A Year's Worth of Baking is Squeezed into December

— Holiday traditions and recipes inspire baking-from-scratch

Chicago, Ill., December 17, 2008 – For most of the year consumers turn to commercially prepared baked goods to satisfy their sweet teeth, but when December rolls around they do their own baking, according to The NPD Group, a leading market research company.

“Our research indicates that in December approximately 60% of all households will be making cookies, breads, pies, and other baked goodies,” says Harry Balzer, according to NPD vice president and chief industry analyst and author of Eating Patterns in America. “We keep to long-standing holiday traditions in December and many of those traditions include baking.”  
   
December has always been the month of baking in America, according to Balzer. In the past, however the cook in the home would bake cookies, cakes, and pies for the family year round.  

“Historically, baking in December increases about 50 percent over the average month the rest of the year, but recently there has been a 70 percent increase in homemade baking in December,” he says. “This increase is mainly due to the fact we bake far less during the other 11 months of the year because frozen and ready-to-eat products replaced the need to bake, and now we squeeze months worth of baking into December.”

As far as what consumers bake in December, bakers today bake many of the same foods they baked in 1987 — cookies, pies, cakes, bread and quick breads. 

“Enjoy those homemade cookies and freshly-baked breads now,” says Balzer. “It will be another year until you smell the wonderful aroma in your home, and next month will begin our annual cycle of trying to take off the pounds we gained from all those great-tasting baked goods we ate in December.”