#SJbakes

So, I bought the Martha Stewart Cookies cookbook yesterday and am DETERMINED to bake loads and loads this holiday season. Right now I'm 2 for 2 on days with the cookbook and baking. 

Yesterday I picked a real winner to test in my tiny kitchen!! I made Martha'a rosemary butter cookies. Whoa. Boy. 

These were pretty magnificent, if I do say so myself... The recipe was pretty simple, and I had all of the ingredients handy with  the exception of rosemary. 

Tonight I made cream cheese blondie swirl brownies. Although they are yummy, they don't hold a candle to the rosemary butter cookies. Those cookies are things that dreams are made of....

But the real challenge when baking is my kitchen. My kitchen has no drawers. None. And it has THIS much counter space:

So yeah... Baking is a challenge. Everything has to be clean from the get go, and I have to wipe down and load the dishwasher as I go. Luckily I have some pretty quality kitchen gear that makes working in the kitchen easier. 

Some basic kitchen stuff to help baking in a tiny space:

Duralex stacking bowls. A bunch of sizes are great to have handy. I use them for mixing, serving, storage. Great functionality and take up little space.

A hand mixer. You don't need a fancy stand mixer if you bake a lot. Sure, a stand mixer is nice and has a large capacity for mixing, but they take up a lot of room and don't do much more than a good ol' hand mixer!

Good measuring spoons and cups (including a liquid measure). When baking, you have to be accurate so you need a full set to get the job done. 

Finally, I would highly recommend a cooling rack. This seems like just one more thing to clutter the kitchen, but it is a game changer when baking cookies in bulk!

So, go forth and bake! Get a good cookbook (I also love the Magnolia Bakery cookbooks), gather some basic kitchenwares, and make friends!!