I love homemade pastries.
Nothing like a good cake, like the ones our grandmothers made in the good old days...
The problem is that successful baking is not always easy.
Luckily, I've unearthed some unstoppable grandmother's tricks, which will help you succeed your pastries every time !
I found these baking hacks in grandma's cookbooks and cookbooks from the 1940s! Watch:
1. Your butter is too hard and you need to turn it into a smooth paste with sugar? So heat your sugar slightly in the microwave.
2. Darken brown sugar with chocolate to make a more intense gingerbread. Add a teaspoon of melted chocolate for each cup of brown sugar.
3. To make whipped cream or whipped cream, add a few drops of squeezed lemon to your cream when it is too hard.
4. Butter the inside of your measuring cup to prevent the brown sugar from sticking to the sides.
5. For recipes that call for buttermilk, you can substitute it easily. Just mix 2 tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk with 1 cup of white vinegar. You will see, this mixture perfectly replaces real buttermilk in pastries.
6. For a delicious alternative to whipped cream, use a slice of banana with an egg white. Whisk until the mixture becomes stiff. Yes, the banana also turns into a frothy emulsion!
7. When you don't have enough eggs for a recipe, substitute them with cornstarch like cornstarch. For each missing egg, you need a tablespoon of cornstarch. To make the perfect textured custard, remove an egg or two from the recipe. And also replace them with cornstarch, putting 1/2 teaspoon for each egg.
8. To prevent the custard from turning too quickly, add 1 teaspoon of flour mixed with sugar.
9. Easily prevent your frosting from breaking into small pieces when you cut it. For this, incorporate a teaspoon of white vinegar with the flavoring of your choice when whisking your frosting.
10. Add a tablespoon of jelly or jam to your cookie dough. You'll see, the cookies will be even more delicious, and they will stay moist even longer.
11. Fritters absorb much less fat if you add a teaspoon of white vinegar to frying oil.
12. For cakes, put a container with the equivalent of a glass of water in your oven. This will allow the air to be more humid and prevent your cake from becoming too dry during baking.
13. For muffins, add a teaspoon of Nutella to each space in your muffin tin. Then pour the muffin batter on top. You will see, the Nutella will bring them a note of chocolate hazelnuts. Yum ! Discover the homemade Nutella recipe here.
14. Be careful, when a recipe calls for a quantity of melted butter, take care to measure the butter after having melted it and not before.
15. To soften the butter, get a porcelain bowl large enough to cover the butter, like this one. Fill the bowl with boiling water, and let stand, 1 to 2 minutes, until heated through. Then, empty the bowl, turn it upside down, and use it to coat the butter. In no time it will be softened to perfection.
16. When separating the egg yolk from the white, the yolk can accidentally fall into the white. If so, soak a paper towel with very cold water. Touch the yolk with it and it will stick to the cloth.
17. Never mix egg whites in an aluminum bowl. Why ? Because it will tarnish the bowl you use.
18. When you can't whip your cream, add an egg white and chill in the refrigerator for a few minutes. It will make you a nice firm whipped cream.
19. To avoid lumps in your dough, add a pinch of salt to the flour when it is still dry.
20. To sprinkle sugar on your donuts, here is the best method. Put them in a paper bag, add the sugar and shake. This method is also perfect for putting breadcrumbs on chicken and for salting fries.
21. To have very fleshy and soft raisins, soak them in hot water before putting them in your dough.
