Everybody loves cupcakes! To stuff cupcakes with filling or colored frosting, cut a cone from the top with a small knife at an angle. Cut off the cone from the lid, fill, top, and then frost!
Archive for category: DYB Tips
Nothing is more important on Christmas evening than a beautiful table decoration (well, maybe the food)! If you want to decorate your table without spending too much, just look around you! Christmas tree ornaments shouldn’t be limited to just the tree — scatter them on the table to create a presentation that mirrors the theme […]
Forget the chemical store bought microwave popcorn in a bag! It is not only more expensive than hot air popcorn but most brands are filled with unnecessary chemicals. Try our easy 1-2-3 tip for a YUMMY DIY Microwave “hot air” popcorn! Tools and Ingredients You Will Need A Glass Microwave Safe Bowl (make sure it […]
Don’t let your cheese dry out! Stop cheese from drying out by spreading butter or margarine on the cut sides to seal in moisture. This trick is most effective with hard cheeses sealed in wax.
After you drain pasta, while it’s still hot, grate some fresh Parmesan on top before tossing it with your sauce. This way, the sauce has something to stick to.
Make veggies crunchy! When radishes, celery, or carrots have lost their crunch, simply pop them in a bowl of iced water along with a slice of raw potato and watch the limp vegetables freshen up right before your eyes.
Throw away the egg carton with the expiration date? If an egg is fresh, it will sink. If it’s old, it will float in water. This method will save your money and avoid waste!
Banish marks from coloring time! Toothpaste will erase marker stains from wood – a handy trick to have in your back pocket if you have got creative kids.
Peel boiled eggs in a big batch! Peel multiple hard boiled eggs at a time by shaking them in a lidded container. The eggs won’t be pretty, but they will be ready for an egg salad much quicker than traditional methods.
When you’re browning meat, you should blot the surface dry with a paper towel so the meat doesn’t release moisture when it hits the hot oil. Too much moisture makes the meat steam instead of sear, and you will lose that rich brown crust.
Here in Do You Bake? we are always looking for new ways or tricks to make your life easy! If it bothers you to throw into the trash your still full of juice citrus fruits, we have an easy way for you to get the most of your fruit. Just rolls citrus fruit on the countertop or between […]
Buy two loaves of that awesome bread and freeze one. And there are always plenty of uses for it. Just remember: Air is the enemy! Wrap that loaf in foil (sliced or unsliced) and put it in a freezer bag before stashing.
When cooking eggplant, we like to use the long, skinny, purple Japanese kind because you don’t have to salt it to pull out the bitter liquid like you do with the larger Italian variety.
Speed up ripening! Be a total magician and morph a banana from green to yellow or a peach from crunchy to juicy all with the help of a paper bag. When fruit is tossed into the bag, concentrated ethylene gas helps it ripen faster.
Cook like a chef! Easily slice big leafed herbs like basil and sage by stacking, rolling, and then slicing across into ribbons. This kind of cut is called chiffonade! The closer together the slices, the finer your ribbons will be. The cut edges will darken quickly, so use the chiffonade as soon as possible.
No need to pour a pot of leftover brewed coffee down the drain! Freeze the liquid coffee in ice cube trays to add to iced coffee instead of regular ice cubes. Your coffee won’t lose its potency as the cubes melt.
Remove stains from the wooden counter. The course texture of table salt can erase stains from butcher block countertop (and helps release stuck-on food from your cast-iron skillet, too).
If you’ve ever had to measure honey, molasses, or corn syrup for a recipe, you know it kind of sucks. You never get as much out as you put in, and the measuring cup is hard to clean afterward. Spray measuring cups with nonstick spray before measuring sticky ingredients like honey, maple syrup, or molasses. […]
Light and airy as a cloud, there’s nothing quite like a spoonful of freshly whipped cream. Get fluffier whipped cream when you chill the beater and bowl beforehand. Because you’re relying on the fat in the cream, you need to ensure it stays in a solid, albeit microscopically solid, state. Chilling your bowl, cream, and […]
Caramelize more onions than you need to. A lot more—you’ll use the extras in omelets and sandwiches; on chicken, steak and pork; in pastas and stews.
Do you want to prepare kale chips? To easily strip kale leaves from stems, grip the leaves at the thickest end of the stem then pull the stem out with the other hand (kind of like stripping fresh thyme leaves from the stem).
Create a labeling system for your kitchen! Labels are a great way to help you organize your kitchen. You can even put the labels on the tops of jars so that when you store them in a drawer you can take the guesswork out of which container you want!
To keep the colour and texture of a fresh spinach,it only needs the very briefest cooking. If you want a soft-textured spinach in your meal wilting is the best way. Wilt spinach by draining the hot pasta water over the fresh spinach through a colander. This is one of easiest and best trick to wilt […]