This One Budget Buy Is Here to Save All Our Holiday Baking

Getting your holiday baking list ready in advance? Good for you! I can see you loading up on flour and butter, eggs and sugar, vanilla and nuts and chocolate chips. But you're missing one crucial, inexpensive thing. And I'm here to put it on your list so you can win all your holiday baking this season. 

It's time to go all in on precut parchment paper.

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I'm sure you have a perfectly good roll of parchment paper in your drawer, and the idea of buying and storing one more thing is probably not on your list but hear me out. Precut parchment will absolutely become indispensable in your baking, especially for the holidays when you bake at scale and in all sorts of vessels. And while it is fine to struggle with keeping that rolled parchment unrolled when you are doing your regular small baking, the more baking you do, the more annoying it gets. 

In other words, those little extra moments add up, and so do those stresses, and the holidays shouldn't pile on any more stress.

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I buy all sorts of precut style sheets for my baking. In fact, the more variety I have the more ways I find to use them. Some of the pre-cut parchment options even include side tabs to make removing things from pans a breeze! Take stock of the kind of cooking you are planning for this season, and order accordingly. You may not need all the varieties mentioned here, but even if you just go all-in on sheet pan parchment, I'm sure you will find it a gamechanger.

For baking: I buy large stacks of the full-pan size for my sheet pans to make endless batches of cookies a breeze, and to use as sling-style liners for baking pans for bar cookies and brownies.

Extra uses: These are also great for creating envelope-style packets for oven cooking, or to lay over the top of things like lasagnas or other casseroles before freezing to help protect from freezer burn.

To buy: Comfylife Parchment Cookie Paper Baking Sheets ($14.99 for 120 sheets), amazon.com

For baking: Precut 9- and 8-inch squares go in the bottom of my square cake pans, and 6-inch squares become instantly beautiful substitutes for muffin tin liners.

Extra uses: I also use the 8- or 9-inch squares for making homemade tamales, saving me from having to source cornhusks. If I am putting together boxes of treats to gift to pals, these also make good layers to prevent treats from sticking to each other. 

To buy: Zenlogy Parchment Paper for Square Pans ($15.99 for 200 sheets), amazon.com

For baking: Rounds of 8- and 9-inches line the bottom of my round cake pans for flawless and stress-free turning out every time, but also become layers between cookies and other treats in my round cookie tins or make pretty bundles when tied around a small stack of cookies. 12-inch parchment rounds make lining pie crusts for blind baking a cinch, but are also a great base for freeform galettes and pizzas.

Extra uses: If you are doing any stovetop cooking of vegetables and like to have control over liquid evaporation, cut a small hole cut in the middle of a round and lay it right on top!

To buy: SMARTAKE Round Parchment Paper ($10.99 for 200 sheets), amazon.com