Cookie & Candy Helps Recipe
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Cookie Baking Tips |
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Ingredients: |
Ingredients:
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Directions: |
Directions:* Read the entire recipe before starting. Make sure you have enough time to refrigerate the dough if the recipe calls for it.
* Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature before creaming.
* When creaming the butter and eggs, beat until light and fluffy to incorporate air. Lots of air bubbles help the cookie be lighter.
* Always start with cool baking sheets. To cool sheets between batches, rinse with cold water and dry. This keeps the cookies from melting before they have a chance to set in the oven.
* Always preheat oven before baking unless otherwise directed.
* Do not grease cookie sheet unless directed to do so.
* Bake one sheet at a time. Place the sheet in the center of the oven. This allows cookies to bake evenly.
* For softer chewier cookies, take out of oven when center is not quite done. For crunchy or
crumbly cookies leave in oven until done through out.
* Move to a rack to cool; never stack or overlap cookies. This allows steam to escape so they won’t be soggy.
* Cool bar cookies in the pan to avoid crumbling.
* Store crisp and soft cookies separately in airtight containers.
* Cookies will spread if your dough is too pliable by allowing butter to get too soft. If your cookies are spreading too much, try refrigerating the dough for a couple of hours before baking.
* Cookie dough can be frozen up to three months in an airtight container or refrigerated three to four days.
* Check cookies at minimum baking time. |
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Candy Making Tips |
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Ingredients:
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Directions:*5 Mistakes Everyone Makes when making Candy from Scratch
1. You added the sugar wrong
Ever bite into a piece of fudge—or any dessert, really—and taste, um, crystallization? That’s a flavor note that’s not supposed to hit your palate. This happens when the sugar is stirred in the same manner you’d stir anything else. To avoid an undesirable sandy, grainy flavor, swirl the pot via your turning wrist, lifting the pot off of the burner.
2. You did not use a candy thermometer
This handy gadget—with the name “candy,” none the less—is produced and sold for a reason: to ensure that your chocolate, fudge or caramels turn out exactly right. The difference of just a few degrees can turn your caramels from soft and chewy to a trip to the dentist. So if you’re serious about making caramels, fudge and more, you’ll want to invest. And make note of these important candy stages:
• Soft ball (around 235ºF): Syrup added to cold water forms a “soft ball” that is fudge-like, super flexible and can flatten easily.
• Firm ball (around 245ºF): This is utopia, the perfect stage, for molding into balls or other shapes, applying some pressure.
• Soft crack (around 280ºF): The mixture begins to become pliable.
• Hard crack (around 300ºF): Candy becomes brittle, almost ready for eating!
3. You forgot to coat the pan
Candy is sticky stuff! The last thing you want is for it to stick to the bottom of your pan—so always, always coat your pan. You can always use a spritz of cooking spray or butter your pan to keep everything from sticking. You can also use coconut oil. This imparts a sweet flavor and is as natural an ingredient as you can find.
4. You sliced the candy too soon
It’s tempting, once your kitchen smells like chocolate or caramel, to cut right into the goods as they cool, fresh out of the oven. But doing so can cause harm. The candy should cool for at least eight hours or overnight. To be doubly sure that it’s the right time to slice, take a room-temperature knife and run it under warm water first.
5. You failed to store candy properly
If you wake up to find that your candied citrus has gone too soft or your caramels have dried out, it’s likely because the candy wasn’t stored properly. Whatever you’re cooking up, be sure to use an airtight container to keep air out (and freshness in).
With those five tips, you should be on your way to candy making success! If you’ don’t mind us, we’ll just be dreaming of marshmallow, caramel and fudge.
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Extracts |
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Ingredients:
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Directions:* To make an extract, simply combine ingredients in a ½ pint Mason jar and set aside to steep for at least
3 days. Each recipe yields ¾ cup extract, which can be stored anywhere and should keep for up to a year. If you want to give a gift of an extract, strain a portion (for aesthetics), transfer it to a little apothecary bottle, and add a piece of vanilla bean or a spiral of lemon or orange peel.
* For Vanilla Extract, combine 2 vanilla beans, cut in half lengthwise and then chopped (about 1
tablespoon), ½ cup brandy, and ¼ cup water.
* For Lemon Extract, thinly peel 1 lemon with a vegetable peeler, taking care not to include any pith. Dice the peel (about 2 tablespoon) and combine it with ½ cup vodka and ¼ cup water.
* For Orange Extract, thinly peel ½ navel orange (as above), and cut the peel into chunks (about 1½
tablespoon). Combine with ¼ cup vodka and ½ cup water.
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