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10 Life Hacks for Perfect Baking

We’ve put together helpful tips and tricks to help you avoid dirtying your dishes, avoid culinary mishaps, and make divinely delicious baked goods.

  1. Do not use glasses for measuring. In recipes, the amount of ingredients is often determined by the glasses. This method is not very reliable, if only because at the exit each chef can get a different weight of the product. In addition, you can be mistaken by measuring half or a third of the glass by eye. It is better to buy a kitchen scale and follow the recipes that indicate the exact weight of the ingredients.
  2. Cover the scale with a paper towel. Ingredients such as cocoa often crumble and stain the surface of kitchen scales. To avoid this, simply cover it with a paper towel and throw it away after weighing. The scale will stay perfectly clean.
  3. Determine the age of the eggs. Eggs of different ages may be required to create certain confectionery products. For example, ice cream is good for fresh eggs, and meringues are good for older ones. You can determine your age with a bowl of water. Put an egg in it: if it falls to the bottom, then it is fresh; if it rises with a blunt end up, it means that it is older; if the egg pops up like a float, it is better to throw it away.
  4. Break the eggs into separate dishes. If you break an egg straight into a bowl of dough, it is likely that shell particles will also fall into it. Therefore, it is better to prepare the eggs separately and then add them to the general container. If a mistake has already been made, you can remove the shell after the cake is cooked and cooled. All the shells will sink to the bottom and can be easily removed.
  5. Be careful when mixing dry ingredients. To avoid a hurricane of flour and other bulk ingredients while using the mixer, add small portions to a bowl and start stirring at minimum speed. Cover your work surface with paper towels for extra protection.
  6. Use different utensils for sweet and savory foods. To avoid odd tastes in baked goods, divide your knives, spatulas, and planks into the ones you use for savory and sugary foods. This way, your cake will definitely never turn salty.
  7. Mix the sticky ingredients with the confectionary sugar. Pieces of sticky ingredients (like marzipan or dates) tend to clump together into a huge sweet bite. You can prevent this by adding a couple of tablespoons of confectionery sugar to them.
  8. Pick up heavy ingredients. Foods like raisins, nuts and frozen berries often end up at the bottom of baked goods. You can fix this by mixing them with a little cinnamon, cocoa powder, or flour. Choose the right ingredient depending on the recipe.
  9. Use butter to remove the stickiness from the dough. To prevent the dough from sticking to your hands, it is often advised to use flour. But there is another way – canola (rapeseed) oil. Lightly wipe your palms and work surface with it – the dough will not stick and no excess flour will appear in it.
  10. Cool the liquid quickly in an ice bath. If you need to quickly chill sweet cream, pour it into a metal saucepan and place it in a large bowl of cold water. Metal helps heat to escape quickly, and cold to penetrate. Note that the larger the pan, the faster the hot cream will cool down.
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6 Cake Decorating Tips for Beginners

Have you always dreamed of making the perfect cake by decorating it beautifully? But are you not a professional pastry chef? Then these tips are for you.

  1. Baking the cakes in advance and freezing them will make it easier to decorate the cake. Frozen cakes do not crumble so much, this greatly facilitates the application of the cream. These cakes will stay fresh in the freezer for up to a week. You can also prepare the cream in advance and store it in the refrigerator, in an airtight container, for up to a week.
  2. It is no coincidence that the stands are used by professional pastry chefs. This allows the cream or glaze to be applied easily and evenly on all sides. And also make any decor without mistakes, apply drawings, decorative elements, and so on.
  3. Leveling the cake layers is important as they must be completely flat. Otherwise, they may tilt when you stack them on top of each other, making the cake uneven. A serrated knife is ideal for this purpose. Just make sure the blade of your knife is longer than the diameter of your cake. The goal is to cut off any domed top. To make it perfectly flat.
  4. The next step is assembling the cake. Lubricate the first crust with a spatula. Place the second cake on it with the bottom side up and apply the cream again. Do this with all the cakes. Now apply a layer of cream all over the cake and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes. This allows the layers of cream to cure completely before applying the last layer of cream.
  5. Place the collected cake layers on the turntable and apply a layer of cream using a spatula. A pastry spatula is a flat piece of metal with one flat edge and one serrated edge. To use the tool, drag an edge along the sides of the cake, rotating it in the opposite direction.
  6. Making decorative flowers and other decorations using a piping bag and various pastry attachments takes practice. This also applies to decorating with royal glaze. A great way is to practice on a piece of wax paper instead of the cake itself. Small single flowers can be transferred from wax paper to cake. Practice is key. And over time, everything will turn out perfect for you!
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7 Tips for Cooking Charlotte

Charlotte is probably the most popular apple pie. From our article, you will see that the preparation consists in simple mixing of the ingredients, as a result of which an airy sponge cake with the most delicate apple filling is obtained.

  1. Traditional charlotte is made from apples. Antonovka is considered the best apple for a pie. The pronounced sourness of Antonov apples perfectly complements the taste of sweet biscuit.
  2. Add vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, or cardamom to the batter for a flavorful pie. A pinch of ginger will add a light piquancy to the cake. When adding spices, don’t overdo it.
  3. Finely grated lemon zest will give the charlotte taste a finishing touch.
  4. Sugar can be replaced with honey. Put the chopped apples in a bowl with honey. If the honey is candied, then melt it first.
  5. The first thing to do before you start making charlotte is to turn on the oven. Preparatory procedures will take 15-20 minutes, during which time the temperature should rise to 180-200 ° С
  6. Making a biscuit for charlotte is very simple. To do this, you need to separate the whites of the four eggs from the yolks, cool them and beat them separately until a stable foam. Continuing to beat, gradually add 1 glass of sugar and 1 glass of flour to the proteins. At the very end, add four yolks and beat together again. The biscuit prepared in this way will not settle, but will turn out to be fluffy and tender.
  7. Apples for charlotte are washed and wiped dry, cut into slices or pieces, while removing the core. Some housewives recommend peeling the peel from the apples, but this is unnecessary. When baked, the rind becomes soft and gives the taste a sour taste.
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8 Tips for Making the Perfect Soufflé

The most important tips for the perfect soufflé:

  1. Perfectly beaten egg whites should be thick and not sag!
  2. Observe the amount of ingredients, cooking times and temperatures exactly!
  3. Choose a cylindrical baking dish that’s smooth on the inside!
  4. Lubricate the mold before placing the soufflé in it.
  5. Don’t overfill the baking dish to allow the mixture to rise!
  6. After filling, immediately place the dish in a water bath in a preheated oven!
  7. Don’t open the oven too early!
  8. Serve this gourmet dish ASAP!
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9 Tips for Making Cupcakes

Classic muffin is an airy and soft dessert with the addition of dried fruits and decorated with icing and sprinkles. It can be large or small, cooked in the oven or right in the mug. How to make a treat perfect, read my selection of recommendations.

  1. When choosing products for baking, give preference to natural ingredients.
  2. Before preparing the classic raisin muffins, take out all the ingredients of the recipe on the table – they should be at natural temperature.
  3. Always pass flour through a sieve. From this, the baked goods become weightless and rise well. The silicone mold is a handy baking tool. Compact, not afraid of heat and cold, it is easy to get baked goods and wash. Use paper cups for mini cupcakes as well.
  4. Put a piece of dough in the mold, filling two or three containers – it will increase from heating.
  5. When you are fiddling with the dough, turn on the oven to warm up. Do not place baked goods in a cold oven.
  6. Do not slam the oven door, move the grate or sheet on which the cake is standing – it may settle.
  7. Place dessert on the middle oven shelf for even baking.
  8. Do not leave ready-made muffins inside the pan. Choose recipes carefully in order to adequately cope with all the manipulations.
  9. Decorate your creation. The decor enhances the appearance of the baked goods and keeps them from hardening.
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10 Tips for Baking Homemade Cakes

These tips will definitely come in handy 🙂

  1. Egg yolks can be saved by placing them in a jar of water and placing the jar in the refrigerator.
  2. If you need protein, you can extract it from the egg by piercing it with a thick needle on both sides and blowing the white out. This will leave the yolk in the shell.
  3. Use a paper funnel to separate the white from the yolk.
  4. The coolly kneaded dough sticks to your hands, but rolls out well with a bottle of cold water.
  5. Butter will not darken when frying if the pan is first greased with a little vegetable oil.
  6. To make the cake easy to remove from the mold, after the oven, you need to put it on a rag soaked in cold water.
  7. If the sunflower or olive oil becomes cloudy and has an unpleasant odor, add a spoonful of table salt per liter. After a few days, the settled oil can be drained.
  8. To cut a crumbly cake, the knife must be heated by lowering boiling water.
  9. To prevent the dough from burning, you need to put a frying pan with water or an asbestos sheet under the baking sheet.
  10. The rolled dough is easy to transfer to a baking sheet if you screw it on a rolling pin and unfold it on a baking sheet.
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11 General Tips for Cooking a Juicy Steak

Mastering the art of making juicy and mouth-watering steaks is easy. The main thing is to strictly follow several rules and remember the difficulties that both beginners and regulars of the kitchen may encounter.

  1. The steak should only be prepared with fresh, chilled meat. The meat is usually brought to room temperature before frying. If the steak has been frozen, leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Wipe the meat dry before starting the cooking process.
  2. The width of the meat is also very important. Ideally, this is a piece of 2.5 to 4 centimeters.
    If you cut the meat yourself and at home, then it is worth remembering one simple rule: cut it strictly across the fibers.
  3. For steak, use a heavy skillet or grill pan. They make it easier for you to control the temperature and the frying process in general.
  4. It is important to preheat the pan correctly. It should be very hot, but not smoke. Otherwise, the meat will burn on the outside before it can cook on the inside. The steak should sizzle as it touches the surface of the pan.
  5. It is better to start frying meat at high temperatures, and then switch to lower ones. This will ensure even roasting and prevent the meat from losing its flavor and color.
    Typically, cook a medium-rare steak for 4 minutes on each side. Meat with the blood takes 1-3 minutes.
  6. Fully fried steak is fried for 3 minutes on each side over high heat and then cooked until fully cooked for 6-8 minutes. However, you should still carefully monitor the meat, because the cooking time can vary depending on several factors.
  7. The steak can be flipped frequently. This will ensure even frying, and the edges of the steak will not dry with this technique. If you decide to turn it over rarely, only 2-4 times during the cooking process, then the final result will be a beautiful lattice pattern. However, only if you are grilling the steak.
  8. You can check the readiness of the steak with your fingers. To do this, lightly press down on the steak with your fingertip. The bloody steak is soft and pliable to the touch; well done – hard; medium roast is a cross between the two previous options.
  9. After the meat is ready, you need to remove it with special cooking tongs and leave for 10-15 minutes.
  10. If you are afraid that the steak will cool, then use food foil. You should not neglect this rule, because this is the only way to get a really juicy, mouth-watering, and delicious dinner.
  11. The steak is best served on warm plates. Knives must be sharply sharpened.
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9 Tips for Making the Best Desserts

Are your buns, cakes and cookies still far from ideal? Don’t get discouraged, it’s never too late to learn the art of culinary. These simple life hacks will help you successfully prepare any dessert.

  1. Do not deviate from the recipe. The most important thing in preparing desserts, and especially baking, is to follow the recipe. Of course, no one denies that experimenting with ingredients is possible and sometimes even necessary. But only if you are sure of the final result. For example, adding honey to baked goods can make them less moist and airy. You don’t want to get such a dessert, do you? Therefore, when deciding to cook sweets, be sure to follow the sequence of actions and proportions. Try not to mix all the foods randomly. Otherwise, instead of a soft and porous dough, you will get a hard lump that no one will like.
  2. Sift flour. Most housewives treat this important stage of cooking negligently. And in vain! After all, it is the sifting of flour that mainly affects the structure of the baked goods, as well as how quickly it rises in the oven. Sifting flour allows baked goods to become more airy, as more air bubbles appear between the grains. Accordingly, the yeast in the dough begins to react faster. Do this before preparing your dessert. And if you have time, then generally sift the flour twice. So you will definitely be sure of the splendor and tenderness of the texture of your baked goods.
  3. Do not measure ingredients in glasses. When preparing desserts, almost every housewife uses an ordinary faceted glass as a weight meter. On the one hand, it is very convenient and in many recipes the weight of the ingredients is indicated in the glasses. But there is one nuance in this manipulation. Measuring ingredients with a glass is unreliable because different product weights may result. In addition, during the preparation process, you can make a mistake with the proportions, measuring half or a quarter of a glass by eye. If you want the perfect dessert, get yourself a kitchen scale. With them, you will be sure of the result of the work done.
  4. Choose your eggs correctly. Few people know, but eggs of different ages are required to create a certain type of confectionery. So, for example, for making ice cream, it is better to choose fresh eggs. But for making meringues, give preference to the old ones. Here it is quite logical that the question may arise: “How can this be done?” You can determine the age of chicken eggs using a regular bowl filled with water. Place an egg in a bowl and observe its behavior. If the egg falls to the bottom of the bowl, then it is fresh. If it rises with a blunt end up, it is older. But if it floats up on the surface of the water, then it is better to throw it away.
  5. Set aside special utensils for desserts. You cannot use the same utensils for the preparation of desserts, side dishes, meat and fish dishes. If you don’t want your baked goods to taste like salty foods and have distant aromas, separate kitchen knives, boards, and spatulas. And if there are not enough tools in the kitchen, be sure to purchase new ones, especially for desserts. This will prevent your sweet treats from becoming salty and smelling like other foods.
  6. Don’t forget about time. When you start making dessert, remember to keep track of the time. If the recipe says the biscuit should bake for 30 minutes, set the timer to 28 minutes. Stay close to the kitchen while the baked goods are in the oven. When you smell a pleasant aroma, check the baked goods. Trust your instinct more than the recipe, and this way you will definitely avoid the dessert sticking.
  7. Monitor the temperature of the oil. It turns out that butter with the wrong temperature can ruin almost any dessert. When using melted butter to make cakes and muffins, the dough will not be porous and will not rise well. Most often, oil at room temperature should be used for desserts, which, when pressed with your finger, will easily knead. But for making muffins and cookies, the butter must be completely different. For this test, it is important that the butter only melts slightly after being stored in the refrigerator. Otherwise, you will never be able to achieve a delicious golden crust.
  8. Use a different flour. Do not be limited to trivial ideas and use different types of flour for baking. Wheat flour makes excellent shortbread dough, and oatmeal makes delicious cookies and pancakes. A mixture of wheat and oat flour is very suitable for making cakes and biscuits. But buckwheat flour can give baked goods not only a special and aromatic taste, but also real benefits. Buckwheat flour can be safely used for making muffins, pancakes and pies. When choosing flour for baking, pay attention to its protein content. Flour with a higher protein content usually produces excellent baked goods and cakes. A product with a minimum protein content is best used for making fluffy cakes, pastries and cupcakes.
  9. Use quality parchment paper. If you are used to baking desserts directly on the baking sheet, rather change your habit. Use parchment paper. This will prevent the bottom and top of the dessert from scorching. In addition, this will allow you to avoid an unpleasant fate for a long time at the sink and wipe off the carbon deposits from the baking sheet. If necessary, you can even fold the parchment paper in half to keep it warm.
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5 Tips for Making Homemade Ice Cream

Homemade ice cream is incomparable to the commercial one containing milk, diluted with water, sweetened with cheap sweeteners and stuffed with synthetic flavors and stabilizers. An ice cream maker will make your life easier when making ice cream. Usually the volume of the mixture due to the air driven into it increases by 1.8–2 times (the more, the better the ice cream).

  1. When freezing, the ice cream temperature is brought to minus 14-15 ° C. The freezing time is different for different ice cream makers. When the ice cream is half frozen, it needs to be transferred to a plastic container and the process completed in an ordinary freezer.
  2. You can store homemade ice cream for about 1 month in a glass, plastic or metal container, covered with foil or a lid.
  3. You can do without an ice cream maker altogether, it is important only during the entire freezing time in the freezer (from 2 to 5 hours) every half hour to stir the whole mass in a metal dish with a dough spatula or mixer. In addition to an ice cream maker, you need special metal or glass bowls for whipping and freezing, as well as a form for a round ice cream – “ice bomb with a lid”. You can also successfully use a soufflé dish or regular round bowls. To stir the mass during the freezing process, you will need a wooden dough spatula. Storing ice cream requires plastic containers with tight lids.
  4. You can serve ready-made ice cream with sweet sauces, biscuits, waffles, crushed nuts, candied fruits, dried fruits and, of course, fresh fruits and berries.
  5. The options for homemade homemade ice cream are endless. Experimenting with the addition of certain ingredients, you can come up with your own unique varieties of ice cream, and no book can accommodate the possible ways of decorating this dessert.
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9 Tips for Cooking Salads

If you want to make the most delicious salad, then our advice will definitely come in handy!

  1. Conventionally prepared radish salad takes on a savory flavor when sprinkled with ground walnuts.
  2. Eggs for salad must be boiled for at least 10 minutes.
  3. Bean and pea pods for salads are boiled in highly boiling salted water; they should boil vigorously until they are cooked to maintain a rich green color.
  4. The flavor of the salad depends a lot on how the food is cut. Slice vegetables into a salad evenly and thinly. The slices should literally show through! Then they are well soaked in the dressing.
  5. Try to stir the salad with careful movements from bottom to top.
  6. Don’t forget to garnish the salad. To do this, choose the most beautiful vegetables, slices of ruddy apples, mouth-watering pieces of meat or fish, fresh sprigs of parsley, dill, celery.
  7. A salad decorated with a “net” of mayonnaise will be very attractive.
  8. Finely chopped onions will not burn and will acquire a beautiful color if you first roll them in flour.
  9. After you have peeled and chopped the onion or garlic, rub your hands with damp salt or half a tomato and then wash.
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