6 Baking Hacks for the Holidays

Created October 31, 2023

As the holidays approach, maybe you’re thinking that you don't have enough time in your schedule for all the baking you love to do. No worries! With these quick baking hacks and shortcuts, you’ll have plenty of time to bake your holiday treats and eat them, too! You might even have time left over to tackle the rest of your to-dos …or put your feet up and enjoy a well-deserved warm cup of peppermint tea—we’ll let you decide!

Use Top Quality Ingredients

A surefire way to make sure your cookies look and taste great is to use the best ingredients available. Quality ingredients like fine cocoa, pure vanilla and real butter, are not only easier to work with, but they reduce variations in flavor, texture or freshness, so your recipe is more likely to turn out as expected, every time you bake it.

Stock Up on Quality Tools

In addition to ingredients, baking ease also comes down to the quality of your supplies, too. We recommend investing in high-quality bakeware and kitchen tools—stock up on a few that you know you’ll use throughout the year. When you use products that you can trust, you’ll get more consistent results, which saves you from having to bake a recipe over again. Plus, they’re typically more durable and heat-resistant, making both baking and cleanup a breeze.

Use Room Temperature Ingredients

Before starting your holiday baking, set butter, eggs and other dairy ingredients out on your counter to bring them to room temperature. This baking tip will help create a smoother batter and better incorporation of ingredients, resulting in softer and more evenly baked treats. Some ingredients require more time than others, but most things can be brought to room temp in 30 minutes or less.

Freeze Your Cookie Dough

Here’s a great holiday baking hack if you're super short on time: prepare your cookie dough in advance and freeze it in portioned cookie-sized scoops. This way, you can bake fresh cookies whenever you want, without the need for extensive prep work. Just pop the frozen dough onto a baking sheet and bake as usual, adding a couple of extra minutes to the baking time.

No time to wait for that dough to freeze? Try starting off with one of our cookie or baking and cake mixes instead. They already have all the quality dry ingredients you need to get started in half the time.

Flour Your Cookie Cutters

Holiday baking is always the perfect time to pull out your cookie cutters—that’s nothing new. But here’s a holiday baking hack that you might not have tried. Dip your cookie cutters in flour before each use. It’ll help prevent the dough from sticking plus allow you to create clean and precise shapes with minimal fuss.

Try This Double Broiler Stunt Double

A double broiler is handy for melting chocolate for making ganache but not everyone has one in their kitchen. So here’s a holiday baking tip we love: try using a heatproof bowl placed over a pot of simmering water. Just make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. This double boiler hack will help you melt ingredients gently and avoid burning.