Tricks of the (Kitchen) Trade

[Diane AKA Traska]

Ohhhhh yeahhhh... that's the stuff...

[TootsNYC]

3) For making biscuits: If you don't care about having a round shape, or don't like rolling dough, just pat it out and cut it in rectangles/squares with a chef's knife. As long as you dust the knife with flour between cuts it won't stick, you don't have to worry about hunting and searching for your cutter, and if the dough isn't evenly thick then you can alter the size of the biscuits to promote even cooking. Also, you don't have to worry about scraps.

Assuming we're talking American biscuits and British ones, here's something I discovered:  Use a bread pan, make a biscuit loaf.  Buttered slices of biscuit bread are SO GOOD.

I use a pizza cutter for the bolded. When making fudge, I flip the cooled product onto a giant cutting board and cut it with the pizza cutter, to.

I was going to suggest the pizza cutter.

And my grandma had a sour-cream cookie recipe that you cut into rectangles, bcs the dough is too soft to do any handling.

But you could do the same "cut it into rectangles/triangles/diamonds" trick w/ regular sugar-cookie dough--a fast way to get them all baked.

[magicdomino]

I started looking for a recipe as soon as I saw Diane's post.  This is what I'm using tonight.
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/buttermilk-biscuit-bread/

Hm, I wonder how that would work for strawberry shortcake.  I love the biscuit kind, but my biscuits never quite work right.  Last year, I tried a sweetened cream biscuit, and they were blah lumps with a mealy texture. 

[jpcher]

When making deviled eggs, put the yolks in a ziplock or sandwich bag, add your mayo and whatever else you put in them. Mash everything together in the bag, then snip off a corner of the bag and use it to pipe the yolk into the whites. No mess at all!

AWESOME!

(I'm passing this on to DD#2 -- she's the deviled egg maker in hour house.)

[Luci]

I started looking for a recipe as soon as I saw Diane's post.  This is what I'm using tonight.
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/buttermilk-biscuit-bread/

Hm, I wonder how that would work for strawberry shortcake.  I love the biscuit kind, but my biscuits never quite work right.  Last year, I tried a sweetened cream biscuit, and they were blah lumps with a mealy texture.

Thanks, Hmmmmm!

magicdomino, I think it would work just fine. We use angelfood cake and pound cake with strawberries, so the bicuit bread would look the same, and tast oh so much better.

Great! Now Atkins is going to have to take a couple of days off, and I was doing so well, too. 

[Ms_Cellany]

We love home-prepared Ranch dressing (the Penzey's Spices ranch mix is to die for).

I buy buttermilk by the quart, and freeze it in one-cup batches. We're never more than a half-hour away from fresh Ranch!

[lilfox]

When making deviled eggs, put the yolks in a ziplock or sandwich bag, add your mayo and whatever else you put in them. Mash everything together in the bag, then snip off a corner of the bag and use it to pipe the yolk into the whites. No mess at all!

In that vein, if you make pumpkin (or other types) purée at home, put 1, 2, or 3 cups' worth in appropriately sized freezer ziplocs.  Then when you use for baking, thaw and snip one corner and you can squeeze into the mixing bowl very easily.  It took me a few times opening the bag via the zipper and causing a mess before I learned this trick.  I think I originally read it as an easy way to squeeze pancake mix into neat circles, though I use a pitcher-style mixing bowl for that.

If a recipe calls for an unusual ingredient, at least try it that way once before altering if you don't think it would suit your tastes.  I tried a recipe for bacon, mushroom, and onion pasta that listed fresh mint  as an ingredient.  It's good without, but the mint, chopped and sprinkled on top, really adds something special.  Also the recipe calls for adding salt each time an ingredient is added to the skillet - seemed like a lot but it turns out this is also necessary, without it the dish comes out surprisingly bland.  (I do reserve the right to not follow this rule if the recipe calls for Parmesan, which I can't stand and never miss.)

[Kariachi]

One I forgot!

1) When making ginger krinkles (probably works for other cookies, but I only do it for ginger krinkles), make them larger than the recipe says. I try to have them somewhere around golfball-sized when I roll them. Yes, you get less cookies per batch (I generally get around 1.5 dozen), but they come out amazingly soft and delectable, still cooked through in the same amount of time. They do spread together, so you have to take your spatula and cut them apart some, but for people like me who don't like crunchy cookies, those edges are always just as chewy as the inner cookie. I baked some for my mom's work-buddies a few years back, now they ask about them every December.

[magicdomino]

I've found that larger chocolate chip cookies are also chewier than small ones.

[ladyknight1]

I love to cook, and I am posting for updates!

[Firecat]

I started looking for a recipe as soon as I saw Diane's post.  This is what I'm using tonight.
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/buttermilk-biscuit-bread/

Hm, I wonder how that would work for strawberry shortcake.  I love the biscuit kind, but my biscuits never quite work right.  Last year, I tried a sweetened cream biscuit, and they were blah lumps with a mealy texture.

I use the recipe from the Betty Crocker cookbook...it's basically just a baking powder biscuit with a bit of sugar added. The real secret is not to overmix. Just mix the dough enough to get everything combined, and don't handle the dough more than you have to. Then I split the biscuits when they're just barely cool enough to handle, and butter the halves, just a bit (real butter is a MUST, for me). Then add the strawberries over the bottom halves of the biscuits, put the top halves back on, and add whipped cream (real whipping cream with just a splash of vanilla extract). The first time I made it for him, my DH INHALED it.

[o_gal]

We love home-prepared Ranch dressing (the Penzey's Spices ranch mix is to die for).

I buy buttermilk by the quart, and freeze it in one-cup batches. We're never more than a half-hour away from fresh Ranch!

You can also buy the buttermilk powder and make it up in the exact amount you need. You do have to keep the powder in the fridge, and it will go bad after some really long length of time. But if you only need a 1 or 2 cups at a time, and you don't have room in your freezer, the powder is very handy. I've also heard that the powdered version comes from traditional buttermilk rather than the cultured buttermilk that is sold in the US, but I haven't been able to verify that.

[ladyknight1]

Buttermilk powder is great! I only use it for baking though, as the reconstituted is a little strange.

[Seraphia]

Buttermilk powder is great! I only use it for baking though, as the reconstituted is a little strange.

Where in the store would you find buttermilk powder? I don't think I've ever seen it.

[Ms_Cellany]

Buttermilk powder is great! I only use it for baking though, as the reconstituted is a little strange.

Where in the store would you find buttermilk powder? I don't think I've ever seen it.

Baking section. I bought this brand: