Getting Ready For Holiday Baking | Essential Kitchen Gadgets

I'm already sorting out my recipes and menus for the coming Holiday season, and getting ready for Holiday baking projects.  Here's a quick selection of some of the holiday baking essential kitchen gadgets.

In my kitchen, Thanksgiving is always about pies, so lets start with some pastry tips and tools.

This is the first thing I grab when I am working with pastry.  Every kitchen should have a Conimar Kitchen 18 by 24-Inch Helper Pastry Mat, Non-Slip - until you have used it, you won't believe how well it helps you to roll out pastry.  It keeps your bench clean and clear too.

It stays put on the bench while you work on it too. I also use this mat to roll out the fondant layer for my Christmas cake too - that stuff is sticky, you don't want that everywhere, and this mat really helps with that task too.

The handy size guides help you get just the right size for your pie plate, every time.


My next favorite pastry gadget is a OXO Good Grips Dough Blender - I make my pastry by hand, rather than in a food processor, if you do too, and you have one of those old wire bendy ones, treat yourself to an inexpensive modern one, they are sturdier and get the job done quicker. I use mine to slice egg and avocado for salad too.


The of course, last but not least, no point in going to all the trouble to make pie if you can't get it to come out of the pan and serve nicely, so if you've not seen this very reasonably priced OvenStuff Non-Stick 9 Inch Pie Pan Two Piece Set, you won't know what you've been missing!

You may also like to check out some fun recipes at my Thanksgiving Treats page, and if you have a slow cooker, you might want to come and take a look at my Slow Cooker Turkey Recipes.  Such a good idea to use your slow cooker at this time of the year, when your oven is already full with other goodies.

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You may also like to try this delicious and easy Lemon Polenta Cake recipe.