Tips from the kitchen of Aunt Jamelle
Drop cookie recipes can be
shaped into a log, chilled then sliced before freezing and/or baking to get professional looking results! Wrap log in plastic wrap, then foil, and chill overnight before slicing. The tip from FS on using thread would work great here - or plain unflavored dental floss works great too. If dough is pretty firm a sharp knife run under HOT water and dried off quickly works well too!
As mentioned, chilled dough will help keep cookies from spreading. If a cookie
does spread, however, use the back of a spoon to gently press back in the sides of each cookie AS SOON AS you take then out of the oven. There is only so much you can do with this but it can really make a difference.
When baking a new recipe always do 1-3 cookies first to test baking time. Note whether starting from chilled or warm dough (chilled dough always best). Try 1-2 minutes less than recommended baking time if your oven tends to run hot. If possible, bake one sheet at a time on a rack in the middle of the oven for best results. When perfect baking time is figured out, write it down on the recipe!!!
Cookies that are filled with bits of yummy goodness, candy, cookie bits - whatever - can be dolled up a bit by saving back some extra bits to press into the tops of each cookie just before popping them into the oven.
Never put cookie dough on a hot baking sheet. It will melt and spread and just yuck. Rotate your sheets. If you can, always cook on parchment paper. It distributes the heat nicely and makes for easy cleanup. You can reuse the same sheet of parchment many times before it gets brittle and you’ll want to toss it.
If a recipe calls for
softened butter and you forgot to take it out of the fridge a few hours ago: Run really hot tap water. Take a drinking glass that will hold the whole stick of butter - still in the wrapper - and let it sit under the hot water until glass is HOT. Set stick of butter on one end and turn the hot glass (dried off) over the top of the butter stick and let it sit and think about the error of it’s ways. Repeat as needed until butter is softened.
If you try to
soften butter in the microwave, do it on defrost. A few seconds at a time. The risk is the uneven heating melting part of the butter. Unsalted butter is much harder to soften evenly this way.
To rescue partially melted butter. Throw an icecube in the bowl with the butter and stir until the butter hardens back up again - remove what is left of the ice cube. Stop and think - wow, that was cool. Let’s melt some more butter so I can try that again.
When working with any sticky dough remember your friend, cooking spray. Use it on your hands and any measuring cups or utensils that will interact with the dough to keep things from getting too crazy. Re-apply the spray as needed.
Flour is cheap and the store brand will work fine - however - if you can,
buying a better brand/quality of flours really does make a difference. King Arthur flour is a good one. Unbleached is better is my opinion. All sorts of options out there!
Instead of mixing the spices with the dry ingredients, cream them in with the butter and sugar. The flavor compounds are fat soluble mixing them with the butter first will intensify the flavor.
What if you aren’t sure if the eggs in the fridge are still good? Let’s say it’s a week or so past the expiration date. Fill a large bowl of cool water. Place the eggs - a few at a time - in the water. If they float or look like they are trying to float - toss em. If they stay on the bottom, they’re golden. If they’re standing up a little, use right away or toss, up to you.
If
recipe calls for room temp eggs and you forgot to take them out? Run a bowl full of warm to slightly hot water and put the eggs in that for 5 minutes or so - just take one out and hold in your hand to see if the chill is off before using them.
If you are mixing icing with food coloring and are
trying to get a true Christmas red - try adding a little brown food coloring as well. It deepens the hue and avoids the neon/pinkish red problem. Go to a craft store with a cake decorating section for best selection -
gel food colors give most intense colors vs. liquid. Dip a toothpick into the gel and drag though what you are trying to color. Repeat with additional toothpicks until color is achieved.
If pouring a glaze over cookies - or on anything where you KNOW it’s going to run down and off their sides - make cleanup easy. Have the cookies on a wire cooling rack - sitting on sheets of newspaper. You’ll still have to clean the rack when done, but just roll up the newspaper and toss.
Remember extracts when making icing - or even as something to mix into store bought icing. Vanilla of course - but Almond extract is lovely - smells like cherries to me! There is Maple extract, orange, lemon, etc. Add a tsp or so, mix, taste and add more if desired. You can add a pinch of salt too if wanted.
Getting bread to rise: Bread likes places warm and draft free. So no doors opening and sending an icy blast. One option is to turn oven on lowest setting for 5 minutes - turn off - let sit a bit with door cracked. Stick your hand in the oven - your want warm but not hot air in there. When it’s right, put in your dough to rise - covered with a dampened lint free towel - either leave oven cracked or close - see what works best. Leave the oven light on, that will help too.
Another option is what I call “
putting the bread to bed”
If you own a heating pad, you can do this. Take some old towels and put one down surface of choice - I’ve used the nightstand in my bedroom for this - just make sure it is somewhere away from drafty windows. On top of the towel place the heating pad. Cover the pad with another old towel. Set the bowl or whatever that has your dough in it on top. With additional towels make a “nest” around the sides of the bowl. Turn heating pad to LOW and let it rise to it’s heart content. Check it every so often in case your heating pad turns off automatically. You can cover the dough with plastic wrap lightly spritzed with cooking spray when using this method. Or a dampened towel works too.
Getting a nice brown color on bread: Most recipes will call for an egg wash, Just an egg, beaten with a fork - you can add a dash of water to thin a bit, but you don’t have to. This helps give bread a golden color when finished. An alternative to egg wash is simply brushing on some milk. You do this just before baking. Depending on the bread you can brush on the wash and then sprinkle on herbs/seasonings - the stickiness of the wash helps them stick to the bread dough. Grated Parmesan cheese (like from a can) is great to sprinkle on too.
Flash Freezing - Whenever you are wanting to freeze something that you are afraid will stick together if you just dump it in a freezer bag as is - i.e. berries, cookies, cookie dough, etc. you can flash freeze it. Line a cookie sheet with wax paper. Set all the little bits of goodness on the wax paper, close but not touching. Freeze until they are good and hard. Then they can be put in a freezer bag for longer storage. Use the wax paper itself as a kind of funnel to easily pick up and slide the contents into freezer bag all in one go. Easy peasy.
Cutting Dough - If you ever have to cut long strips or shapes out of dough - don’t use a knife -use your pizza cutter. SO much easier!
Baking Soda - You know how people put an open box in the back of the fridge to absorb odors? I figure the same principle would apply to the open box in my pantry that I use for baking. So I keep it in a plastic Ziploc bag to keep it odor free!
Brown Sugars - I always keep these in a Ziploc bag as well, all the air squeezed out. Helps keep it from hardening!
Cake Tip - To avoid crumbs in icing:Brush layer of jam (probably will need to heat slightly to get to brushing consistency) over the cake and let it set a bit before applying icing. You can also do a very thin layer of icing - called the "crumb layer" - let it harden and then go back and ice the rest of the way.