Countdown to 2011: Sarah J.'s 10 Best Local Baking Resources of 2010

Seattlest will be counting down to 2011 with a series of posts on our highlights of this year and what we're looking forward to in the next. Got a list to suggest? Send it our way. See the entire series here.

I marched into 2010 with a shiny new (and long sought) pistachio-colored Kitchen-Aid standing mixer. I've always loved baking, but starting the year in a real person-sized kitchen (vs. the RV-sized studio I'd left behind) paired with my new tools and a can-do attitude, I really set out to blaze baking trails this year. I've learned a lot throughout 2010, and here are my top 10 local baking-related resources:

1. Supplies: City Kitchens. While Williams-Sonoma and the like are romantic and fun, it's clearly not practical for every purchase. City Kitchen carries all of the scrapers, cutters, and sifters you need...often with multiple brands of each. While you may want to get your big guns at appliance stores, this place is perfect for cookie cutters and gadgets.

City Kitchens, 1527 Fourth Avenue Seattle, WA 98101

2. Inspiration: Tea and Cookies. Not a baking specific blog, but Seattle local Tara Austen Weaver's inspired recipes offer up plenty of ideas, from margarita cupcakes to pumpkin bread pudding. Having written for Chow.com and Edible Seattle, I trust her to make my kitchen efforts worthwhile.

3. Inspiration: Not without Salt. This blog rules. The design is cute, the recipe index is massive, and my favorite part is the basic techniques section. Recipes are a dime a dozen, but we all wrestle with general knowledge and confidence in techniques, which she outlines and helps with. Render lard! Puff Pastry in 20 seconds! Ashley Rodriguez is a local wedding cake maker, writer, teacher and blogger, and you can learn tons just reading.

4. Art and enthusiasm: Cake Spy. Jessie Oleson the Cake Spy is the queen of the Seattle baking world in my eyes. The tiny freelance writer and illustrator (weekly column on Serious Eats) is most famous for her too cute watercolors of a cupcake character "cuppy", and has grown with a bangin' blog and her very own shop. I spotted her at a Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco a few years ago and realized she's loved the world over and we're lucky to have her. Definitely visit the shop for adorbs art and subscribe to the blog for super comprehensive roundups, reviews and recipes. Swoon.

CakeSpy Shop at 415 E. Pine St., Seattle

5. Inspiration: Joy the Baker. Joy is a self taught delight, and while she's based in Los Angeles, her sister lives in Seattle and she documents her visits, so it's practically like she's local. Her recipe index is bananas; so far I've only tried some breads and cookies but they've been top notch. Mostly, she's adorable and makes baking sound so fun that you constantly want to join the party.

6. Supplies: Le Creuset. Did you know they have an outlet in Lynnwood? There is, and it's practically heaven! Excluding the whole 38 miles and 44 mins away and really crowded and in Marysville thing. But once you fight through the throngs of bizarros trying to buy cheap juicy couture, it's ZEN. Stock up on bakeware and as a reward for braving the outlets get the matching sugar and creamer set too.

10600 Quil Ceda Blvd # 326, Tulalip

7. Inspiration: Rainy Day Gal. Jenny is "living well in the emerald city", and the writer, mom, cook and former teacher is giving us lots of recipe help along the way. The category of "yums" on her blogs is all sorts of cooking dishes that look tummy yummy, with lots of baked goods mixed in.

8. Education: Cookbooks. You can find cookbooks all over the city, of course. But one of my favorite places to find gems is Half Price Bookstore. In general the store is one of my happy places, but the cooking section is full of surprises. There are some staples you should get to anchor your collection (might I suggest Martha's Cookies and Flour?) but half of the fun is browsing and finding something that draws your eye, because holycrapcake...not much beats getting excited about and buying a new cookbook, right?

9. Inspiration: Tokyo Five Foot Eater. Okay, so this author isn't in Seattle either, but Kim Nguyen lived here in college so that counts, aye? Now in Tokyo, she documents her adventures with cooking and baking in a foreign country (weight in grams, whaaa?), thus isn't just inspirational but educational to boot. With a history in Vietnamese cooking and knowledge of the Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Tokyo food worlds, it's hard not to find something she discusses to make and get excited about.

10. Education: Classes at Cook's World. I recently took a pie making class here from director Nancie Brecher and loved on it real hard. She trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York and La Verenne in Paris, has a Master's Degree in Teaching and was a successful restaurateur & caterer in New York. More importantly, she's totally eccentric and silly, which was explicitly what I wanted in a cooking teacher. Pie crusts are intimidating and she did a great job of breaking it down. The store is stocked with well priced goodies and they offer a 20 percent discount on the day of class. Learning by example and being able to ask questions is a super fun supplement to teaching yourself, I recommend!

2900 N.E. Blakeley Street, Seattle