There's something magical about this time of year when
everything is trimmed with tinsel and various shades of red
and green. Festive music is playing in every shop and
people are having parties, entertaining friends and
enjoying time with family. In that spirit, we've decided to
share some of our best baking secrets with you to ensure
that your holiday baking will be the best it's ever been.
1. Start out Fresh: Last season's ingredients just won't
cut it. Start out fresh and stock up on fresh holiday
cookie baking ingredients. A holiday cookie that tastes
likes stale flour just won't do it. Sugar might be able to
keep for quite a while, put products like, baking soda and
flavored extracts can quickly become stale and dull-tasting.
2. Easy on the Oven: Overbaking will result in dry hard
cookies. Follow the recipes time for baking closely, and
remember to pre-heat your oven before sticking the cookies
inside. Most cookies should be removed from the oven while
they're still soft and just lightly browned around the
edges. They should be moist & chewy and will firm up after
cooling. Be sure to store them in an airtight container to
keep them fresh.
3. Keep the Cookies Handy: Fresh cookies are the best
cookies, so when baking, make an extra batch or two. Store
cookie dough in a tightly covered container in the
refrigerator for when you need it.
4. Keep it Clean: For easy clean up, grease a tray or dish
with margarine without getting your hands dirty: put your
hands inside a small plastic sandwich bag. When you are
done, just turn the bag inside out and throw it away!
5. Don't use Guesswork: Baking is not like cooking. Mostly
with cooking you can easily alternate and improvise
ingredients to your liking and experiment with various
quantities and still cook up a perfect meal. Baking takes a
lot more precision and you need to ensure that the recipe
ingredients and measurements are spot on. There are however
exception, if you want to change the flavour of a cookie
recipe dough you can easily exchange it for another and
still come out with a perfect batch.
6. Freezing to Make it Easy: If you are not going to be
serving your cookies in the next three days, freeze them.
To freeze, cool the cookies thoroughly before wrapping them
well. Good packaging keeps cookies in prime condition and
prevents dry freezer air from drying them out. Freeze
cookies in layers, separated by a sheet of waxed paper. To
thaw, let the cookies stand for 15 minutes in the container
at room temperature.
7. Tasty Nutty Treats: Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees
and spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet.
Bake 5 to 7 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Or, toast in
the microwave by spreading nuts in a single layer on a
microwave plate and microwave on High for 2 minutes. Stir
nuts, then continue cooking 1 to 2 minutes longer, until
nuts are fragrant and toasted to taste.
8. Chocolate to Top it all Off: Sweet, smooth, and
decadent, chocolate makes the ultimate garnish for any
baking. Make small curls by drawing a vegetable peeler
across the narrow side of a chocolate bar. To make large
curls, draw the vegetable peeler across the wide side of a
chocolate bar. Milk chocolate is the easiest chocolate to
use for making curls.
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