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Asked Dec 31, 2019 by Joann P.
I made these cookies and was amazed at how yummy, chewy they were. My problem is that the sugar spice mixture that they were rolled in almost burned on the bottom of the cookie. Any suggestions?
Answered by Matthew Card
What kind of baking sheet are you using? I have the best luck baking these on parchment paper or Silpat silicone mats. A dark, unlined pan could lead to burning.
Read MoreAsked Dec 05, 2019 by Leanne H.
Trying a new (to me) pie "Matcha Pie" for T'day. I live at 5200 ft in Colorado. Do I need to modify recipe/cooking time for high altitude? It's basically a cream pie, what do you think? I don't adjust my fruit pies, but I haven't made any cream pies. Yes, snow day and making a practice pie before Thursday😉
Answered by Elizabeth Mindreau
Hi Leanne – Our recipes are developed at sea level in Boston, so I'm afraid that we are not qualified to provide high altitude instructions. We recommend using a trusted high altitude baking source for suggestions on adapting recipes.
Read MoreAsked Dec 05, 2019 by Leanne H.
Matcha pie with no adjustments to recipe for high altitude (~5200 ft) turned out fine. Everyone enjoyed it at the T'Day shindig. Tried to post picture, but would not upload.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Leanne - Glad to hear this worked out so well! High altitude baking can be tricky. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Dec 04, 2019 by Jason F.
If one were to make something like a chicken (or turkey!) pot pie ahead by a day, would it be best to keep the filling and the crust separate until ready to bake or would it be ok to chill the filling and form the pie and keep it in the fridge for a day until you are ready to bake it? If I was freezing the pie I wouldn't worry, but I wonder if the filling sitting on an uncooked crust for a day in the fridge would ruin the crust. Thanks!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Jason - I would recommend holding them separately in the refrigerator and adding the filling to the pie plate right before baking. You can roll out the top crust ahead and store it flat in the fridge. Just let it soften a bit so that it's malleable before adding it to the top of the pie. Alternatively, you can fully assemble the pie, freeze it and then bake directly from frozen. It will take a little bit longer to bake, but the frozen crust will hold up well in the oven. I fear a pre-assembled pot pie would get soggy in the refrigerator. If you decide to assemble and freeze, just make sure to cool your filling to room temperature before adding it the pastry. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Nov 23, 2019 by Tom S.
I made the Bête Noire last night in a test run for next week. It's delicious. One question, though. Do you have any suggestions for removing the torte from the springform pan? It's lovely looking but I made a mess of it trying to remove the bottom of the pan once I remove the sides, and trying to get the parchment paper off as well. Should it come off easily? Mine was stuck on there pretty well. Do you leave the paper on when setting it out on a serving plate? When I've used the springform for other things I usually turn upside down to remove the bottom, but that obviously wouldn't work in this case. Thanks!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Tom - We recommend leaving the torte on the pan bottom and transferring the whole thing to a serving plate or cake pan. Trying to remove the whole cake from the pan proved to be an impossible task. This is not uncommon when using springform pans for cheesecakes. The parchment paper should hopefully stick to the pan bottom and you can go under the torte itself with a pie server to remove individual slices. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Nov 08, 2019 by Sarah K.
There are times when white cake is just the right item for the job (think with lemon filling, or for a child’s birthday). I have tried the reverse creaming method for white cake multiple times. It seems like it should work. But, unlike my other, not-infrequent baking escapades, it doesn’t. It comes out squat, dense and greasy every time. What am I doing wrong?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Sarah - Thanks for your question! I agree - sometimes a white cake is just what’s needed. A couple of factors could be affecting your cake, but the biggest one is probably the temperature of your butter. When we say “room temperature” we really mean somewhere around 66 degrees. That’s probably a lot cooler than most people think since our rooms are generally much warmer than that. The butter should bend easily without cracking and leave an indentation when pressed. We want the butter to be soft enough to coat the flour but not so soft as to lose its ability to aerate or create structure. It’s also important to ensure that your other ingredients - eggs and milk - are at room temperature as well. When mixing the butter into the flour make sure to stop when the mixture is still crumbly. That being said, don’t be afraid to really beat the cake in the last step. With reverse creaming we have coated the flour with fat from the butter which inhibits gluten development. So you don’t have to worry as much about overbeating . The final batter should be really light and fluffy - almost like buttercream. If you watch Erika Bruce in this episode of Milk Street, she uses the reverse creaming method for our Lemon Almond Pound Cake. This may help you get a better idea of the texture at each stage. The reverse creaming method is a little tricky to get the hang of at first but, once you do, I think you will really love the texture of the cake. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 20, 2019 by Jennifer L.
I have a sesame seed cake recipe that calls for 1 cup sugar. I'd like to substitute honey or at least add some honey to the cake to have that sesame-honey combo. How can I do that without compromising quality of cake? Also, I don't have 8-inch cake pans. Will I screw up the cake if I use 9-inch cake pans? Ingredients: 1.5 cups AP flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 large eggs, at room temp, 2.5 teaspoons Asian or toasted sesame oil, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup buttermilk, at room temp, 1/4 cup toasted black or natural sesame seeds Equipment: 8-inch round cake pan. Synopsis: Dry ingredients are mixed. Butter is creamed. Eggs mixed briefly with sesame oil and vanilla. Add dry to wet, alternate with buttermilk. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 min. Cool in pan for 10 min. Invert.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Jennifer - This cake sounds fantastic and I agree the sesame-honey combo could be great. I always say that, when it comes to baking, it's hard to make alterations that are guaranteed to work the first time. Since baking is a science you always have to assume that you may have to work with the recipe and make tweaks to get what you want. That being said, when substituting honey for sugar you need to account for their differences: 1.) honey is sweeter than sugar, 2.) honey is a liquid sweetener, 3.) honey browns quicker than sugar, and 4.) honey is more acidic than sugar. To start, I would substitute 3/4 the amount of honey as sugar and reduce the amount of liquid in the recipe by 3-4 tablespoons (if there is no liquid in the recipe add an additional 3-4 tablespoons of flour). You should be OK baking at 350 degrees but if you find the cake is browning too fast I would move it to a lower rack and reduce the oven temp by 25 degrees (and bake it the next time at the lower temperature the whole time). Finally, I think you should be fine with the amount of leavener here but if you want to substitute honey in other recipes that only call for baking soda I would make sure to add an additional 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder to the dry ingredients to account for honey's acidity. However if you find the rise on this cake isn't what you expected you can try making it the next time with 1/2 teaspoon baking powder instead of 1/4 teaspoon and see if that helps. Which brings us to pan size. You can definitely make the cake in a 9-inch pan rather than the 8-inch pan called for in the recipe. Just know that it make take a bit less time to bake and will yield a slightly shorter cake. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 16, 2019 by Raphaela S.
When I make a quick bread it often comes out looking great, but then sinks in the center as it cools and is doughy/uncooked (yuck) in the middle. What am I doing wrong?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Raphaela - I’m sorry I missed your question! Claire, above, gives some good advice as to why your quick bread may sink in the middle. I would also add the following: \* confirm that your leavener (baking powder and/or soda) is active and you are using a reliable recipe that includes the proper amount of leavener. You can test your leavener by adding a small amount to a small bowl of vinegar. If it becomes fizzy, it’s still active. \*The proportion of wet to dry ingredients may be off. It’s always best to use the weights given in the recipe, if there are any, and to make sure to use a volume measurement for fruits. For example, if a recipe calls for 4 bananas it’s hard to know how much actual fruit 4 bananas will yield. Instead we call for, and recommend using, a cup measurement for bananas. In this case, that would equate to 2 cups of mashed banana. The most important thing is to test with a toothpick before pulling the bread out. Every oven is different and times can differ. If a toothpick comes out clean it means the bread is fully cooked and will not sink. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 08, 2019 by Dominic D.
Will using salted butter when baking affect how things will bake?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Dominic - Generally speaking, no. There's only about 1/4 teaspoon of salt per stick of butter (for most commercial brands). At Milk Street we use salted butter in all of our baking recipes. We think the overall flavor is better than in unsalted butter. If you are using a recipe that calls for unsalted butter, however, remember to eliminate the salt in the recipe or the final product will taste too salty. There's a great article from the Washington Post about how unsalted butter became the preferred choice for baking and how professional cooks are turning back towards salted butter, which was used for generations before the switch to unsalted. One caveat I would make - I generally don't use salted butter for buttercream frosting. Since it's such a tight ingredient list make up of mostly butter, I do think it makes the buttercream too salty. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Jul 31, 2019 by Maureen T.
Hello Milk Street team, I have come across several recipes for cottage cheese pancakes. At the store, there are like 10 versions of cottage cheese - 2%, 4%, large curd, small curd, etc in various combinations. The recipes all say just "cottage cheese". Also, name brand vs. store brand? What do you suggest I buy to have the best chance to be successful? I already had one failure, but can't recall which option I had picked.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Maureen - I haven’t made cottage cheese pancakes and we don’t have a recipe here at Milk Street, but I can offer some basic guidelines on cooking and baking with cottage cheese that will, hopefully, help make yours more successful. I don’t like using low-fat or fat free cottage cheese in cooking and baking. These tend to break and become very watery, which will both dilute flavor and negatively impact the texture of your pancakes. In general, I prefer full-fat cottage cheese with a thicker texture. Full-fat cottage cheese is still only 4% fat, which is quite low compared to other cheeses. It also tastes worlds better than low- or fat-free cottage cheese! Thick-textured ones tends to perform better in baking applications because they won’t throw off the dry-to-wet ratio. However, it’s hard to know the texture of a particular brand of cottage cheese without opening the container and taking a look. A good guideline is to look at the ingredient list. Full fat cottage cheese without any stabilizers (xanthan gum, locust bean gum, guar gum) would be my top pick. As long as it’s full-fat and contains only milk, cream, and salt (added probiotics are OK), I don’t think curd size matters as much. Hope this helps! Best, Lynn C.
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