Tagged Questions

4
votes
2answers
134 views

How to adjust the ingredients when recipe asks for salted peanuts and unsalted butter while I have the opposite?

The recipe is for cookies. Recipe asks for salted peanuts and unsalted butter while I have the unsalted peanuts and salted butter. Nutralite Table spread: ...
2
votes
2answers
182 views

How to make a proper scone?

I love to eat scones, they are my guilty pleasure, but I can never cook them right, They just become Hockey Pucks, because they are too hard and the size of a puck. Is there any tips with making ...
6
votes
2answers
335 views

Why did a receipe call for pouring boiling butter in egg-whites?

I made a sponge cake using a receipe from an old cookbook and at one point it told me to melt and boil butter and pour the boiling butter into beaten egg-whites, let sit for a minute and then mix ...
5
votes
4answers
227 views

What is the best way to chip your butter when making biscuits?

I love biscuits and have made many. The one thing that gets me is cutting the butter. I have used several different approaches with varying degrees of success. What works for you.
4
votes
1answer
20k views

What can I substitute for vegetable oil in a recipe?

Is there something that I can use as a substitute for vegetable oil in a recipe? I'm actually making cornbread (I think it matters), and normally the recipe calls for 1/3 cup vegetable oil. ...
7
votes
2answers
701 views

What will happen to my cake if I don't cream the butter enough?

I am preparing for a cake decorating party for some 8-year-olds and was testing a simple butter cake recipe. I made a small-ish batch of batter (just over a stick of butter, just under 1/2 lb of ...
4
votes
1answer
2k views

How important is the creaming process while making a cake?

A few of the chocolate cake recipes I read always start with the step - mix butter and sugar until creamy. I've tried a couple of times but failed to create anything near to creamy. But a few recipes ...
3
votes
2answers
293 views

Greasing a pan with butter vs. with shortening

Is there any reason one should prefer one over the other? I've always used shortening (probably because that's what my mom always did), but my fiancee has always used butter. There's no significant ...
5
votes
1answer
209 views

How can I tell when my fat is sufficiently creamed?

When creaming butter or shortening with sugar, how can I tell when it's creamed enough? With the mixer as low as 3 or 4, even a few minutes of mixing seems excessive. Also, what are symptoms ...
12
votes
1answer
9k views

Why is there a difference between softened and melted butter when baking?

I once tried to make some cookies and assumed that melted butter would be the same as softened butter. It didn't work out... Why does it make a difference if you use softened or melted butter? ...
8
votes
4answers
3k views

converting pure chocolate to “bittersweet” chocolate

A chocolate cookie recipe I'm looking at calls for melting down a cup of bittersweet chocolate chips. However, I happen to have a brick of completely unsweetened cooking chocolate in the fridge. Can I ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views

What is room temp Butter

Many of my baking recipes call for room temp butter. In general this just means butter soft enough to be creamed with sugar, but is this a specific temp range? My kitchen stays cold enough in winter ...
20
votes
6answers
1k views

How to prepare butter for baking when time is limited?

From my experience, the best way to use butter when baking is to let it soften to room temperature. However, sometimes one is short on time and must use the microwave to soften the butter. I always ...
3
votes
3answers
13k views

What's the best time and temperature for tenderness when baking red potatoes?

Lately I've gotten into baking Red Potatoes with butter and spices and I've found I enjoy them when they are nice and tender. What's the best temperature for baking red potatoes for tenderness? How ...
18
votes
2answers
9k views

When baking a cake that calls for butter, should you use salted or unsalted?

I'm baking a cake using a cake mix and extra ingredients. It calls for 5 tbsp of butter, but I'm not sure which to use, salted or unsalted. What difference would it make??
4
votes
2answers
392 views

Browned butter + roasted flour = baking magic?

I love the flavour of browned butter, and I've tried baking sable cookies with roasted flour (delicious). Is there a good reason why, in a bog-standard chocolate chip cookie recipe which calls for ...
3
votes
3answers
3k views

Most efficient technique to prepare milk and butter for proofed yeast?

I have a recipe for rolls where 1/4 cup cubed butter is added to 2 cups of warm milk. The butter / milk mixture is added to proofed active dry yeast, and then a cup or so of flour is added to get the ...
1
vote
8answers
4k views

How to melt butter most conveniently?

Many cake recipes ask to add melted butter and mix it in. In my experience butter needs to be melted to a temperature of about 50-70 degrees Celsius to be soft enough for mixing in. Melting a piece of ...
11
votes
1answer
26k views

Can I always use butter instead of margarine when baking?

Some recipes says use butter or margarine, some say use butter and some say use margarine. My question is, can I always use butter or does margarine have some property that butter doesn't when baking? ...
10
votes
8answers
135k views

Butter substitute for 1 cup of butter for baking

What can I substitute for 1 cup of butter in baking recipes (e.g. cookies, muffins, cakes, etc.)? I'm looking for something that has less saturated fat (and also doesn't have trans fat). Update: ...
8
votes
3answers
906 views

What's the Effect of Browning Butter

From a taste perspective, I love the nutty flavor of browned butter. From a culinary perspective, I'm curious what the process does to the butter. I used browned and cooled butter in cookies ...
11
votes
6answers
8k views

In baking, can yoghurt replace butter?

By baking, I mean cakes / muffins / biscuits. This is mainly to cut down on fat. I've tried replacing butter with yoghurt in all of these and the results were OK. Are there any cases where it's not ...
25
votes
2answers
2k views

What is the purpose of creaming butter with sugar in cookie recipes?

I got distracted while assembling the dry ingredients for a cookie recipe and added the sugars, which were supposed to be creamed with the butter first. Fortunately, the sugar was added last and I was ...
7
votes
3answers
3k views

Substituting butter for oil: Does it matter for baked goods?

When a recipe (like for muffins) calls for vegetable oil, does it matter if I substitute the oil for butter because I want that buttery taste in the muffins? Do I need to compensate for the ...