Baking Tips:
Getting Ready/Equipment
Tips for great baking from the Kraft Recipes web site. These are all so true!



•Don't mess with the basic ingredients, the flour, liquid, salt, fat and leavening in your recipe. Unlike other types of cooking, you must measure your ingredients accurately and have the right tools to do so.


•Dry ingredients are measured in flat-topped measuring cups and are made to be filled to the top and leveled off.


•Liquid measures are usually glass, with more space at the top, and a pour spout. Add liquids to the cup, set it on the counter and look at it sideways, on its own level. Do not substitute liquid and dry measuring cups for one another -your ingredient measurements will be inaccurate if you do.


•Tableware spoons should not be used for measuring since they vary in size.


•For best results use shiny aluminum baking sheets without sides (baked products will brown more quickly on dark-colored baking sheet because they absorb more heat than the shiny type). You can also turn a jelly-roll pan (15 x 10 x 1-inch pan) upside down and use it in place of a baking sheet.


•Prepare baking pans according to the recipe. Cookies with a high fat content may not need to be baked on a greased surface. Remember some non-stick pans can be ruined if you apply non-stick sprays.


•Tip: allow baking sheet to cool completely before reusing.


•Tip: Line baking sheets with parchment paper. The paper will withstand high temperatures without scorching. This makes the baking sheet easier to clean, and you can slide the sheet of parchment with the baked cookies right onto your rack for cooling. However, as they cool you'll need to turn them over to complete the cooling and prevent the bottom of the cookies from getting soggy. **I don't ever leave my cookies on the parchment paper. They get soggy really quickly, even if you turn them.**

•Bake only one sheet of cookies at a time on the middle rack in the center of the oven.


•A wire cooling rack speeds the cooling of cookies, etc. It allows steam to escape from all sides of the baked product so the bottom doesn't get soggy.


•Tip: use a cooling rack with closely spaced wires so cookies have adequate support when cooling.