The post Ina Garten Shares Some of Her Helpful Tips for Baking Muffins appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>On top of her cookbooks and cooking and food-relate shows, Garten often shares some of her recipes and cooking wisdom with followers on social media. She recently posted a video on Instagram in which she tried out a new recipe for blueberry muffins and used the opportunity to share some baking tips for muffins.
According to Garten, she always greases the top of the muffin tin so the muffins don’t get stuck. Also, she uses an ice cream scoop to distribute the muffin batter, as this leads to “uniform muffins.”
If you want your muffins to have a crunchy top, Garten recommends sprinkling them with sugar before baking. Finally, she also keeps a thermometer in the oven to ensure that her muffins are baked at the perfect temperature.
We don’t know about you, but we will try out these tips. Our muffin-making routine could definitely use them.
The post Ina Garten Shares Some of Her Helpful Tips for Baking Muffins appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Baking Tips For Beginners appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>What’s the point of going all out when you’re not ready? When you’re first starting out in the world of baking, the best thing you can do for yourself is to try to figure out whether or not you love it. You shouldn’t be taking on any crazy complex recipes, which is often required when making something from scratch.
But if you buy a cake mix from Duncan Hines, all you really have to do is deal with a few easy measurements, which is perfect when you’re first starting out. If you fall in love with baking a not-from-scratch cake, then you can start to move on to the real stuff. Ultimately, don’t let anyone else shame you for going the “easy” route, because taking it easy is exactly what you should be doing at this stage in the process.
The post Baking Tips For Beginners appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post This Unconventional Ingredient is the Secret to Making Your Brownies Better appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Whether you prefer them squidgy and fudgy in the center (yes, please!) or cakey and light (we’re not turning these away either!), brownies are a morsel that screams moreish.
Most people have a trusted brownie recipe that they turn to when the craving strikes, but we’re here to share a little trick. Before turning up your nose, hear us out: soy sauce is the secret to making your brownies better.
Still with us?
The Asian condiment enhances the chocolate flavor by adding an earthy saltiness that regular salt just doesn’t achieve. And because it’s in liquid form, it makes the brownies slightly moister.
So how do you incorporate this magic ingredient?
The trick can be used with any brownie recipe you prefer. Simply substitute one teaspoon of kosher salt with two teaspoons of soy sauce and enjoy the results.
Don’t worry, your baked goods won’t taste like they need to be paired with sushi. Instead, the umami flavor from the soy sauce will add an extra element that makes it impossible to resist another piece!
The post This Unconventional Ingredient is the Secret to Making Your Brownies Better appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Have Rock-Hard Brown Sugar? Here’s How to Soften It appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Brown sugar is white granulated sugar coated with molasses and when it’s exposed to air, it hardens because the molasses coating evaporates over time and the sugar granulates stick back together.
Unless your brown sugar has gone bad, you should be able to soften it again. You’ll know if your brown sugar has gone bad because there will be bugs or contaminants in it. The fastest way to soften brown sugar is to put the sugar in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl, draping it with a napkin, and heating it up for 20-second intervals until it’s soft again. If you have more time, you can soften brown sugar by putting in a slice of bread in an airtight container for a day or two.
To prevent your brown sugar from going hard in the first place, you should store it in an air-tight container. If you don’t plan on using your brown sugar for a few weeks, you can store it in the freezer. It can stay frozen for as long as you need and it only takes two to three hours to defrost.
The post Have Rock-Hard Brown Sugar? Here’s How to Soften It appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Tips to Prevent Cookies From Spreading appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The main reason why most recipes instruct you to chill the cookie dough is that the dough is will be too warm or too soft after mixing. In that case, it’s best to leave it in the fridge to chill overnight or at least for one or two hours.
Measuring ingredients correctly is the most important step if you want to bake the perfect cookies, and this is best done by using a kitchen scale. One of the reasons why your cookies are spreading in the oven is because you used too many liquid ingredients like sugar, eggs, milk, and more.
When baking more than one batch of cookies always let your baking sheet cool in between batches because placing cookie dough onto a hot baking sheet can easily ruin the cookies.
Last but not least, use a thermometer to check oven temperature because the cookies will likely spread if it isn’t hot enough.
The post Tips to Prevent Cookies From Spreading appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post What If You Accidentally Put Too Much Baking Soda In Your Cookies? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Baking soda is the ingredient that makes cookies fluffy and chewy. Contrary to what you may think, more baking soda doesn’t mean better cookies. Adding too much of it will make your cookies lose the right texture and taste. Baking soda is an active ingredient, because it releases carbon dioxide and spreads the dough, which is exactly why you need to put the right amount in every recipe.
What if you already put too much baking soda? First, see if you can get some of it out. If that’s impossible and if you know how much more you’ve added, try increasing the amount of the other ingredients. This can work if you mixed up the measurements, for example, if you put a tablespoon of baking soda instead of a teaspoon.
If your dough is already mixed, if you don’t know how much more baking soda you’ve added, or if your cookies are already in the oven, we don’t really have good news. You can wait and see how they turn out but chances are you’re going to have to start the whole job over.
The post What If You Accidentally Put Too Much Baking Soda In Your Cookies? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Do You Make This Common Egg Mistake? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>People typically keep the eggs in the fridge, so when it comes to using them, we don’t always remember to take them out in advance. You probably didn’t know this, but the egg temperature can affect the baking process, and using cold eggs from the fridge is really not a good idea.
If you want to make the fluffiest, lightest cookies, you want to use room-temperature eggs. It’s really that simple, and this little hack can make the whole difference in the final result. Unlike cold eggs, room-temperature eggs will mix better with the other ingredients. If you plan to bake in advance, take the eggs out of the fridge the night before. If you didn’t do that, letting them sit in warm water for a few minutes will also do the trick.
The post Do You Make This Common Egg Mistake? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Cake Flour Isn’t Meant to Be Replaced With All-Purpose Flour appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Cake flour is made from low-protein wheat and contains less protein than regular flour. It’s a great choice for tender cakes and can help elevate them to another level. Cake flour tolerates adding more water and more sugar, which will make your cakes look and taste wonderful.
Finely ground cake flour can be bought in stores, but if you can’t get it for some reason and you need it for the recipe, you can make a replacement with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. There are many recipes for this if you want to try it, and we found one here.
The replacement is not as good as the real thing, but it will get the job done. It’s better to make it than to simply use all-purpose flour because you’ll be disappointed with the result.
The post Cake Flour Isn’t Meant to Be Replaced With All-Purpose Flour appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Learning Baker’s Percentages Will Help You Make Perfect Bread appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Experienced bakers like to use percentages to track ingredient ratios. This allows them to easily determine what kind of bread they will get. Different ingredient rations create different breads, from crusty loaves to French baguettes, and some recipes are just completely wrong. The bakers know this simply by looking at the ingredients.
Every recipe starts with 100% of flour. Other ingredients are expressed in percentages too, by comparing their weight to the weight of the flour. Don’t be confused that the end result is larger than 100%; this is because the percentage of all the ingredients is added together.
This is an easy way to adjust the number of baked goods you’re making. You can compare the recipes and make completely new ones if you want to experiment. It’s definitely not necessary to learn this skill if you’re just a casual amateur baker, but it can be fun and allow you to become a pro if you do!
The post Learning Baker’s Percentages Will Help You Make Perfect Bread appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post What do You Need to be a Vegan Baker? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Here are the essentials of vegan baking that you can’t do without.
Vegetable oil is a great substitute for butter. It provides a nice texture to your bake and helps bind the ingredients together.
In addition to vegetable oil—or instead if you don’t have any—you can use plant-based butter. Plant-based butter is made from vegetable oil and milk substitutes. This adds flavor, texture and a full-bodied rise.
Egg replacer is not necessary to vegan bake, but it is highly advised. It simulates the role of egg in baking. This binds your mixture together and gives a cake that distinctive cake taste. Baking without egg replacer can often result in crumbly cakes and pastries.
Instead of using cow’s milk, you can use soy, coconut or oat milk. This adds that milky effect but without the milk!
The post What do You Need to be a Vegan Baker? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Ina Garten Shares Some of Her Helpful Tips for Baking Muffins appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>On top of her cookbooks and cooking and food-relate shows, Garten often shares some of her recipes and cooking wisdom with followers on social media. She recently posted a video on Instagram in which she tried out a new recipe for blueberry muffins and used the opportunity to share some baking tips for muffins.
According to Garten, she always greases the top of the muffin tin so the muffins don’t get stuck. Also, she uses an ice cream scoop to distribute the muffin batter, as this leads to “uniform muffins.”
If you want your muffins to have a crunchy top, Garten recommends sprinkling them with sugar before baking. Finally, she also keeps a thermometer in the oven to ensure that her muffins are baked at the perfect temperature.
We don’t know about you, but we will try out these tips. Our muffin-making routine could definitely use them.
The post Ina Garten Shares Some of Her Helpful Tips for Baking Muffins appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Baking Tips For Beginners appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>What’s the point of going all out when you’re not ready? When you’re first starting out in the world of baking, the best thing you can do for yourself is to try to figure out whether or not you love it. You shouldn’t be taking on any crazy complex recipes, which is often required when making something from scratch.
But if you buy a cake mix from Duncan Hines, all you really have to do is deal with a few easy measurements, which is perfect when you’re first starting out. If you fall in love with baking a not-from-scratch cake, then you can start to move on to the real stuff. Ultimately, don’t let anyone else shame you for going the “easy” route, because taking it easy is exactly what you should be doing at this stage in the process.
The post Baking Tips For Beginners appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post This Unconventional Ingredient is the Secret to Making Your Brownies Better appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Whether you prefer them squidgy and fudgy in the center (yes, please!) or cakey and light (we’re not turning these away either!), brownies are a morsel that screams moreish.
Most people have a trusted brownie recipe that they turn to when the craving strikes, but we’re here to share a little trick. Before turning up your nose, hear us out: soy sauce is the secret to making your brownies better.
Still with us?
The Asian condiment enhances the chocolate flavor by adding an earthy saltiness that regular salt just doesn’t achieve. And because it’s in liquid form, it makes the brownies slightly moister.
So how do you incorporate this magic ingredient?
The trick can be used with any brownie recipe you prefer. Simply substitute one teaspoon of kosher salt with two teaspoons of soy sauce and enjoy the results.
Don’t worry, your baked goods won’t taste like they need to be paired with sushi. Instead, the umami flavor from the soy sauce will add an extra element that makes it impossible to resist another piece!
The post This Unconventional Ingredient is the Secret to Making Your Brownies Better appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Have Rock-Hard Brown Sugar? Here’s How to Soften It appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Brown sugar is white granulated sugar coated with molasses and when it’s exposed to air, it hardens because the molasses coating evaporates over time and the sugar granulates stick back together.
Unless your brown sugar has gone bad, you should be able to soften it again. You’ll know if your brown sugar has gone bad because there will be bugs or contaminants in it. The fastest way to soften brown sugar is to put the sugar in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl, draping it with a napkin, and heating it up for 20-second intervals until it’s soft again. If you have more time, you can soften brown sugar by putting in a slice of bread in an airtight container for a day or two.
To prevent your brown sugar from going hard in the first place, you should store it in an air-tight container. If you don’t plan on using your brown sugar for a few weeks, you can store it in the freezer. It can stay frozen for as long as you need and it only takes two to three hours to defrost.
The post Have Rock-Hard Brown Sugar? Here’s How to Soften It appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Tips to Prevent Cookies From Spreading appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The main reason why most recipes instruct you to chill the cookie dough is that the dough is will be too warm or too soft after mixing. In that case, it’s best to leave it in the fridge to chill overnight or at least for one or two hours.
Measuring ingredients correctly is the most important step if you want to bake the perfect cookies, and this is best done by using a kitchen scale. One of the reasons why your cookies are spreading in the oven is because you used too many liquid ingredients like sugar, eggs, milk, and more.
When baking more than one batch of cookies always let your baking sheet cool in between batches because placing cookie dough onto a hot baking sheet can easily ruin the cookies.
Last but not least, use a thermometer to check oven temperature because the cookies will likely spread if it isn’t hot enough.
The post Tips to Prevent Cookies From Spreading appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post What If You Accidentally Put Too Much Baking Soda In Your Cookies? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Baking soda is the ingredient that makes cookies fluffy and chewy. Contrary to what you may think, more baking soda doesn’t mean better cookies. Adding too much of it will make your cookies lose the right texture and taste. Baking soda is an active ingredient, because it releases carbon dioxide and spreads the dough, which is exactly why you need to put the right amount in every recipe.
What if you already put too much baking soda? First, see if you can get some of it out. If that’s impossible and if you know how much more you’ve added, try increasing the amount of the other ingredients. This can work if you mixed up the measurements, for example, if you put a tablespoon of baking soda instead of a teaspoon.
If your dough is already mixed, if you don’t know how much more baking soda you’ve added, or if your cookies are already in the oven, we don’t really have good news. You can wait and see how they turn out but chances are you’re going to have to start the whole job over.
The post What If You Accidentally Put Too Much Baking Soda In Your Cookies? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Do You Make This Common Egg Mistake? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>People typically keep the eggs in the fridge, so when it comes to using them, we don’t always remember to take them out in advance. You probably didn’t know this, but the egg temperature can affect the baking process, and using cold eggs from the fridge is really not a good idea.
If you want to make the fluffiest, lightest cookies, you want to use room-temperature eggs. It’s really that simple, and this little hack can make the whole difference in the final result. Unlike cold eggs, room-temperature eggs will mix better with the other ingredients. If you plan to bake in advance, take the eggs out of the fridge the night before. If you didn’t do that, letting them sit in warm water for a few minutes will also do the trick.
The post Do You Make This Common Egg Mistake? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Cake Flour Isn’t Meant to Be Replaced With All-Purpose Flour appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Cake flour is made from low-protein wheat and contains less protein than regular flour. It’s a great choice for tender cakes and can help elevate them to another level. Cake flour tolerates adding more water and more sugar, which will make your cakes look and taste wonderful.
Finely ground cake flour can be bought in stores, but if you can’t get it for some reason and you need it for the recipe, you can make a replacement with all-purpose flour and cornstarch. There are many recipes for this if you want to try it, and we found one here.
The replacement is not as good as the real thing, but it will get the job done. It’s better to make it than to simply use all-purpose flour because you’ll be disappointed with the result.
The post Cake Flour Isn’t Meant to Be Replaced With All-Purpose Flour appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post Learning Baker’s Percentages Will Help You Make Perfect Bread appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Experienced bakers like to use percentages to track ingredient ratios. This allows them to easily determine what kind of bread they will get. Different ingredient rations create different breads, from crusty loaves to French baguettes, and some recipes are just completely wrong. The bakers know this simply by looking at the ingredients.
Every recipe starts with 100% of flour. Other ingredients are expressed in percentages too, by comparing their weight to the weight of the flour. Don’t be confused that the end result is larger than 100%; this is because the percentage of all the ingredients is added together.
This is an easy way to adjust the number of baked goods you’re making. You can compare the recipes and make completely new ones if you want to experiment. It’s definitely not necessary to learn this skill if you’re just a casual amateur baker, but it can be fun and allow you to become a pro if you do!
The post Learning Baker’s Percentages Will Help You Make Perfect Bread appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>The post What do You Need to be a Vegan Baker? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>Here are the essentials of vegan baking that you can’t do without.
Vegetable oil is a great substitute for butter. It provides a nice texture to your bake and helps bind the ingredients together.
In addition to vegetable oil—or instead if you don’t have any—you can use plant-based butter. Plant-based butter is made from vegetable oil and milk substitutes. This adds flavor, texture and a full-bodied rise.
Egg replacer is not necessary to vegan bake, but it is highly advised. It simulates the role of egg in baking. This binds your mixture together and gives a cake that distinctive cake taste. Baking without egg replacer can often result in crumbly cakes and pastries.
Instead of using cow’s milk, you can use soy, coconut or oat milk. This adds that milky effect but without the milk!
The post What do You Need to be a Vegan Baker? appeared first on thedancingcucumber.com.
]]>