Just in case you missed it in our last newsletter, here are a few more baking tips from our own Rose Everet. She also included a couple of reciepes just for fun.

Baking with
Room Temperature Ingredients
By Rose Everett

 

Why should you bake using ingredients at room temperature one might ask? First we need to define what room temperature is. Room temperature is generally 68º F, unless otherwise stated.

 

It is important that eggs, butter, and milk be at room temperature when mixing with dry ingredients. If you combine baking ingredients at varying temperature you may encounter these problems.

 

• Batter too thick, will not spread evenly in pan
• Outer edges cook faster while middle is still raw
• Finished product is dense, not aerated
• Heavy product, gluey-taste

 

 

By looking at the roles butter, eggs, and milk play in our batters helps us prevent these problems.

Butter at room temperature will break down and create air bubbles allowing aeration to take place. Cold butter does not beat well therefore aeration does not take place.

***Remember you want your butter cold when you are making pie crust, this causes a flaky crust.

 

Eggs at room temperature whip up to a greater volume and act as a binder between wet/dry ingredients. Cold eggs could re-harden the fat (butter) making the batter appear curdled or lumpy, possibly affecting the texture of your baked goods.

 

Milk/Water at room temperature moistens the dry ingredients without the need to over beat the batter, therefore avoiding gluten (when flour and liquid are over-mixed tasting like glue, having a gluey texture). Cold milk or water will coagulate and clump in the batter which will require extra beating to mix ingredients to a smooth batter.

 

Unfortunately, the urge to bake may be unplanned and come on suddenly and you may not want to wait an hour for our butter, eggs, and milk to reach room temperature. What can you do? Here are some helpful hints.

 

Butter – You want to make sure you don’t melt it. So you don’t want to microwave it. I find it helpful to turn the empty microwave on for a minute while I cut my butter into small cubes, and then put the cut up butter in the warm microwave; this provides a warm environment without adding heat. You may need to repeat the process every few minutes until butter has softened.

 

Egg – You can place eggs in a bowl of warm water (not hot) for 5-10 minutes prior to cracking. (Remember that if you need to separate egg whites from the yolks it is easier to do it while they are cold. Then place your separated egg parts in a smaller bowl in warm water.)

 

Milk – Milk and water are the easiest to bring to room temperature, just warm them in the microwave to take the chill off.

 

By starting with room temperature ingredients you will end up with a lighter, tender, and fluffy pastry. Hope you found this helpful. Here are a couple of recipes using room temperature ingredients. Happy Baking! Remember you can prepare your cookie dough early and freeze it, until you need it.

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Snickerdoodles

 

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup unsalted butter room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated white sugar

2 large eggs room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Coating:

1/3 cup granulated white sugar

2 teaspoon cinnamon

 

In a large bowl whisk together you dry ingredients (flour, salt, and baking powder). Set a side.

 

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer) cream together the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one egg at a time, beating well after each egg is added. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add in the vanilla extract. Slowly add the dry ingredients a small amount at a time, and beat until you have a smooth dough. Cover dough and refrigerate until firm (about one hour).

 

Preheat oven to 385º F and place racks in center of the oven. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

 

Shape the cookie dough into 1 inch round balls. Mix the coating sugar and cinnamon. Roll your balls of dough into the cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing about two inches apart. Using the bottom of a glass and gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch thick.

 

Bake the cookies for about 8-10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly golden brown and firm around the outer edges (center will still be a little soft). Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

 

Cookies can be kept in an air tight container for about 10-14 days at room temperature.

 

Makes 4 to 5 dozen

 

You may freeze baked cookies or the cookie dough.

 

Freezing cookies:

For a longer storage you should freeze baked cookies in airtight freezer containers, freezer bags, or aluminum foil. Don’t use cardboard containers because they can pick up freezer odors. They can be frozen up to twelve months.

 

Before serving the cookies make sure you thaw them in their original freezer wrappings (so that condensation forms on the wrapping, not on the cookie). Crisp cookies may soften when thawed after freezing; to re-crisp, put them in a 300°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Freezing unbaked cookie dough:

Most cookie dough freezes extremely well and can be kept frozen for up to 3 months. Keep in mind that the dough will absorb any odd odors present in your freezer if they are not properly wrapped and sealed. To prevent this as well as freezer burn, wrap the dough securely twice.

Remember to write the type of cookie dough and the date it was frozen on the outside of the package. When you are ready to bake simply let the dough defrost in the refrigerator. This will take several hours, so plan ahead.

The cookie dough’s that freeze the best are shortbreads, chocolate chip, peanut butter, refrigerator, sugar, and brownies, just to name a few.

Refrigerator slice-and-bake cookies form the dough into a log and freeze. This way when you are ready to bake, all you need to do is just slice off as many cookies as you need.

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Chocolate Walnut Crumb Bars

1 cup soften (room temperature) butter or margarine
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups (12 ounce package) chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups (14oz can) regular sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare 13 x9 baking pan.

Beat butter or margarine in large bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar, and salt until crumbly. With floured fingers, press 2 cups crumb mixture onto bottom of greased (or parchment lined) 13×9 pan, reserving remaining mixture.

Put in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Warm 1 1/2 cups morsels and sweetened condensed milk in small, heavy saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Stir in vanilla and spread over hot crust. Stir in walnuts and remaining morsels (1/2 cup) into reserved crumb mixture; sprinkle over chocolate filling.

Finish baking for 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into squares and enjoy!

 

 

Hey guys,

Just wanted to point out to you all that we have 2 amazing instructors coming to teach at The Cake Cottage in the next two months. First up we have Charity George. Now she can show you how to make your cakes taste just fantastic and for those of you who would like to learn about gluten free baking then does she have a class for you. Here is some info on her and her classes:

 

Charity Pykles-George is a Pastry Chef and Cake Artist in San Diego, CA.  She specializes in chocolate and sugar art particularly with regards to wedding, specialty and extreme cakes. She has also specialized in baking and cooking for those with food allergies and sensitivities. Charity owns d’Zrt Cake Studio in La Mesa, CA.

Charity is a native of Southern California and was raised in San Diego.   She wrecked 2 Easy Bake Ovens as a child so her mother decided to teach her to cook on the “big oven”.  By age 12 she had “tapped out” her mother and grandmother’s cooking knowledge so she resorted to reading cookbooks (which you can still find her doing if she gets 2 seconds of spare time).  During her senior year of High School she went to work for a local cake shop where she cut, filled, iced, delivered and occasionally got to decorate cakes.

She attended Brigham Young University for her freshman year of college, and then attended Le Cordon Bleu in London & Paris and Le Ritz Esscoffier in Paris but did not finish her degree there.  After returning to the States she gained experience in the “corporate world” in graphic design, marketing, advertising, radio, film & TV.

Charity continued throughout her career to teach baking, pastry and culinary skills in the private sector and created cakes for friends and family.  She created “cooking clubs” in each city she lived in, most of which are still holding meetings monthly.  After a 15 year “culinary school hiatus”, during which she married, had 3 children, divorced and moved back to San Diego, Charity went back to school to finish her Culinary degree in Baking and Pastry Arts.

For the last 6 years she has worked exclusively with cakes and has been a contestant on TLC’s Ultimate Cake Off twice in season 2; winning the taste competition, and was most recently featured on TLC’s Fabulous Cakes and the Niecy Nash Wedding Bash.  She has been a judge at numerous cake shows/contests and teaches sugar arts across the country.

So check out her classes on our schedule and learn something new.

 

Next up we have Peggy Tucker. She will be teaching Isomalt like you have been asking for. Here is a little info on her:

 

 

 

 

 

In case you did not get this months Newsletter I have am posting the tips section for you to check out. If you are not getting our Newsletters just  sign up in the box on the right,  then you too can get all of our tips and tricks, special promotions, and see what we are up to each month to help you with all your cake decorating needs…..Pete

To make your cakes better, here are a few tips on Baking your Cakes…….this month, Rose Everett, from our shop, is going to give you a few tips on measuring your ingredients.

Helpful Baking Tips

By Rose Everett

 

When some people bake they seem to be able to just toss a few things together and achieve wonderful results. This is a skill they developed over many years of baking. However, it does not take having a special gift or a magic touch to bake in the kitchen. The real secret is practice, practice and more practice. So today I am going to give you a few tips on how to correctly measure your ingredients so your baking products turn out just right.

 

How to measure your ingredients.

Accurate measuring is crucial to successful baking. To properly measure, you need three types of measuring tools: clear glass or plastic cup with a spout for wet ingredients, cups in graduated sizes for dry ingredients and a set of measuring spoons. Most American baking recipes measure ingredients by volume, not weight; for example, a recipe will call for 1 cup sugar instead of 8 ounces sugar. If you become truly passionate about baking, consider investing in a scale, as it really is the most accurate way to measure.

Measure the quantities correctly: This is a baking must! Improper measuring of dry and liquid ingredients is one of the most common mistakes in baking. You can use the best ingredients in the world, but if you do not measure correctly, the recipe will not come out properly.

To measure liquids: Set the cup on the counter, bend at the knees so you are at eye-level with the lines on the cup and pour the ingredient right up to the line indicating the amount needed. If you don’t have the lines at eye-level you will not get an accurate amount of liquid in your cup.

To measure dry ingredients: Spoon your flour or other dry ingredient into the appropriately-sized measuring cup, 1/4 cup, ½ cup/ etc…. filling it generously above the rim of the cup. Then, run the back of a knife over the edge to sweep the excess back into the container.

A couple of things to avoid:

Don’t dip a measuring cup into a bag or container of flour; this packs the flour in the cup and adds more flour to the recipe, resulting in dry and dense cakes.

Resist tapping the cup on the counter – the flour settles and you will have more than needed

Never use eating utensils as measuring spoons; they are not correct and may affect the result of your baking;

Do not “Eyeball” any ingredients in baking. Baking is a science and it requires accurate measurements to ensure that you products will turn out right every time.

Never measure over the mixing bowl containing the other ingredients. You may accidentally tip the measuring device or over pour the ingredients and excess ingredients would fall into the mixture. This could ruin the whole batch, depending on the ingredient and how much was spilled.

Cultivate the do-it-right attitude and habit.

Remember: If it is worth doing, it is worth doing right!

Baking demands accuracy and care. Because each ingredient in baking results in a particular action or reaction that’s critical to the recipe’s success, one misstep could mean the difference between baked goods people pass on, to those people can’t pass up.

Once again remember – Skill and confidence come with practice.

Happy Baking,

Rose

 

Share this with your friends and then let us know how you liked the article on our facebook page,

Thanks,

Pete