Cake And Cookie Hints

~ Discover baking with mayonnaise. Try substituting may as a
shortening or oil – it blends easily, adds moistness and contributes
toward a tender texture. – Thowaway Cake Plate – Save bottom
cardboards from pizzas and cover with aluminum foil. Great if you are
donating a cake or pie to a cake sale. – Dip spoon in hot water
before measuring lard, butter, etc – it will slip off the spoon more
easily. – Put flour in a large salt shaker and use for dusting cake
pans, meat, etc. It is less messy and doesn’t waste flour. -For
recipes using beaten egg whites, the eggs should be separated when
cold and the whites allowed to come to room temperature (egg whites
reach their highest volume if beaten at room temperature.) Cream of
tartar or sugar added to the egg whites will increase the stability
of the foam. The sugar should be added alittle at a time. Be careful
not to overbeat egg whites or they will become stiff and dry, having
lost their elasticity, and will almost certainly collapse as soon as
heat is applies. Be sure beaters and bowl, etc, are complety free of
oil – any trace of oil with prevent the egg whites from fluffing up.
~ Don’t grease cookie sheets or cookies will tend to spread too much.
When baking several batches in succession, let sheets cool before
placing more dough on them, or the dough will soften and spread and
finished cookies will be misshapen. If you don’t have enough spare
cookie sheets, use inverted baking pans. – Any recipe which says,
‘and add one egg,’ can be made better by separateing the white and
yolk. This white, when beaten separately, adds bubbles tenderness and
makes the finished product lighter. This is true for nearly all
boxed items. – Child’s party: Push animal shaped cookie cutters
lightly into icing. Fill depressed outline with chocolate icing.
ALSO – fill ice cream cones (flat bottoms) with cake batter half full
and bake. Decorate with icing topped with colored sugar. – If your
layer cakes stick to the bottom of their pans, return them to a warm
oven briefly. The layer will come out intact in just a short time. –
For baking cakes, use shiny metal pans or pans with a non stick
finish. Avoid dull, dark or enamel pans which can cause uneven and
excessive browning. If using glass or porcelain coated alumninum
pans, reduce the oven temp 25 degrees F. If baking more than 1 at a
time, arrange the pans in the oven so that you get the best air flow
~ stagger them from one shelf to another, not one directly on top of
another. And do not have a pan touching the walls of the oven or
touching another pan. Good air flow is very important to proper
baking (This is true for trays of cookies, also.) Origin: Cooking
with Love, compiled by Baptist Church in Oregon. Shared by: Sharon
Stevens, Aug/95.