Fall Baking Advice
Pick the right pan! Shiny smooth baking sheets or aluminum pans are recommended for baking. These pans reflect heat letting foods bake more evenly. Nonstick and dark surface pans may cause foods to over-brown causing dry cookies.
If cookie dough is too soft: refrigerate it or add additional flour 1 T. at a time until the dough is still enough to handle. If cookie dough is dry: try mixing 1 to 2 T. of milk into the batter until smooth.
Be sure to bake 1 cookie sheet of cookies at a time in the middle oven rack to ensure cookies will bake evenly in the correct oven temperature and the heat circulates around the entire batch.
Parchment paper can be used in place of greasing baking sheets for cookies- try this for an easy clean up!
To toast nuts: bake in a shallow pan at 350 degrees for 6 to 10 minutes or in a large skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally until light brown; your nose will know when they are done!
Frozen nuts are easier to chop then room temperature nuts. Put pecans or walnuts in the freezer 30 minutes prior to chopping.
Forgot to pick up Pumpkin Pie Spice? Make your own! Mix 1 ½ t. cinnamon, ¼ t. ginger, ¼ t. nutmeg and 1/8 t. cloves.
Get Creative with Chocolate! They are many different varieties of chocolate morsels available in today’s baking aisle. Try raspberry flavored, cinnamon chips or peanut butter swirled chocolate in your favorite cookie batch.
To softened butter: let it stand at room temperature 30 to 40 minutes or microwave on high in a glass bowl for 15-20 seconds.
To prevent your muffins from becoming soggy, remove them immediately after baking in the oven and sit them on a baking rack to cool.
It make each muffin equal in size, use an ice cream scoop for scooping batter 2/3 full in each muffin cup.
Pick a pear! Purchase pears up to a week before making your Pear-Licious Bundt Cake to ensure ripeness. To speed up the process, place pears in a paper or plastic bag at room temperature for several days. They are perfectly pear-licious when they yield slightly when pressed.
Short on time when making Caramel Apple Bread? Use caramel ice cream topping instead of making the glaze from scratch.
Stale bread is a good thing! For bread puddings and dressings, stale bread will be firmer and drier, holding up better in your dishes. Bread that is too fresh and soft will give you a bread pudding or dressing that is too soggy.
For “bar- like” recipes baking in a 9x13 dish, first line the baking pan with foil so the bars can be easily removed and cleanup is a snap.
Make your cookies even more decadent by transforming them into cookie sandwiches! Fill 2 cookies with your favorite icing, ice cream or peanut butter!
Embellish your fall desserts with crystallized ginger, available in the baking aisle. It is fresh gingeroot that has been cooked in a sugary syrup, then coated with extra sugar. It has a sweet flavor with that great distinguished ginger “bite.”
In a hurry and need your butterscotch clusters to set? Stick them in the refrigerator, covered, for the clusters to set in half the time.
Orange you glad? 1 medium size orange yields ¼ cup of juice.
