What every 22-year-old baker should have in their kitchen cabinet

Why hello again! My first post focused on some of the basics of a crafting space so I thought that today I could dive a little into the other side of The Patterned Paper Plate: baking. There are a few essentials that every young home baker needs, but it doesn't take much! I should preface this by saying that this list is coming from the brain of someone who is not vegan or gluten-free and does not have any food allergies. Please feel free to adapt this list to account for any of your needs!

Lets start with the obvious. Ingredients:
 - Flour (I personally use your basic, run of the mill, all-purpose flour unless a recipe is painfully specific and can only be made with another type such as bread or self-rising flour, but I almost never have those on hand and would have to purchase them specifically for a baking project.)
 - Granulated Sugar
 - Brown Sugar
 - Baking Soda
 - Eggs
​ - Vegetable Oil
 - Baking Powder
 - Salted Butter (Okay we have to have a small talk here about butter. I have NEVER in my whole baking life used unsalted butter. I am religiously opposed to it. I don't care if a recipe calls for unsalted butter. Just use salted butter. You already buy salted butter for spreading on your toast so why buy a whole different kind of butter for baking? Trust me friends.)
 - Salt
 - Vanilla
 - Cinnamon
 - Chocolate Chips
 - Baking Cocoa
 - Chopped Nuts (Obviously unless you are allergic. Use your brains on this one.)
 - Boxed brownie/cake mix (Gasp! Yes I did just say boxed mixes. I am not fancy. I am a HUGE proponent of fancying up a basic mix and giving it new life. I am perpetually on the fence about canned frosting because they've got some awesome flavors out there and its so easy to just pull that plastic cover off and spread it on. But its also really not hard to put some butter, vanilla and confectioner's sugar in a bowl and mix it up and I think the homemade taste is worth it 9 times out of 10.)
 - Yeast??? (This one deserves some question marks because it is a baking essential, but really depends on the type of baking that you like to do. I bake things that require yeast such as breads or cinnamon rolls maybe 2-3 times a year so usually just buy yeast when I need it. If bread is your thing then yes, please have it in stock!)

I think the ingredients listed above are more than enough to get yourself started. I consider myself slightly above an amateur baker and even I don't have much more than this in my cabinet. 

Now lets move on. Some supplies:
 - 9 by 13 baking pan (This is the typical size you would make brownies or a box cake in; I personally prefer non-stick metal bakeware, but if glass is your thang then go crazy!)
 - Baking Tray 
 - Silicone flexible spatula (Like the kind you would use to scrape batter out of a bowl.)
 - Long, flat metal spatula (For spreading frosting)
 - Mixer (This one may be pushing it for some people, I know. Either a hand mixer or a stand mixer would be amazing, but if that is just not in your price range or you seriously don't care, a whisk will do. But don't come crying to me when you are trying to whip up buttercream by hand.)
 - Cooling rack
​ - Bowls
 - Spoons
 - Measuring Cups 

And finally for the FUN STUFF! Decoration stuff:
 - Sprinkles (Listen to me. You can NEVER have too many sprinkles.)
 - Cupcake Liners (You can also never have too many of these. Get all the fun colors and patterns!)
 - Food Coloring (I personally prefer gel food coloring because it's very concentrated and typically provides a stronger color with less dye than liquid coloring would.)
 - Frosting Piping Tips (To start off I would say just have one star tip and one round tip. These are two simple, but different frosting looks to get you started.)
- Frosting Piping Bags (These may also seem a bit much, but a regular plastic bag just won't cut it, especially if you have a thicker frosting. Piping bags are meant to withstand the tension of frosting being forced through them. Sandwich bags aren't.)

There you have it! So I'm sure this list is not exhaustive and there will definitely be things you will need to go out and buy for specific baking projects, but this seems just enough for a baker starting out at home. You don't need much to be able to start baking! 

 - Rebecca