The Baking Coach offers holiday cooking workshops in Bellport

It’s hard to wrap one’s mind around everything that’s going on at The Baking Coach’s three-month-old studio in Bellport, but let’s start with the holidays.

Throughout December, there are classes in baking and decorating holiday cookies and gingerbread houses for children and adults. Workshops are $89 per person and include ingredients. For more involved confections, private two-hour workshop with Lisa Basini, the Baking Coach herself, cost $350 for the first two people, $150 each additional person up to nine.

Those workshops recall the genesis of Basini’s business. When she founded The Baking Coach in 2005, Basini would come to your house and teach you to bake in your own kitchen. “I still think the best place to learn is in your own kitchen,” she said, “but it’s also true that it’s nice to leave the cleanup to somebody else.”

From the beginning, Basini also taught classes in the Huntington commercial kitchen where she made cookies and cake. She moved into this storefront in the Bellport Outlet Stores in September.

The front half of the 1,200-square-foot studio is dominated by stainless-steel work tables.  In the back are the ovens as well as the production line for Basini’s packaged baking kits and, if you come at the right time, you will see staffers measuring flour, baking powder, vanilla, salt and chocolate and packing them into heavy-duty resealable bags. There are 10 “Classic Baking Kits” — including black and white cookies, Linzer tarts, Boston cream cupcakes, pretzels — that require you to supply your own bowls and spatulas and, perhaps, eggs, butter and other fresh ingredients. Kits range from $19.95 to $29.95.

These are not cookie or cake mixes, noted Basini. “This is baking from scratch — the only difference is that we’ve measured out all the ingredients for you.” The kits are aimed at the occasional or holiday-only baker.

Each kit not only has instructions, but also a QR code that links to a video of Basini demonstrating the recipe so that “you can use it regardless of your learning style.” They are sold online at bakingcoach.com, but you can also pick them up in Bellport and even schedule an “open bake” session to bake there (and spare your kitchen).

Basini’s newest products are the edible cookie dough baking activity kits. All you’ll need from your own kitchen are water and softened butter. You add these directly to the bag, seal it and mix the dough in the bag by pressing it with your fingers. You can bake the whole batch or reseal the bag and refrigerate or freeze it for later use. The three cookie flavors are chocolate chip, birthday sprinkle and oatmeal raisin. Kits are $19.95, available at the studio or online.

The Baking Coach 10 Farber Dr., Bellport (Bellport Outlet stores, across from Home Depot), 631-543-8608, bakingcoach.com. Open Monday 9 a.m.-2 p.m., Tuesday 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Wednesday 9 a.m.-7 p.m., Thursday 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Friday 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Sunday by appointment.