Bake at the Right Temperature
Be sure your oven temperature is correct. An oven that is too hot or too cold can cause your delicious baked items to be less than a success, and many times can totally ruin them. Most ovens are off anywhere from 5 to 50 degrees, sometimes more, and this can ruin a batch of cookies or cause a cake to fall or peak in the center. Place an oven thermometer in the center of the oven while it is preheating, and check it before you place your pastry in the oven. If your oven is set at 350 degrees, for example, but the thermometer in the oven reads only 325, then you will need to turn up your dial 25 degrees to make up the difference. It’s cheaper and easier to use a thermometer to be sure your oven is the right temperature than to lose a batch of cookies or a delicate cake. Your oven should be at the correct temperature before you put your pastry in to bake.
Measuring Molasses, Honey or Corn Syrup
When you are measuring thick, sticky liquids, it is difficult to get all of the liquid to pour out of the measuring cup. Before you measure any of them, spray the inside of the cup with a nonstick spray, or coat it lightly with vegetable oil. The liquid will pour more easily out of the measuring cup that way.
Rotating the Pans
I often direct you to “rotate the pans halfway through the baking time.” This step is necessary to help your baked goods bake evenly. Many ovens produce uneven heat, so when you rotate the pans you help to compensate for that. When rotating one pan, just turn it around 180 degrees so the part of the pan that was in the back is now in the front. If using two pans in the oven at the same time, remove the one on the top and place it briefly on the oven door, turning it around 180 degrees as you do so. Then move the pan that is on the bottom up to the top, turning it around 180 degrees as you do so. Try to do this as quickly as possible so you don’t lose too much oven heat.
Using the Right Tools to Properly Measure the Ingredients
Don’t use dry measuring cups for liquids, or liquid measuring cups for dry ingredients. Be sure to use a straight-edge, like a long spatula, to scrape off a level surface on the dry ingredients. Make sure the liquids are even with the correct measure amount in the measuring cups. Do this at eye level, or use the great new Oxo Angled Measuring Cups to do this effortlessly.
Chopping Candied (Crystallized) Ginger
Spray a clean chef’s knife with nonstick spray and chop the candied ginger on a cutting board until it is the size of short grain rice. If the ginger starts to stick to the knife, wipe it clean and spray it again, then continue chopping.
Chopping Dried Fruit
If the fruit you want to chop is large, like an apricot or prune, and you don’t want finely chopped pieces, I find it’s easiest to use a very clean pair of scissors. Lightly coat the blades of the scissors with cooking spray and cut the fruit into the desired size. Be very careful not to snip your hand with the scissors. I use this technique for cutting dried berries or cherries in half, also.
You can place dried fruit in a food processor with a little of the flour from the recipe, and pulse on/off until the fruit pieces are the size you want.
A chef’s knife coated with pan spray will also do a fine job.
Spices
Spices don't last forever. If a spice called for in a recipe has been in your spice cabinet for more than a year, chances are good it doesn't have much flavor left in it. Before you use it, give it the “sniff test.” Open the jar or can and give it a good whiff. If it doesn't have a strong, clear smell, it won't have a strong, clear taste, either, and it's time to replace it.
Pumpkin
The pumpkin used to make the recipes on this site is plain canned pumpkin. Be sure you don't use pumpkin pie mix by mistake, because it contains sugar and spices and other ingredients, and is not at all the same thing. The ingredients on the label should read: “pumpkin”and nothing else. Some recipes don't use all of the pumpkin in a standard 15-ounce can, which is the smallest can of pumpkin you can buy. So I suggest making a little Pumpkin Butter with the remaining pumpkin.
Chopping Nuts
Coarsely ground nuts should be about 3/8” to 1/2” in size; if an ingredient is simply specified as “chopped nuts” they should be about 1/8” to 1/4”; finely chopped nuts should be no larger than a grain of rice; if simply specified as “ground nuts” they should be very fine and fluffy, but not at all gooey or oily. (If your ground nuts are oily, you’ve over-processed them.)
You can use a chef’s knife, food processor, nut grinder, or mezzaluna to chop the nuts. As you chop, pay attention to how finely and evenly you are chopping the nuts.
If you are using a chef’s knife, hold the tip gently against the cutting board while using your other hand to quickly raise and lower the knife blade with a slight rocking motion. Move the knife handle to the right and back to the left continuously as you chop, to be sure you are getting all of the nuts chopped.
A food processor is an easy way to chop nuts, but you have to be careful that you don’t put too many nuts into the work bowl at the same time. If you do, your nuts won’t chop evenly. It’s easy to over-process nuts and end up with finely ground pieces when you really wanted coarsely chopped nuts, or nut butter when you wanted ground nuts.
A nut grinder, with a glass or plastic clear jar on the bottom and a bin for the nuts and rotating blades on the top, makes quick work of chopping nuts. Simply place the nuts in the top bin and turn the crank. The chopped nuts neatly fall into the jar.
To use a mezzaluna, place the nuts on a cutting board or in a shallow, broad wooden bowl and rock the mezzaluna through the nuts repeatedly until they are chopped to the consistency you desire, rotating to the right and left to make sure they are all getting chopped.
Toasting Pecans or Walnuts
Preheat a conventional oven to 350 degrees F., or a convection oven to 3330 degrees F. Spread the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until they are aromatic and just starting to brown.
Getting Better Lemon Juice
Juicing citrus fruits is a fairly quick and easy task. A handy tool for this is the reamer, which is a fluted, pointed teardrop-shaped tool. Reamers come as hand tools or countertop tools. Use the hand reamer by pushing the pointed end into the cut side of a lemon, lime or orange, turning the reamer back and forth over a bowl or measuring cup until you have extracted all of the juice. The countertop reamers are designed with rims or cups that catch the juice as you push the cut end of the fruit down on the top of the fluted part of the reamer, and turn back and forth. Be sure to strain your lemon juice to get the most concentrated flavor. The pulp and seeds will be eliminated so all you get is pure juice. Use any kitchen strainer to strain the juice.
Candy Thermometers
You will need a candy thermometer to make the Lemon Buttercream. I use the variety that looks like a long glass tube with a thermometer inside. It has a clip on it to attach the thermometer to the pan. There are now some electronic and instant-read varieties designed for candy making, and you should use what type you like and can afford. Not all thermometers register to a high enough temperature for use with cooking sugar syrups, and that's why you need a candy thermometer. So check that the thermometer you will be using registers a temperature of at least 260 degrees, or you will not be able to measure the sugar syrup for the Buttercream. The right kind of thermometers will say they are for candy making.
Softening Butter for Successful Results
If your recipe calls for butter at cool room temperature, set your butter out an hour or so before you begin baking. If you have forgotten to do so, you can soften the butter by cutting it into small pieces and letting it sit for several minutes to start to soften. Then mash it with a large fork or rubber spatula to soften it the rest of the way. Be sure you don't let the butter melt, because this can effect the way your baked goods turn out.
Carmelizing Sugar for Crème Brulée
When making Crème Brulée, it is a simple procedure to caramelize the sugar that forms the thin, crisp crust. You will need a propane or butane torch – the kind you buy in a hardware store, or the smaller ones that are sold specifically for this purpose in kitchen shops. You can do this up to 30 minutes before the custard will be eaten. Sprinkle a thin layer of sugar evenly over the top of the custard, and, using a propane torch, heat the sugar until it browns and bubbles, up to a minute per custard, depending on the size. It is quicker if you keep the torch in one place until the sugar browns, then move the flame to another spot, continuing until the entire top has been browned.
Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to 30 minutes.
Determining the Doneness of Baked Custard
When you are baking custard, you need to remember that it will continue to cook a bit more after it has been removed from the oven. Cook it only until the edges are firm – the center will still jiggle a bit when the baking dish is gently moved.
Toasting Pecans or Walnuts
Preheat a conventional oven to 350 degrees F., or a convection oven to 3330 degrees F. Spread the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake them for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until they are aromatic and just starting to brown.
Using a Food Mill
Many food mills come with a variety of discs, from fine to coarse. Assemble the food mill with the appropriate disc, and fill the food mill hopper about half full and set it over a large bowl. Turn the crank on the food mill and the contents will be pressed through the disc, releasing the pulp through it and retaining the peels and seeds in the hopper. Empty the hopper of the seeds and peels as needed and refill it as necessary.
Place the food into the hopper of the ricer. Squeeze the handles, pressing the pulp through the ricer into a bowl. If you are using the ricer to remove seeds and peels, you will need to clean out the hopper before you put more food into it.
Using Long Pepper
Long Pepper is a Thai relative of the black peppercorns we use everyday. It is milder in flavor than black peppercorns, with hints of spices. It is a lovely addition to your spice cabinet. Because of its unusual shape (a tiny, long berry that looks like a pinecone) it can’t be easily ground in a pepper mill just the way it is. Either crush the berries with a meat pounder and then grind them through a pepper mill, or grind them in a coffee mill. Long Pepper is a wonderful flavor enhancer that can be sprinkled over meats, vegetables, or used in many desserts.
Fresh Cranberries
Buy cranberries that are plump-looking and bright red, and store them in the produce drawer of your refrigerator. They’ll stay fresh for a few weeks. When you use them, rinse them well and search through them carefully for soft berries.
Coring Pears
Pears can be cored very easily by cutting them in half and using a melon balling tool to scoop out the seed core.
Pureeing Fruit
It’s easy to puree fruit. Remove any peels, and in the case of stone fruits, remove the seeds. Put the fruit in a food processor ad process until perfectly smooth. I like to strain out the seeds from berries (using a fine sieve or food mill), but many people don’t mind them once the fruit’s been pureed. It’s a personal decision.
Whipping Cream
I find it’s best to use a hand mixer to beat cream, because you have to stay with it the entire time. Cream can easily be over-whipped, and using a stand mixer tempts you to walk away “just for a second” while you tend to something else. It’s easy to lose track of time and forget about the cream for a minute.
Place the bowl and beater(s) in your freezer or refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes or more. Remove them when you are ready to whip the cream. Place the cream and sugar, if you are using it, into the bowl and beat on medium speed until the cream is the consistency of mayonnaise. Add any flavorings at the beginning.
Repairing Over-Whipped Cream
Sometimes you get distracted and the cream gets over-whipped. You’ll know when this happens because the cream will look curdled. If this happens, add a little unbeaten cream to it and beat gently on medium low speed until the cream becomes smooth.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda - What's the Difference?
Many people make the mistake of thinking that these two leaveners (something that makes a baked product rise) are interchangeable, but they aren’t.
Baking soda is the main leavener used in baking, and is an alkaline substance. It requires something else in the recipe to be acidic in order for it to work. When baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) is combined with an acid in a recipe, say lemon juice or buttermilk, a chemical reaction takes place that produces carbon dioxide, which forms pockets of air in the batter. While baking, these pockets of air expand, causing the baked product to rise. At the same time, the flour, sugar and eggs are forming a structure around the air pockets. If there isn’t enough baking soda or acid in the recipe, the baked product won’t rise properly. If there is too much baking soda and acid, there will be larger air pockets and the structure formed by the eggs, sugar and flour won’t be able to support it: the cake or cookie will fall.
Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and an acid, along with an inert substance that keeps the two from reacting in the container. Baking soda makes up only a small part of baking powder, so they cannot be substituted one for one. The main purpose of baking soda is to provide the acid for a recipe in the proper ratio for the reaction to take place.
If you change a recipe, it’s important that you replace acidic ingredients with other acids, and that you don’t use an acid in place of a non-acid ingredient, or you will throw off the balance of the recipe.
Be Smart Before You Start - use a mise en place
A mise en place (pronounced mee zon plahs) is a practice used by chefs that refers to having all of the ingredients ready and measured “in their place” (which is the literal translation) before you begin preparing the recipe.
Here is an easy way to set up a “mise”:
For the small ingredients, write the name of the ingredient (salt, baking soda, spices, etc.) on a piece of deli paper or parchment on your work surface, then measure those ingredients, placing them on the paper next to their names. Make a separate paper for each group of items that is added at the same time. You can also put each ingredient into a small separate dish. I generally put the ingredients from each group into a custard cup and re-use the deli paper.
Measure larger items into appropriate sized bowls. Set all of the measured ingredients on your work surface near the mixer or area where you will be mixing, in the order they will be added to the recipe.
Be sure to prep (chop, grind, toast, soak, etc.) each ingredient, as the recipe directs, when you set up your mise.
Setting up a mise is an essential habit to develop, and you'll feel totally organized and in control of your baking if you do it. This simple step takes only a few minutes, but will save you from adding something twice or not adding something at all. If you get interrupted while you are making the recipe, you will be able to tell just where you left off.
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