Help for the beginning baker (and cook)
Let’s say you’re just starting out baking from scratch for the very first time. You need a tray of cupcakes to bring to work tomorrow and it’s 7 o’clock in the evening. You bought the ingredients and they’re all ready for you to use, you just need to take them out of the fridge. You read the recipe again and it says the eggs should be room temperature. Shoot! You didn’t see that the first time, how long does that take? Then you still have to bake, cool, and decorate them too, you’ll be up all night There is something you can do to speed the process up and it doesn’t include stopping at the store for premade cupcakes before work. Do you know what it is? You would if you had the power of Cook’s Illustrated at your disposal. The magazine known for it’s ad-free reviews, tips, and recipes has a website and an entire section of how-to’s available without a subscription.
Some guides include:
Baking Basics: Need to bring eggs to room temperature quickly? Place them in warm water for 5 minutes.
How to substitute ingredients: Many know you can substitute a cup of whole milk plus a tablespoon of white vinegar for buttermilk, but did you know you could also use a cup of whole milk plus a teaspoon of cream of tartar?
Cake frosting 101: I wish I would have found this before I made that heart cake.
Freestyle cookie decorating: Your cookies will never look the same!
Shaping and baking dinner rolls: Ever wonder how Grandma made those rolls look all fancy?
High-Altitude Baking: Live on a mountain? You can still bake!
Plus many, many more.
In addition to warming eggs in a bowl of water, you can place all ingredients on a cookie sheet in a 150F oven, turn off the heat, and let ingredients come up to room temp. Caution: Be sure to put butter or shortening into a bowl before placing it in the oven.