Short cuts to holiday baking, circa 1967

 

Here's a nifty little piece from a 1967 Christmas Family Circle magazine found in our attic.  I thought it would be fun to share this for December Daily.  The magazine itself was in pretty poor shape, but I looked through it to see if there were things I could use here in my Christmas kitchen.  And voila!  I found a couple things, of which this is one.

I thought it might be a good reminder, here at the beginning of December, to stock up on some of the necessary baking supplies.  Many of those on this list might not be ones we would ordinarily think about.  Too, some of these options have been updated.  Supermarkets have come a long way since 1967!

In my Christmas notebook, I keep a list of items to make sure I have on hand for the upcoming holiday each year.  I'm sharing it again here because it may jog someone's memory for things you'd want to be sure are in your pantry, fridge or freezer in early December.

LONG-TERM HOLIDAY SHOPPING LIST

Extra flour -- regular and gluten free
Extra sugar -- brown, white, confectioners
Corn syrup and molasses
Extra cornstarch
Extra butter
Lemons and oranges
Walnuts, pecans, sliced almonds
Raspberry and apricot jam
Baking chips -- white, semisweet, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and peanut butter
Marshmallow fluff
Evaporated milk
Sweetened condensed milk
Baking chocolate -- unsweetened squares and cocoa
Extracts -- almond, orange, lemon, maple, vanilla
Whole spices -- cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, allspice berries
Ground spices -- cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves
Almond bark -- white and chocolate
Candy -- Hershey kisses, Andes mints, candy canes, M&Ms
Colored sprinkles
Red and green colored sugar
Stretch-tite plastic wrap (best for wrapping cookie trays)
Extra foil, waxed paper, parchment paper
Cheeses -- shredded cheddar, blue cheese, ricotta, Neufchatel, mozzarella
Half-and-half cream
Bacon
Celery
Extra eggs
Frozen chopped broccoli, spinach, pureed squash
Lasagna noodles
Sour cream

As you see, I include not only baking supplies but also ingredients for freezer meals like lasagna, easy meals like butternut squash soup, and festive goodies like cheese logs.  It truly is a short cut to holiday cooking when the necessary items are already on hand!