Tuesday Tips

Basic Ingredients and their Healthy Substitutes 

The four most common ingredients in baking are:

Butter

Eggs

Flour 

Granulated Sugar

But the fact is that most people have dietary limitations. I think that no matter what you are allergic to, or your dietary preferences, you should be able to enjoy a treat every so often. I saw a table on Pinterest about healthy substitutes (here), but I simplified that table and created one myself. It is clear, easy to read, and the measurements are easily converted. 

I haven't figured out how to make classy tables on my computer, but I thought you might enjoy this hand written one. 

 Kirsten

Confidence

I have been told time and time again, if you are selling something, you have to believe in your product and be confident. Confidence, according to Google, is defined as the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust. So, to be confident in yourself and in your product is essentially trusting in you. Now this is just as important for me to hear as it is for some of you. I am my harshest critic. People always compliment me, but a lot of times those compliments go in one ear and out the other. 

Lately I have been practicing having confidence in myself. Why would someone want to buy my product if I don't even believe in my ability to make it? I developed my ideas on how to build confidence from a fitness video. It was basically saying that you need to love yourself exactly how you are right now and grow confidence that way. If you always think you are too fat or what have you, everything is affected by how you view you. The Bible talks about beauty being deeper and having to deal with the soul. I sometimes have to remind myself that I was made in the image of God; He handcrafted me. God doesn't make mistakes. I am not a mistake, and how I look is not a mistake.

So, I have been practicing this same sort of idea with my baking. I know when something I make tastes good. I know when I taste something bad, I can make it better. God gives us gifts to serve. He has given me the gift of combining ingredients together to make things that are just exceptionally tasty. It's like magic flowing hands, and I just have an instinct about when things are done; even if that means it is before the timer going off. The key here is to tell myself that I am great, but be humbled and grateful when I do receive complements. 

I am a great baker. What about you? What is your passion? What is something you are great at? Don't keep putting yourself down when something goes wrong, or you are your own worst critic. You are great too. Share, if you would like, in the comments on what you are great at. I would love to hear. 

Kirsten

Budgeting

Today's tip is on budgeting. budgeting is a good life skill to have. My husband and I have a budget, which consist of set amounts we are willing to pay. Bills come first, the needs, and then wants.

When baking for a large group of people you need to budget out how much it will cost. What I do is I write down all of the ingredients I will need as well as the amounts. I then go online or to the store and find out the price per ounce. I then go to a converter online to see how many ounces are in the amount of cups I need. From there I just do simple division to figure out the price per cup. Add the prices of each ingredients up and there is your budget.

Example:

2 cups of Flour

Flour is $3.38 per 10 pounds

2 cups = 1.04 pounds

$3.38 =10 pounds

$0.31 = 1.04 pounds= 2 cups

Kirsten

The Science in Making a Cupcake

Today's Tuesday tip will be on a science of making cupcakes.

One day while on the internet I came across an image explaining how to fill cupcakes properly. As a home baker, it can be difficult because you don't want to overfill the cupcake liner so the cake tops off and you have a mushroom looking cupcake. Another difficulty is the attempt to make them all look uniform. The picture that I came across explained that if you were to fill a cupcake liner about half to 3/4 full, the cake will come out perfect peak or a flat surface to frost. Lately, as I have been baking I've been putting this idea into practice. I like to fill the cupcake liner about 3/4 of the way. This helps it too you have a nice peak in the center, without having a mushroom top.

I'm a perfectionist and I like a clean finish so if you don't really care about your finished product, then disregard this information I just presented. However, I believe that it's important to you share with you the tips that I've learned on how to make the product look professional.

As for baking time I usually bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes it. It really depends on your oven temperature on how long you want to bake your cupcakes.

I now turn to how to frost a cupcake. First, I will direct you to an early Tuesday Tip of mine where I discussed the consistency of frosting. Now, I will explain what type of tip you use frost your cupcakes. The different tips one can use is a M1 open star tip, the extra large closest star tip, the extra large French tip, or the extra large round tip. You can usually find these tips at Michaels, Joann, Target, or Walmart. There is also a tip for filling, but I won't go into that today.

You may decide to go the old school route with frosting it with a nice for spatula and get to make it look beautiful, but again I am a perfectionist and I really like the swirling technique on the tops of my cupcakes. 

To create that classic swirl, all you have to do is hold your piping bag at a 45 degree angle from the top of your cupcake and use your wrist to create that swirl. Sometimes I hold the cupcake in my hand, or is start the swirl in the middle, instead of the sides. If you mess up, the beauty of frosting is that you can usually just swipe it off the cupcake and try again. You can also practice on just parchment paper. 

Kirsten

Time Crunch

Stressed out with the regular routine of your everyday life, and then to top it off you must bake cupcakes this week. This out of the ordinary situation could be looked at from the glass half-full instead of half-empty.  

This week I have been really tired. I was not up to par with my posting last week, and this week I am cat and house sitting for a friend. Needless to say, I have things on my plate that I am definitely not used to. 

My tip of today is if you know that you need to bake cupcakes, bake the cake a couple nights before and then make the frosting and frost them the night before. Doing this two step process may take more planning and time; however, for me it took a weight load off. Tuesdays are always the most difficult. I bake Tuesday nights, and post my tips. I was still able to enjoy my Tuesday evening without the worry on if the cupcakes and frosting will be done in time before I go to bed. 

If you apply this tip, tell me your thoughts in the comments. 

Kirsten

Something About Cheesecake Needing Water

Dear Blogosphere, 

Sorry I know I dropped the ball this week with giving you the Tuesday Tips and Wednesday Recipes. Something about working on Christmas presents in August. Yes, I'm "that" crazy person. 

This tip comes from the wife of one of my work friends. 

You may have recalled in an earlier post how I have a horrible time baking cheesecake. The first time making it, the cheesecake didn't bake through. The second time, I put it in a water bath and I was so nervous about it not baking through that it was burned on the top.

I made the No-Bake Cheesecake with my students this week and a fellow teacher told me that his wife was having difficulty with baking cheesecake until she figured out the following tip:

Instead of putting the pan in a bath, place a cookie sheet of water on the bottom rack and have the cake on the top rake. This helps regulate the temperature through the baking process. Also, do not open the oven (when baking anything! Period.) because you will let the heat out. 

I personally can't wait to try this Tuesday (really Thursday) Tip for myself.

Kirsten

What an Egg Does

Chemistry Lesson for you all. This is something that I learned in high school.

Have you ever craved cookies, but you look in your fridge and you don't have an egg. Never fear, soap is here.

http://www.tiphero.com/tips_4355_uses-for-empty-dish-soap-bottles.html

I know it sound weird, "why would I put soap in my cookies?"

In the baking process, an egg combines water and oil to allow the cookie to hold together. Dish soap does the same thing. When you wash your dishes the soap combines the oil on your pans and the water to wash them. 

Now don't go putting a bottle of soap in your batter, but if you put a small drop of dish soap (one for every egg needed) and dilute it with water, which you will need to do, it will work. We consume small amounts of soap off our dishes every day. This is to assure you that you won't get sick from eating the soap. 

http://urbanherbalist.blog.hu/2013/07/24/tikkaszto_toredezo_szaraz_hajparak

Hope you enjoy learning about what an egg does.

Stay Sweet,

Kirsten 

Frosting

My Husband fell asleep on my lap, meaning that it is quite a talent typing with out waking him. I'll make this short and sweet. Frosting always contains some sort of fat (milk, butter, lard) and powdered sugar. Want to make the frosting thicker? Add more powdered sugar. Want to make into a glaze? Heat up the frosting, and don't use as much powdered sugar. I personally hate buttercream frosting. I usually use whipped or cream cheese frosting. Problem is, I have issues with the consistency. But never fear, hopefully if you have the same issues as me, this Tuesday tip will help clear up some unknowns. 

Stay Sweet,

Kirsten

Freezing Extras

This may seem like a universal idea, but it come is handy at times. When someone unexpected comes over, or you have a sweet tooth and want to make something quick, having frozen cookie dough, cake mix, or frosting, is a major time saver. You can also make something new out of an already existing frozen item. For example, I made strawberry mousse out of frozen whipped frosting and strawberries. You can even freeze bread, pies, and cakes that you have made. In the freezer, dough, already baked bread, and baked cakes, can last up to three months. Cake actually loses freshness if put in the fridge. Have you ever baked a cake and then a day later it is drier on the sides? Put it in the freezer, and the moisture is contained. It's simple science; baking is science. That is why I enjoy it so much. I have a guess on how something will turn out. I go through a progression of steps to get to my goal. In the end, it either worked or not. Next week, I am going to share more ideas about baking and science.

Stay Sweet,

Kirsten