by Heather Wagner

Created on: February 17, 2010

The kids get home from school and want cookies, but when you go to your pantry you have nothing in there to make the cookies.That can be a real bummer for you and the kids. And you really don't want to go out to the store to get a box mix, since home-made is always better. For baking every baker needs to keep a few key ingredients on have at all times. And most if not all of these ingredients are just used to make cookies, you can make brownies, or bread, or muffins.

For the cold side we have:

- eggs

- milk

- butter (at least 1 pound)

For the dry side we have:

- flour ,all purpose (double check the bag when buying, if it says bread or self-rising don't get it)

- sugar, white, powdered, and brown

- salt

- baking powder

- baking soda

- vanilla extract

- spices (i would recommend cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and nutmeg. All ground)

I would also suggest that you keep some of your favorite fillings on hand. Like your favorite chocolate chips, nuts, and/or dried fruits. Also in your freezer you can keep frozen fruit for muffins, such as blueberries, raspberries, or strawberries. Most grocery stores carry frozen fruit next to or near the ice creams and frozen desserts. And if while your at the store they have a sale on brown or going bad bananas grab a bunch or 2. Once at home you can peel the bananas, mash or dice them up and throw them in the freezer. These keep for a long time, as long as you keep them in the freezer and pull them out only when you need them. You can do the same with apples and peaches. Its cheaper to buy them by the bushel at peak season and then in the winter you can have fresh home-made apple bread, pancakes or muffins.

For the serious baker, some other things to keep on hand would be:

- heavy whipping cream

- dried herbs or fresh from the garden herbs

- almond extract

- food coloring

- dry yeast

- panko bread crumbs

Most of these things you won't use on a regular basis unless you bake everything fresh everyday. Then yes, keep them on hand. Other wise the main ingredients are all you need to bake pretty much anything. Don't forget to be creative when you are baking, and have fun with it.

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