Cooking 201
Substitutes for Everything Chocolate: Cocoa, Semi-Sweet Chocolate, Baker’s Chocolate, & more
We learned ALL about chocolate a few posts back (see “All About Chocolate” if you missed it). In a perfect world, we would always use the correct, precise ingredient every single time. But in my world (and probably yours), things happen. The store is out, we thought we had it in the cupboard, or it just plain isn’t available in your… Read More
Substitutes for Dairy Products: Milk, Whipping Cream, Heavy Cream, Buttermilk, and more
It’s been busy around here. At least we have a break before the next holiday! Anyway, I decided it’s time for another “Substitute Sunday.” Well, I guess I’m posting this on Monday. Have you ever had that moment? You’re gathering ingredients at the beginning of baking something…walk to the cupboard…look in…and then exclaim “I can’t believe I’m out of that…. Read More
Ingredients Matter: Understanding the Many Types of Wheat
Previously I covered the many types of wheat flour, including: all-purpose, self-rising, bread flour, cake flour, pastry flour; as well as the less common ones: gluten flour, semolina flour, spelt flour, bulgur flour, etc. (See the blog post -or- visit the ‘Ingredients’ page.) However, the other day I got an off-the-wall question about the types of wheat. I had no idea of the… Read More
Non-Wheat Flours: Definitions & Substitutions
I bought a grain grinder when I lived in Charleston. The ducks in our front pond (yes, our apartment complex had a duck pond) ate a lot of less-than-ideal loaves of bread. To this day I wonder how a loaf a bread can come out heavier than the combined weight of its ingredients. I had a blast finding grains. Except… Read More
Substitute Sundays: Non-sugar Sweeteners
We all have that moment. Gathering ingredients at the beginning of baking something (because we always remember mise en place), walking to the cupboard…looking in…and then exclaiming “I can’t believe I’m out of that. I was SURE I had that!” Or planning on trying a new recipe, and realizing you somehow forgot to buy the sour cream (personal experience speaking… Read More
Substitute Sunday: Sweeteners- Sugars
We all have that moment. Gathering ingredients at the beginning of baking something…walking to the cupboard…looking in…and then exclaiming “I can’t believe I’m out of that. I was SURE I had that!” Or planning on trying a new recipe, and realizing you somehow forgot to get the sour cream (personal experience speaking there). In a pinch, substitutes can be life-savers…. Read More
Substitute Sundays: Flours
We all have that moment. Gathering ingredients at the beginning of baking something…walking to the cupboard…looking in…and then exclaiming “I can’t believe I’m out of that. I was SURE I had that!” In a pinch, substitutes can be life-savers. Well, maybe meal-savers. Today I’m going to cover what to do when out of various types of flour. Note that substitutions… Read More
Make Boxed Cake Mix Taste Like It Was Made From Scratch
I was in a rush the other day…so I gave in and grabbed a boxed cake mix from the shelf. (I know, gasp in horror!) But I still wanted it to taste great. I’ve learned a lot about cooking in the last two years, so I knew that with the right ingredients and substitutions, I could make even a boxed… Read More