my life gifts - Gifts Articles 10390

Baby Personalized Blankets
Have you ever seen something as nice as the range of Baby Personalized Blankets on offer? They make a great bespoke gift for a new baby. These sweet blankets come in a range of beautiful colours and designs so no matter how fussy the new mum might be, she will love a bespoke baby gift therefore Baby Personalized Blankets are the perfect choice as any mum will be well aware of the extra bother you have gone to. A baby can never have enough blankets and they often have a favourite one as they get older. It couldn`t be easier getting hold of one, you can find them for sale everywhere but they are most common on the web. It is just like buying anything else all you need remember is let the seller know the exact message you would like embroiderred or printed your chosen blanket. Just because they are personalised they are not very expensive at all, only a few pence more than the bog standard ones. Give the new arrival something special that can be kept as a keepsake for the future.

Custom Badges
Custom badges can be found on the internet with many suppliers offering a professional and affordable design service. Badge suppliers and designers have the relevant experience as they deal with artwork all day, every day and so we know the best way to achieve effective results in terms of both appearance and print. The team of designers will have a wide range of skills from illustration to layouts in order to handle the different aspects of your design requirements that you are looking for. If you do want to use a professional design and illustration service rather than your own designs, you can get it for as little as �95.They have the ability to create awesome logos, T-Shirts, Posters, flyers etc for your band or business as well as the popular Custom Badges. Before the end design is finished they will offer unlimited changes until you are happy with your design to ensure your satisfaction. Badge makers supply some of the biggest companies and bands around! The good prices are usually found on the internet.

As a busy working mother, I?m short on time, especially during the holidays, but baking Christmas cookies is a family tradition I?m unwilling to give up.

Over the years, I?ve come up with many ways to make the process of baking a large variety of cookies go much smoother and take less time out of my busy life.

You may want to start by checking out my 6-day program for hassle-free Christmas cookie baking ( http://www.christmascookiesareforgiving.com/hassle-free.php ). In addition to the 6-step method, I?ve found an efficient way to prepare a large variety of cookie dough with minimum fuss by setting up a cookie assembly line. The best part about this process is that you can make 12 different batches of cookies and only have to wash the dishes once! This process assumes that you have already chosen your recipes and gone grocery shopping. You will want to use your longest available expanse of countertop for this. My assembly line turns two corners as it winds around my small kitchen, but that is fine.

You may need to make some adjustments depending on your individual recipes, but for most recipes, you can set up your assembly line like so:

Flour Line:

Large mixing bowl
Measuring cups and spoons
Fork for stirring
Flour
Baking powder and baking soda
Salt
Cocoa powder
Spices
Any other dry ingredients that are added to the flour in your recipes

Butter Line

Another large mixing bowl (or the bowl from your stand mixer)
A second set of measuring cups and spoons
Electric mixer
Wooden spoon
Rubber spatula
Butter, shortening, margarine and/or cream cheese
Sugar (white and brown)
Eggs
Vanilla and other extracts
Chunks such as raisins, nuts, chocolate chips
Rolled oats
Any other ingredients that are added to the butter and eggs in your recipes
Plastic wrap
Felt-tip marker

To avoid transferring flavors from one recipe to another, you will start with basic recipes that have no spices, chocolate, or other strongly flavored ingredients. Starting with your first recipe, go down the line measuring out the amount of flour, baking powder/soda and salt into one bowl. Then, combine the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla in your larger bowl as directed. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. After that, stir in any chunks.

Next, scrape down the edges of the mixing bowl so that it?s fairly clean, shape the dough into a ball, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Identify the recipe by writing its name on the plastic wrap with a felt-tip marker, and refrigerate it. If it is a slice-and-bake refrigerator cookie, form it into a log instead of a ball, according to the directions in your recipe. If you plan to bake much later, you can even freeze the dough. Most cookie doughs freeze very well. Defrost at room temperature while still wrapped in plastic wrap, and unwrap only when dough is thoroughly defrosted. Otherwise condensation could add too much moisture to your dough.

When your first batch of dough is prepared, wrapped, and stored in the refrigerator or freezer, return to the beginning of your assembly line, without washing your dishes, and begin preparing the next batch of dough. When you have prepared all the recipes that contain no spices or cocoa, move on to the recipes that contain cocoa, and finally those that contain spices. This way, you will only have to do dishes once at the end of the process, and you will have several different kinds of dough waiting to be baked.

When all your dough is prepared, then you can finally put away all your ingredients, clean up the kitchen, and do your dishes. Now if you plan to finish your baking today, you?ll have lots of space for rolling out your dough or setting out your cooling racks. If you plan to bake another day, you?re done!