Apple Cider Coffee Cake

November is here which means baking is in full swing at my house. The holidays are my favorite time of year, so you probably won't see me stepping out of my kitchen until New Years!!!! If I've learned one thing about holiday baking having a well-stocked pantry is key.

I actually keep my pantry pretty stocked throughout the year, but during the holidays it's even more important! During the holidays grocery store shelves can become quite bare rather quickly, so keeping things in stock at home is a must. I am not the type of person to run around town looking for ingredients.  

As soon as I see all the holiday baking essentials in the grocery store I immediately grab a few and stock up. Most seasonal and baking items have a long expiring date, so there's no worry about stuff going bad. 

Items I keep on hand at all times are, eggs, milk, butter, canned cooking and baking items, dry pudding mixes, flours, various sugars, pie crust, pumpkin, pie filling, canned fruit, dried fruits, chocolate chips, honey, extracts, variety of nuts, baking cocoa, oatmeal, spices, biscuit baking mix, cake mixes, muffin mixes, and I even store buttermilk in my freezer. 

If you have most of these items on hand you can pretty much whip up an easy dessert in no time. I always have last minute guests and get together's, so coming up with a dessert rather quickly happens quite a bit in my house. 

Some of you might remember last year I went to Nashville and attended the Martha White Southern Baking Retreat. While at the retreat we got our hands dirty and and baked up several recipes using assorted Martha White muffin mixes.  If I learned one thing on that retreat it's that you can create so much more than just muffins using those little mix packets. All it takes is a few pantry staples and a little imagination.   

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