This past year has been a struggle for our family and what was "normal" and "easy" is NOT so anymore. Since bringing my mother to live with us, our lives have been turned upside down. That includes doing all the things we took for granted. I'm complaining, but not really complaining. We are blessed that we can do what we are doing even though it causes some disruption to our routines or changes them altogether.
The point I'm trying to make is that we started to do things that don't take us out of our home as much. Mom needs constant supervision, so someone has to be with her. Preparing for Christmas this year meant not going out so much. We ended up doing things in our home so that we worked together and got to include her as well. She was more than a taste tester. .
Baking was one of those things that we decided to do more of. . We always baked, but this year saw us baking much more and sharing that baking with friends and family.
When you are gifting tins of cookies, you want to make them as presentable and pretty as possible. We are not professional bakers, but still like to make our gifts beautiful and a feast for the eyes. Uneven and lopsided cookies just don't look or present themselves as nicely. When your cookies are all the same thickness and baked just right, they make the gift that much nicer to present to your friends.
One tool that we found that has helped us immensely is this Adjustable Rolling Pin.
All our cookies this year came out the same thickness thanks to this roller. And the added silicone mat was helpful as well.
It is filled with all kinds of information and size guides to make those pies just the right size. A regular rolling pin just doesn't do that. The baking mat has sizes in Imperial and Metric measurements too. So that's a bonus for sure.
Made of stainless steel you can also chill it when working with pie crusts so that your crusts will be tender without being overworked.
I have been cooking for years and did not know that something this simple existed. Well, let me tell you that baking will be something that we will do far more often now that we are truly kitchen tooled for the occasion.
The other must have that we love and can't do without is Parchment Baking Paper. This was a game changer in our home. I don't remember being able to get this wonderful paper years ago, but now it is available everywhere and I am thankful for that.
Clean up has never been so easy! Lining baking sheets with this parchment makes your cookies slide off of the baking pan without having to grease and flour the pans ahead of time. Step savers are always welcome in this kitchen. We use it constantly now, not only for baking cookies but for anything that we bake in the oven. Scrubbing baking sheets is a thing of the past.
When you have the right tools everything is much easier and less complicated. For us, these are two of our most favorite new gadgets. They are in use weekly for sure and not relegated to some corner of the kitchen where they will never be used again. I guarantee that once you have these you will wonder how you did without them.
Are you looking for a great cookie recipe? Well let me tell you that the Linzer Cookies we made are so tasty and look so elegant that you will want to try them for sure. With Valentines Day coming up, just imagine Linzer cookies in a heart shape for all the ones you love.
You can do it and this is the recipe that I liked the best!
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| From Ali on Gimme Some Oven See Her Recipe to Make These Cookies by Clicking the Link on the Picture |
