How to Guides Archives - Page 31 of 38

How to Remove Chocolate from Silicone Molds

January 2, 2024December 16, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

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Tempered chocolate can be difficult to remove from silicone molds for a variety of reasons.

See video on how to remove chocolate from silicone molds.

Chocolate isn’t fully hardened

If your chocolate isn’t fully solidified, it will be too soft to remove from the silicone mold all in one beautiful piece. It may be sections missing from the chocolate due to it not hardening.

Place the chocolate in the fridge for about 20 min until it’s solidified, then you can remove the chocolates from their molds.

Silicone mold has too much excess chocolate

One of the biggest culprits of not being able to remove chocolate from a silicone mold easily is from having too much excess chocolate on the silicone mold.

Remove the excess chocolate while it is still warm by using a bench scraper to scrape away the excess chocolate. This will give the chocolates a nice even back to them.

How to Remove Chocolate from Silicone Molds without breaking

How to Remove Chocolate from Silicone Molds

Chocolate has air bubbles throughout

Air bubbles are common with tempering chocolate. To remove the air bubbles before your chocolate hardens, tap the mold on the counter after you have filled them. This will make a beautiful chocolate without imperfections, and be much easier to remove from the silicone mold.

How to get chocolate out of silicone molds without breaking

Place chocolate in fridge for 20-30 min depending on the size of chocolate.
Remove from the fridge and turn the mold upside down on a plate.
If the silicone mold is quite large, start by gently removing the edges of the mold from the chocolate. Go around the entire edge and pull the mold away from the chocolate.
With the silicone mold close to the plate, gently press the top of the mold of each chocolate with your thumb to delicately take the chocolate out without breaking it.
Chocolate is removed safely and remains fully intact.

See video here.

Do you need to grease silicone chocolate molds

No. You do not need to grease silicone chocolate molds. Just use the molds as is. They should be clean and dry before using silicone molds for chocolate.

How to store your chocolates made from silicone molds

Store your freshly made chocolate that you made in your silicone mold at room temperature. Store your chocolate in an airtight container in the cabinet where it will stay a constant temperature. Chocolate doesn’t like temperature fluctuations.

If you store your tempered chocolate in the fridge or freezer, the cocoa butter comes to the surface of the chocolate creating a white precipitate on the outer layer of the chocolate.

How to Use a Spatula for Baking

January 2, 2024December 14, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

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Spatulas are rubber, they are meant to bend and move as needed to conform to the sides of the bowl you are scraping.

If you’re making batter using a stand mixer, sometimes the food will be pushed up the sides of the bowl. This is when you want to stop the mixer, and using the end of the rubber spatula, push the food down to the bottom of the bowl.

To get the excess batter off of your rubber spatula, run it against paddle or whisk attachment of your mixer. Set your spatula aside.

Turn your stand mixer on again and mix the rest of the contents.

When you’re finished incorporating all of your batter, it’s time to put your batter in or on your pan.

You can use the spatula again to scrape the batter into your pan.

Or, if you’re working with a thicker dough like cookie dough, you can scrape the contents on the bottom to make sure you get as much of the dough you’ve made as possible.

See video here.

Spatula uses in baking

A spatula is a rubber ended tool that is used in baking in a couple of different ways.

scrape the sides of a bowl
shaping butter
mixing
pouring batter and scraping it into a pan

How to use a spatula for butter

When making a butter layer for croissant dough, you use your rubber spatula to push the butter into a perfect rectangle.

Begin by placing the room temperature butter on top of a silicone pastry mat.

Push the butter into a rectangle by using your rubber spatula as tool.

Measure your butter as you go. The sides will become thin. To make them into the thick butter layer that you want, push the excess butter remnants from the silicone mat into the rectangular sides.

Can a rubber spatula melt

Yes, a rubber spatula can melt if it used over heat. Rubber has a melting point of 180 degrees Celsius. You will want to use a wooden spoon if you’re cooking with a saucepan instead of a rubber spatula.

Is rubber scraper a mixing tool

Yes, you can use a rubber scraper as a mixing tool for batter such as muffin batter or cake batter.

These batters are to be mixed only until just combined, therefore using a rubber spatula for a couple of mixes will be ideal for your batter.

A rubber spatula is fairly small and flexible. For thicker doughs like cookie doughs a rubber spatula will not work as well. The dough is too tough to mix with a rubber spatula. It’s best to use a stand mixer or wooden spoon for these types of thicker doughs.

What Goes Well with Banana Bread

January 3, 2021December 14, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

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Banana bread is one of the most magical smells coming from the oven as it bakes. It’s a simple cake method recipe that can be made in about 15 minutes plus baking time.

What to spread on banana bread

butter
peanut butter
hazelnut spread
almond butter

What to put on banana bread

There are a few items you can put on top of banana bread including:

honey
cream cheese icing
whipped cream
vanilla custard
chocolate pudding
vanilla ice cream
chocolate sauce
maple syrup

Do you need to put butter on banana bread

If you’re banana bread is quite moist, you won’t need to put any butter on your banana bread when you serve it. But if you’re banana bread is dry and needs more moisture, spread a layer of butter on top of your banana bread before serving.

What goes well with banana bread?

Tea and coffee go well with serving banana bread. You can also serve yogurt and fruit with banana bread for a light meal.

What spices go well with banana

How do you moisten banana bread?

Banana bread is made with the cake method, therefore you need to do as little mixing a physically possible. Even if there is a bit of flour showing as you mix the banana bread, once you put it in the mixing pan it will be fully mixed in. Only mixing your banana bread until it’s just combined will ensure your banana bread is moist and tasty. If you overmix your banana bread batter, this develops the gluten and causes it to be tough and dry. Serve your banana bread warm with a layer of butter on it to moisten your banana bread enough for your guests. Learn how to reheat banana bread so it retains it’s freshness.

What spices go well with banana

nutmeg
cloves
coconut
cinnamon
cocoa

How to Use a Glass Rolling Pin

January 3, 2021December 14, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Glass rolling pins are a vintage collectable item typically from the 18th or 19th century.

Vintage glass rolling pins are shaped with 2 handles on each side. One of the handles has a metal cap or cork on the end of it. This is to fill the glass rolling pin with weight.

In ancient times, bakers used to fill the glass rolling pin with ice or cold water and then use it roll out their dough. However, this causes condensation on the glass rolling pin which transfers the water onto the dough.

How to Use a Glass Rolling Pin to Roll out Dough

Clean the rolling pin thoroughly and let it completely dry before using. Vintage items can collect dust, and you don’t want this to be rolled into your dough. Inspect the glass to make sure there aren’t any chips in the glass before using.
Fill a glass measuring cup of water. Microwave it for 10-15 seconds until it’s room temperature.
Open the glass rolling pin and pour the room temperature water into it.
Place the lid on the glass rolling pin.
Dry the glass rolling pin with a kitchen towel to remove any excess water that may have dripped on the outside of the pin.
Place your dough on a floured flat surface.
Flour your dough well. The flour will not stick to the glass rolling pin very well, so put a bit of extra flour on your dough to roll out.
Begin gently rolling forward and backwards. You don’t want to use too much force with a glass rolling pin or it has the potential to shatter.
Once you’re happy with the thickness of your dough, place the glass rolling pin in your sink so it doesn’t roll away from you.

How to clean a glass rolling pin

To clean a glass rolling pin, remove the cork or metal lid and drain the liquid from the rolling pin into your sink. Gently put soapy water into the rolling pin to clean the inside. Using a cloth with soap and water, gently wipe down the sides of the glass rolling pin to clean any excess dough off of it. Rinse the glass rolling pin with water and set it to dry with the open side down. This will make the water completely drain out of the pin.

How to Use a Rolling Pin

January 3, 2021December 11, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Roll your dough into a ball. Place the ball on a flat surface.

Ideally, the dough should be put on a silicone mat. This way, the silicone mat does not need to be floured to be rolled out.

If you’re using your countertop only to roll out your dough, grab a handful of flour and sprinkle the flour in a large area. The flour should cover an area larger than the length of your rolling pin.

Place the dough on top of the floured countertop or on the silicone mat.

Grab a smaller handful of flour cover your rolling pin in flour. Use your hands to run the flour up and down the rolling pin to give it a good coating.

Grab a small handful of flour and sprinkle the flour onto your dough. Your dough will need less flour if it’s a dry dough. If the dough is quite sticky, you’ll need to put a lot of flour on the dough.

Placing flour on your rolling pin and dough will prevent the dough from sticking to the rolling pin.

It’s a pain to remove dough from the rolling pin. If you do end up getting dough on your rolling pin, clean it off with a cloth.

If clumps of dough accumulate on the rolling pin, this will create a pit in the dough when you roll the clump into the dough.

If your rolling has handles, grab the handles and put it in the center of the dough.

Use a bit of pressure to push the dough with the rolling pin to flatten it out a bit.

If you’re wanting to roll out a rectangle, continue rolling in the same direction. This will create a rectangular dough.

If you’re wanting to roll out a circle, roll the dough diagonally and vertically to make the dough into a circle.

Roll the dough from the center to the edges. This will make the center of the dough become more uniform in width as you continue rolling the dough to the required thickeness.

You can roll the dough towards you, and forwards. Try to make the entire dough as even as possible. If you’re wanting a more accurate measurement for your dough, you can try using a rolling pin with thickness rings.

When you’re finished rolling out your dough, you can use it right away, or place it in the fridge if you’re not quite ready to use it yet.

What can you use a rolling pin for

There are many uses for a rolling pin, including:

rolling out pastry dough
rolling out cookie dough
rolling out a butter layer for croissant dough
rolling out croissants
rolling out tart dough
rolling out pizza dough
rolling out dumplings
rolling out tortillas
rolling out pita

How to use a pastry mat for rolling out dough

Other Uses for rolling pins:

smash candy, caramel, etc.
place food items in a resealable bag. Roll the bag until it’s flattened. Place the bag in the freezer to save space. This works well for meat storage or meat tenderizing.

Types of rolling pins

French wooden rolling pin – pastry dough
Turkish rolling pin – dumplings, baklava, tortillas
regular wooden rolling pin with or without handles
dowel wooden rolling pin
marble rolling pin – croissant dough
glass rolling pin
silicone rolling pin
textured rolling pin – creates designs on dough
fondant rolling pin

How to clean a rolling pin

To clean a rolling pin, gently wipe the rolling pin with a wet cloth until it’s clean. Let it air dry.

Do not soak the rolling pin in the sink, as this will cause the wood to warp and will not rolling your dough straight.

How to store a rolling pin

Store a rolling pin in a drawer or cabinet. This will prevent dust buildup on your rolling pin. Store it in an area that is dry so it will remain in good condition for years to come.

How to Use a Kitchen Scale

January 2, 2024December 9, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Weighing ingredients is more accurate than using measuring cups.

Measuring cups use volume to obtain the amount needed for a recipe.

This doesn’t take into account packing brown sugar, flour that has been packed into a measuring cup, or just sifted flour.

Weighing ingredients takes all of these concerns into account because air doesn’t add weight to the food.

Therefore, weighing the ingredient is the most precise, accurate measurement you can get when baking.

Turn your kitchen scale on using the power button
Place a bowl on top of the kitchen scale for measuring.
Push the power button or scale tare button to make the scale go to zero.
Change the measurements by using the other button for what your recipe requires. Change the measurements to grams, fluid ounces, ounces, milliliters, or lbs.
Pour your ingredient into the bowl until you reach your desired measurement.
Add your ingredient to your recipe. You can reuse the same bowl for your next food to measure. But make sure you zero the scale again after you place the bowl on the scale.

See video here.

Scale tare vs Zero

A scale when turned on measures zero.

When a bowl is added to the kitchen scale, this adds weight.

You can use the scale “tare” button to make the scale measure zero again.

According to the scale you can now measure your ingredient, without having to worry about how much the bowl weighs.

The scale tare tells the scale you don’t want to measure anything you have added to it yet, aka the bowl your using to measure your ingredient.

What foods can you use a kitchen scale for?

Where can you find recipes measured by weight?

King Arthur Flour and The Joy of Baking have all of their recipes in weight and volume.

Why are measuring spoons measured with volume and not weight?

Measuring spoons are measured with volume instead of weight because they are very small amounts.

These low weight foods generally cannot be measured accurately with a kitchen scale because the weight is too low for a large kitchen scale. Kitchen scales can measure heavy weights over 10 lbs.

You would need a much smaller scale with a smaller weight range (only up to 15 g or 0.03 lbs) to accurately measure the weight used by measuring spoons.

Kitchen scales are not calibrated to measure very low weights.

These small volumes do not dramatically change recipes because of their size.

Therefore, measuring spoons are ok to use volume to measure instead of being weighed.

How to Use the Paddle Attachment for Stand Mixer

April 24, 2021December 9, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

A stand mixer comes with several attachments including the paddle attachment, also known as the flat beater attachment.

The paddle attachment is used for heavy duty mixing.

The paddle attachment can be used at the beginning of a recipe when you’re creaming fat, eggs, and sugar together. Cookies are made using this method, and then you can continue using the stand mixer for the rest of the recipe. The paddle attachment is heavy duty, and can beat this thick batter together.

The paddle attachment is used for making several recipes including:

cookies
icing
pancake batter
crepe batter

Other uses for the paddle attachment include:

creaming butter
creaming cream cheese
creaming butter with eggs and sugar

Paddle attachment vs Whisk attachment

The whisk attachment is used to aerate foods like egg whites and whipping cream.

The whisk attachment is a sphere shape and uses a circular motion to mix, whereas the paddle attachment beats with a large flat paddle.

The whisk attachment is used for making whipping cream and making soft or stiff peaks with egg whites.

The paddle attachment isn’t able to perform these tasks due to the different shape of the attachment and the motion it mixes in.

The paddle attachment is used for beating fat and creaming sugar and eggs together to make batter. The paddle attachment is used for heavy mixing and thick ingredients.

The whisk attachment is used for more lighter ingredients and adds more air in the ingredients. This creates small bubbles which makes the egg whites or whipping cream turn into a different state.

The whipping cream will become soft peaks, perfect for serving. The egg whites will become soft peaks, and then stiff peaks. This creates foods for soufflés, twice baked potatoes, meringues, etc.

When not to use the paddle attachment

For foods like cakes, scones, and muffins, they need to mixed until only just combined, otherwise they become tough by developing the gluten too much with vigorous mixing. Therefore, you do not want to use the paddle attachment to mix these sorts of quick breads.

How to Use a Candy Thermometer

August 27, 2021December 9, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Select a saucepan that is small enough to have your candy thermometer bulb in the contents of your ingredients. The saucepan size should allow for the ingredients to be bubbling at the surface.
Attach the clip of your candy thermometer to the edge of the saucepan. Slide the thermometer down to the lowest point so the metal portion touches the bottom of the saucepan. The bulb will be above the bottom of your saucepan. If it was touching the bottom of the saucepan it has the potential to explode due to the direct heat.
Add your contents to the saucepan. Start cooking on 3 on your burner. You want to slowly add heat, and even on 3, the contents will go up to temperature.
Only stir your ingredients as needed. Sometimes with foods like caramel sauce, you just leave the saucepan to bubble and come up to temperature without stirring.
When your food has come to temperature, remove it from the heat source. Put oven mitts on and gently remove the candy thermometer from the sauce pan. Let it cool on a cutting board, or on your stovetop where it is heat safe to cool.
If you have to add any other ingredients to it at this point, use oven mitts to add the foods to the hot contents. Stir gently.

How to clean a candy thermometer

To clean a candy thermometer, do not soak it fully. Gently place the dirty end in a bit of soapy water and let the food dissolve. Wipe clean with a cloth gently. You don’t want to use that much force since the bulb is glass. Set it to try on a drying rack.

How do you read a candy thermometer

A candy thermometer is read by looking at the mercury and then the measurement beside it where it lines up exactly. The thermometer will have both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Be sure to check which side you’re reading the thermometer, versus what your recipe requires.

What is the difference between a candy thermometer and a regular thermometer

A regular thermometer cannot be left in extremely hot contents. A candy thermometer can be left in very hot foods, and read at extremely high temperatures (400 degrees F). A regular thermometer is not able to read high temperatures because it isn’t calibrated to read that high.

How does a candy thermometer help when making candy

A candy thermometer will help when making candy because it can be cooked until the exact degree of measurement needed for a candy recipe.

Candy can range from being soft, firm, hard, soft-crack, or hard crack.

This means that you need a candy thermometer to help determine the exact measurement for your recipe. There isn’t a way to guess the temperature or how “cooked” the sugar is.

What the 5 stages of sugar

Sugar Stage	Temperature in Fahrenheit	Types of Candy Made
Soft Stage	235-240	Fondant, pralines, fudge
Firm Stage	245-250	Individual Caramels
Hard Stage	250-265	Nougat, gummies, rock candy, marshmallows
Soft-Crack Stage	270-290	Butterscotch, saltwater taffy
Hard-Crack Stage	300-310	Caramel, toffee, peanut brittle, lollipops

What temperature does sugar burn at

Sugar burns at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once sugar has burned, there isn’t anything you can do to mitigate the burnt, bitter flavor. Restart the sugar again on a low temperature to make sure your sugar doesn’t burn.

What temperature does a candy thermometer go to

A candy thermometer measures up to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 degrees Celsius.

How to Make Beautiful Christmas Cookies

January 3, 2021December 9, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Making beautiful Christmas cookies starts with baking your favorite sugar cookie recipe.

Sugar cookies can be decorated many ways to create beautiful Christmas cookies for your friends and family.

Sugar cookies will stay good for up to 2 weeks at room temperature, or you can freeze them for up to 1 month.

This makes giving sugar cookies as gifts very easy! They store for a long time, and they are a sentimental, thoughtful, and homemade Christmas gift you can easily make.

Baking sugar cookies is easy and not time consuming. However, decorating sugar cookies is very time consuming depending on how detailed you want your cookies.

An easy cookie decorating idea for your sugar cookies, is flooding your sugar cookies and then putting a few sprinkles on top for an added shimmer. Learn how to flood your sugar cookies and add sprinkles to the top of them with our step by step guide.

Once your sugar cookies are baked and cooled, you can make royal icing for piping onto your sugar cookies.

First, make your icing and then use a bit of water to thin out the icing for flooding. Flood your cookies with the background color you want to show. Using a lighter color for your icing is desired because then the background color is less likely to bleed into the top colors you add.

Let the cookie dry overnight or for a couple of hours until it’s dry to the touch.

Mix your icing again and color it with a few drops of liquid food coloring. You’ll have to separate the icing into different bowls to color them accordingly.

Add a bit of icing sugar to the bowls if the icing is too thin to pipe. You want the icing to flow, but not be too thin or it will spread all over your cookie. Try to make it a “toffee” consistency.

Sugar Cookie Designs for Christmas

To make beautiful Christmas cookies, here are a few designs you can try out:

How to make a snowflake on a Christmas cookie

To make this snowflake cookie, start the top design by making the lines crisscross. Then add the diagonal lines. Snowflakes need a lot of room for the branches, so try to make the lines as big as possible.

Add in the tiny branches, starting at the end of the line. Add them alternately so you’ll be sure you can get the matching branch in without touching the sides of the other large lines.

Top your snowflake cookie with a few clear sprinkles for a shiny effect.

How to make a rose on a Christmas Cookie

To make the cookie on the bottom of the above photo, we’ll make the snowflake the same way. This time, we’ll get a new piping bag with the star tip to make a little rose for the cookie.

Start the rose by squeezing the piping bag a little bit for the center of the rose. Stream the icing out of the bag and turn the bag to make a complete circle around the rose. Finish it off by gently pushing the icing into the rose and then remove the piping bag.

How to make a Christmas Ornament on a Christmas Cookie

Pipe the icing using grey, white, or black icing for the Christmas ornament.

Pipe a small circle at the edge of the cookie. This will be the hook of the Christmas ornament.

Pipe a rectangle underneath the circle having it touch the circle. This is the metal part of the Christmas ornament. Pipe a couple of lines vertically in the rectangle.

Pipe a large circle edging it as close to the edge of the flooded icing as possible. This will be the Christmas ornament.

Pipe a couple of lines in the center of the bulb for a bit of decoration. Make the lines from point to point on the ornament. This will create a weaving effect, making the ornament look 3D. Add a couple of sprinkles in the center of the ornament for more of a color pop.

5 Ways to Decorate a Candy Cane Cookie

Pipe small rectangles so it alternates the coloring of the flooded icing.
Pipe small lines so it alternates the coloring of the flooded icing.
Pipe small lines and add tiny branches to the lines. Add sprinkles.
Pipe small dots making it polka dotted. Add sprinkles.

How to Make Heart Shaped Shortbread Cookies

January 3, 2021December 8, 2020 by Jenna Atkinson

As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

To make heart shaped shortbread cookies, first make your shortbread cookie dough and get ready to roll it out.

Grab your favorite heart shaped cookie cutters.

Wilton’s heart shaped cookie cutter is a decent size, giving you a 3 ” heart shaped biscuit.

Should you chill shortbread dough before baking?

Typically it’s best to place shortbread cookie dough in the fridge for 30 min before rolling it out. The fridge solidifies the ingredients together so it makes it much easier to roll out the dough this way.

How to Make Heart Shaped Shortbread Cookies

Roll out your shortbread cookie dough until it’s about 1/4″ in thickness.
Place your favorite heart shaped cookie cutter on your dough so it has good margins around the cookie cutter.
Gently press the cookie cutter into the dough until it’s full cut through and you feel the resistance of the table.
Remove the heart shaped cookie cutter from the shortbread dough vertically.
Continue cutting your cookie dough until all the cookie dough has been cut.
Transfer the shortbread cookie dough to a baking pan.
Using a fork, gently poke holes in the shortbread dough.
Reroll the dough and use your cookie cutters to cut more cookies.
Bake the cookies for the required time.
Let the cookies cool on a cooling rack.
Cookies are best within 2-3 weeks after baking and should be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Why do you poke holes in shortbread?

You need to poke holes in shortbread dough prior to baking to let the steam out of the cookies while it bakes. This makes the cookies bake evenly, without letting it brown on the edges.

What happens if you put too much butter in shortbread?

If you put too much butter in your shortbread, the butter will seep out of the cookie and spread the cookie dough out all over the baking pan in the oven. They will be very difficult to get off of the pan.

Why do my shortbread cookies fall apart?

Shortbread cookies will fall apart if their isn’t enough fat to keep them together, or if the dough is too warm. If your dough is a bit crumbly only, you may just need to chill the dough for 30 min before rolling it out. Be patient when working with shortbread dough, as it does take a little bit to roll it out evenly. Alternatively, you can add 1 tbsp more butter at a time to your dough to have it come together to roll out.

How to Make Heart Shaped Shortbread Cookies

Wilton’s heart cookie cutter can also be used as a love heart cookie cutter for valentines day.

You can decorate your love heart cookies many ways by adding royal icing to the top of them.