The Christmas Baking Pantry: What to Have Ready

Christmas baking may still feel a little way off, but there is one job worth doing before the season gets busy: checking the pantry.

If you make the same fruit cake, pudding, biscuits or family favourites each year, September is a good time to find those recipes, see what they actually call for and make one combined list.

There is no need to start baking yet. And there is certainly no need to turn the kitchen into Christmas in September.

A simple pantry check now just means you are less likely to discover later that the glacé cherries have nearly disappeared, the pecans were used months ago or the mixed spice expired sometime last Christmas.

Here is what is worth checking.

Start with the recipes, not the shopping list

Before buying anything, pull out the recipes you genuinely expect to make.

That might be the handwritten fruit cake recipe that comes out every year, a Christmas pudding, cassata, shortbread, gingerbread, rocky road or something newer that has found its way into the family tradition.

Read through each one and write down what you need. Then combine the quantities.

You may be surprised by how much overlap there is. Several recipes might call for almonds, glacé cherries, sultanas or mixed spice, for example. Adding everything together makes it much easier to see what you already have and what you will eventually need.

It also helps avoid the opposite problem: buying another packet of something only to discover two unopened ones hiding at the back of the pantry.

Start with the recipes you actually plan to make, then combine the ingredients into one master list.

Glacé fruit

For many traditional Christmas recipes, this is the ingredient category most easily forgotten until baking day.

Depending on what you make, check your supply of:

• glacé cherries

• glacé ginger

• glacé pineapple

• glacé apricots

• mixed glacé fruit

• glacé citrus peel

Look at the recipe rather than relying on memory. A fruit cake you have made for years can require considerably more glacé fruit than you think.

Check opened packets or containers too. Make sure there is enough left for the quantity you intend to bake and that everything has been stored properly.

If you enjoy decorating cakes with glacé fruit, remember to allow a little extra rather than using every last piece in the mixture.

Dried fruit

Dried fruit forms the backbone of many Christmas cakes and puddings, but the exact combination varies enormously from one recipe to another.

Your list might include:

• sultanas

• raisins

• currants

• dates

• dried apricots

• prunes

• figs

This is one category where checking quantities is particularly helpful. A recipe calling for several different dried fruits can quickly add up to quite a substantial amount.

If you have opened packets left from earlier in the year, check that the fruit still smells and tastes as it should and has been kept well sealed.

Check both the varieties and quantities you need. Several Christmas recipes can quickly use up the same pantry favourites.

Nuts

Nuts are another ingredient that can quietly disappear from the pantry long before Christmas.

Almonds, pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts and macadamias all appear in festive recipes, whether stirred through cakes and puddings, folded into biscuits or used for decorating.

Check both the type and form specified in your recipes. You may need whole almonds for decorating one cake but chopped nuts for another.

Most importantly, taste nuts that have been sitting in the pantry for some time. Their natural oils mean they do not keep indefinitely, particularly once a packet has been opened.

If you are buying nuts well ahead of baking day, keep them tightly sealed in a cool place. Refrigerating or freezing nuts can also help keep them fresh for longer.

The baking basics

These are rarely the exciting ingredients, which is precisely why they are so easy to overlook.

Check:

• plain flour

• self-raising flour

• baking powder

• bicarbonate of soda

• brown sugar

• caster sugar

• icing sugar

• cocoa

• cornflour

Pay particular attention to baking powder if yours has been open for a long time. It is one of those pantry staples we assume will always be there, but older raising agents may not perform as well as fresh ones.

It is also worth checking how much brown sugar you actually have. The packet that looks half-full can turn out to contain little more than one very solid lump.

Spices and flavourings

Christmas baking has a way of reaching into the back row of the spice cupboard.

Depending on your recipes, look for:

• ground cinnamon

• mixed spice

• ground ginger

• nutmeg

• ground cloves

• vanilla

• almond essence

• citrus zest or extract

Spices do not suddenly become unusable on a particular date, but they gradually lose their fragrance and flavour. Open the jar and smell them. If the aroma is barely noticeable, replacing them before baking season is worthwhile.

This is also a good time to check the quantities in those very small bottles of vanilla and other flavourings. A teaspoon here and another there can empty a bottle surprisingly quickly.

The everyday baking basics can be the easiest things to overlook until you are halfway through a recipe.

Chocolate and the extras

Then there are the ingredients that depend entirely on what your household likes to make.

Chocolate, coconut, golden syrup, honey, treacle, condensed milk, marzipan and decorating ingredients can all find their way onto the festive baking list.

Rather than trying to stock every possible ingredient “just in case”, add these only after you have looked through your recipes.

That is really the secret to a useful Christmas pantry: preparing for the things you actually make, rather than creating a cupboard full of ingredients you might use.

A simple Christmas baking pantry checklist

Before the busy season begins, work through this list:

Recipes

• Find the recipes you plan to make.

• Decide roughly how many batches or cakes you will need.

• Combine repeated ingredients into one master list.

Fruit

• Check dried fruit varieties and quantities.

• Check glacé fruit varieties and quantities.

• Check opened packets for freshness and storage.

Nuts

• Check which varieties each recipe requires.

• Taste older nuts before planning to use them.

• Note whether you need whole, chopped or sliced nuts.

Baking staples

• Check flour and raising agents.

• Check sugars.

• Check cocoa and other dry ingredients.

Flavour

• Smell older spices to make sure they still have good aroma.

• Check vanilla and other flavourings.

• Note any fresh citrus you will need closer to baking day.

Recipe-specific extras

• Chocolate

• coconut

• syrups or treacle

• condensed milk

• marzipan

• decorating ingredients

Then put the list away

Perhaps the nicest part of getting organised early is that you do not have to do anything else yet.

Once you know what you have and what you will need, put the recipes and master list somewhere easy to find. You can gradually pick things up when it suits you, rather than trying to remember everything once December becomes busy.

And if your list includes nuts, dried fruit or glacé fruit, that is where we can help.

For now, though, the important part is simply knowing the pantry will be ready when you are.

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Related reading: How to Enjoy Glacé Fruit Beyond Christmas Baking