jennifer McHenry ($20): How many times have your baking aspirations been crushed by an ingredient list a mile long? When you don’t have the time or budget to spend on lengthy recipes, grab some ideas out of this awesome cookbook and check holiday baking off your to-do list.
8. DIY Mini Cupcake Stand: You put a lot of work into decorating those little cupcakes so obviously they deserve to be displayed in style. Or if you know a budding baker, DIY a few for a fun, personalized set of bakeware. (via Brit + Co)
9. Staub Cherry Ceramic Bowls (from $13): Great for separating out ingredients, these bright red bowls are also the perfect size for ice cream, cereal or smoothies. But mostly ice cream.
10. Le Creuset Apple Tarte Tartin Pan ($165): Any baking enthusiast knows Le Creuset is famous for offering slow, steady heating, so tarts, pies, cobblers and quiches are evenly cooked.
11. DIY Painted Wooden Spoons: Careful, once you give your wooden spoons a color-blocked makeover, all your other utensils are going to be jealous. Pick up an inexpensive set of wooden spoons and paint them just in holiday colors to get the holiday spirit going strong. (via Brit + Co)
12. Personalized Cookie Cutters ($15): Forget plain old stars and circles — with this set of cookie cutters, you can really let your creativity loose. Start with one of the basic shapes and then switch things up by adding words, cut outs and stamps to really make your treats stand out.
13. Giant Gem Speaker ($40): The right tunes are essential to a good baking party, especially during the holidays. It just so happens that Brit + Co has a fantastic Holiday Baking Playlist that will have you dancing around the kitchen and spreading frosting like nobody’s business.
14. Maelle Rolling Pin ($18): Whether your holiday baking plans involve intricate pastries or making sugar cookies with the kids, every kitchen needs deserves one of these pretty, hand-painted rolling pins.
15. Milk Mixing Bowl Set ($65): Get your cameras ready because with mixing bowls this classy, you’re going to want to Instagram your entire baking adventure, from flour sifting to the grand finale.
16. St. Jude Spatula ($13): Not only is this spatula totally festive, it is also helping out for a good cause. For every St. Jude spatula purchased, 25% of the purchase price gets donated to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital which is a pretty cool way to celebrate the holiday spirit.
17. Polka Dot Recipe Box and Cards ($34): There is something deeply satisfying about following a recipe off a paper card. Maybe it reminds us of grandma’s baking. Or maybe it’s because spilled milk on a recipe is “charming” whereas spilled milk on an iPad doesn’t go over so well.
18. Painted Amaryllis Measuring Cups ($38): These measuring cups are so pretty, you won’t want to put them away when the baking is over. If you’re more about cuteness than accuracy, these little beauties would make great kitchen decor in between baking sessions.
19. Vivid Measuring Spoons ($19): There is a time for eyeing that “teaspoon of salt,” and there is a time to measure things out. You might be doing more of the latter with these colorful measuring spoons in the kitchen.
20. Pastry Blender ($15): Chop your way to pie crust perfection with this well-designed cutter that won’t give you wrist cramps while you work.
21. Candy Rock Cupcake Platter ($22): The kitchen sometimes get neglected in the holiday decorating madness, which is why these big gem cupcake platters are so perfect for the season.
22. Printable Favor Boxes: The best part about baking is giving away leftovers. Print off a bunch of these cute labels ahead of time and hand out boxes of treats to your guests as they head home. Yep, best hostess of the year goes to you. (via Almost Makes Perfect)
What essentials would you add to this list? Tell us what you’re looking forward to baking in the comments below!
Kate Thorn is an illustrator, foodie, photographer, and blogger at Create & Kate. She loves creating art, traveling, and all things chocolate. A native to the Great Northwest, she is currently living in London and pretending to be a mature grad student.
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