In my family, holiday baking and giving has been a traditional thing and it was a big pleasure for my mother to get ready for her big project on holiday baking. Like my mother, I also take pleasure to maintain this tradition and try to remember those top 10 tips for holiday baking and giving, which my mother learnt through her experience.

1. The most important aspect of holiday baking and giving is that you need a whole lot of planning regarding the project. First of all, you should know that what you are going to bake and that too, in how much quantity. This is very important because depending on this plan you have to buy the ingredients.
2. When you go to the grocery shop for buying the ingredients, never think of buying conservatively. Rather, you should think of buying in comparatively large amount. If anything remains unused in your project, you might use it for some other time. But, buying less could lead you to some difficult situation, when you might require that thing.
3. When you buy, you should be particular for some items, like butter, flour, cocoa powder etc. When you bake for your home, you might consider to use margarine instead of butter or adding a little less cocoa powder. But, when you are preparing this for giving purpose, then you should use high quality items, so that it really tastes great.
4. To start your baking project, you must follow the instructions properly. It will be best to make it in a small amount, before you go for the final project. This will give you an experience to control the big baking project.
5. The rule of thumb for baking is that you should maintain the right proportion while mixing the ingredients. Anything extra or less; is going to make a large difference to your final baked product.
6. You should never forget to grease the baking sheet before you put the batter on. This is one very important thing, which we keep on forgetting. Otherwise, you may use non-stick sheets, which will not require greasing.
7. It is very difficult to predict the exact time it will take for being done. The baking time given in the recipe book could be less or even more for your oven. So, you have to check the status occasionally and until the baking is complete you have to adjust the timer also.
8. Cake decoration is an art by itself and it needs little bit of knowledge and experience. If you are not sure on how to put the layers of cream on or inside the cake, then it is better not to go for it. In such a situation, you might think of some easy decoration idea using chocolate chips or grated chocolate or strawberries etc.
9. If you consider yourself inexperienced in handling a big project for holiday baking and giving, you should think of in multiples of smaller sized projects, as these will be easy to manage and handle. This way you will also get to learn on this subject.
10. Always learn from your experience and by sharing experiences from others. Generally, your mother or grandmother should have much better ideas and tips for working on these projects.

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