Jessica Mitton - Some Good Sweet Treats

Be prepared! It isnt just good advice for Girl Guides and Boy Scoutsit makes life in the kitchen a whole lot easier, too! Starting with the right appliances and kitchen tools will make the baking experience run as smoothly as syrup from the jar. There are a few must-have favourites that I find make the process of creating my sweet treats as enjoyable as consuming them (Well, almost!). While these tools are useful to have around, they arent all necessary for every recipe in the cookbook.

CHEFS KNIFE . No baker, cook, or chef is ever far from their chefs knife. With just a little practice, its long, curved blade makes slicing and dicing a joy. From chopping nuts and dried fruit to the ever-challenging task of removing the seed from an avocado (a quick slice in the middle of the seed, twist, and ta-da!), the chefs knife is your versatile best friend.

CUTTING BOARD . Critical for protecting your work surfaces as well as keeping your ingredients organized and safe from cross-contamination, a cutting board is a must for the sweet-treat baker-maker. Many of the recipes in this book involve chopping delicious dried fruit or nuts. The All-Good Granola, on page 119, is one of my favourites and has the best texture when you finely chop the dried fruit and nuts.

BAKING SHEETS . Since no cookie is getting baked without a baking sheet, I have more than one tucked away in my kitchen! I prefer to always have a large baking sheet on hand. (You know, because it will hold more delicious cookies!) A large baking sheet will come in handy for many of my cookie recipes, as the final quantities will vary.

BLENDER/FOOD PROCESSOR . Using a blender or food processor will help ensure you get a smooth, creamy texture. It can help combine ingredients, make flours, batters, frostings, and it has many more uses. Too many to name! I absolutely love these appliances. It can be helpful in many recipes, including my Simple Chocolate Avocado Pudding on page 61 and Sweet-Potato Chocolate Cake on page 79.

BOWLS . About to embark on a baking extravaganza? Yeah, youre gonna need bowls. Lots of bowls. Small, medium, and large! I find it very useful to have a couple of bowls readily within reach when I begin baking. They come in especially handy when you need to separate wet and dry ingredients. Youll find a few recipes in this cookbook that require this approach.

MEASURING CUPS AND SPOONS . Put simply, without these tools, your sweet treats just wont measure up! Never begin baking without measuring cups and spoons close at hand. Nothing turns a sweet-treat recipe into a gooey mess more quickly than adding the wrong amount of a certain ingredient. Baking is creative, but its also scientific. All the recipes in this book are the result of trial and error, and much of the error came from putting the wrong amount of an ingredient into the mix. Having a set of measuring cups and spoons around will ensure you get your measurements just right and that the end result will have the perfect texture and flavour.

MUFFIN, LOAF, AND CAKE PANS . Delicious sweet treats come in all shapes and sizes, so treat yourself to a range of muffin, loaf, and cake pans! These pans will be necessary for recipes like my Banana Nut Chocolate Cinnamon Muffins (page 72) and Banana Bread (page 34). And youll want a 9-inch round cake pan to create a British favourite, Parkin Cake (page 85).

NUT-MILK BAG . How do you milk a nut? With a nut-milk bag! While its not necessary to make your own for recipes in this cookbookyou can purchase a wide selection of nut milks off the shelf these daysthe more natural the better. I love making my own Homemade Almond Milk, using the recipe found on page 20. Dont have a nut-milk bag on hand? You can always double over cheesecloth to strain your milk.