Bakers Dozen

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No, it’s not Thursday Thirteen, LOL. I threw a list together offering some cooking and baking ideas that may come in handy during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. You may already know most of these. Feel free to jump in and share some of your own, I’m always eager to learn new ideas. As I think of, or come across others I’ll drop them in the comments.

Hints, Suggestions, Substitutions…

1. When microwaving – Do not salt foods on the surface as it causes dehydration and toughens food. Salt after you remove from the oven unless the recipe calls for using salt in the mixture.

2. Substitutions – One cup self-rising; substitute one cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt, and one teaspoon baking powder.

3. Equivalency

– One pound powdered sugar equals 3 ½ cups.

– 4 Ounces (1 ¼ cup) Uncooked Macaroni equals 2 ¼ cups cooked

– One medium Onion equals ½ cup

– One medium Lemon equals 3 tablespoons juice

– One cup regular Rice equals 3 cups cooked

4. Icing Cakes – If you sprinkle cake with powdered sugar first icing will remain where you put it.

5. Cream Pies – Sprinkle crust with powdered sugar in order to prevent cream pies from becoming soggy.

6. Do not despair if you oversalt gravy. Stir in some instant mashed potatoes to solve the problem. Just add a little more liquid in order to offset the thickening.

7. To keep celery crisp, stand upright in a pitcher of cold, salted water and refrigerate.

8. To keep cauliflower white while cooking, add a little milk to the water.

9. Use greased muffin tins as molds when baking stuffed green peppers.

10. When baking muffins or cupcakes, fill any empty tins 2/3 full of water to ensure even baking.

11. When adding raw, beaten eggs to hot mixtures and sauces, temper the eggs. Add small amounts of hot mixture to beaten eggs first slowly bringing them up to temperature; such as in making cornbread dressing. This will keep you from having scrambled eggs in your dishes.

12. To avoid tears when cutting onions, briefly place them in the freezer before cutting.

13. When making meringue, egg whites need to be at room temperature for greater volume when whipping.

Bon Appetite
The Backseat Gourmet

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