Saturday, November 26, 2011

Baking Small Batches

In the eternal quest for edible, palatable, allergy-safe baking recipes, I used to find myself baking up whole batches of muffins, only to have to throw a whole tray full of "bricks" into the trash.  After that happened a few times, I decided that it was probably best to make 1/4 batches of new recipes.  Even with tried-and-true recipes, I often bake partial batches, because I only have one daughter and she does not need a full batch of muffins, just for herself.  Here are some of the tools that I use, when baking small batches.


Pinch, dash and smidgen measuring spoons - These measure out 1/8, 1/16 and 1/32 of a teaspoon.  I often use this when measuring out salt or vanilla extract. 



Mini measuring "shot glass" - This measures 2 Tablespoons, 6 teaspoons, etc.  I use this when making egg replacer.  2 T. of warm water makes 1 "egg".  I can microwave it for about 15 seconds.



"Coffee" scoop - This measures out 1/8 cup which equals 2 Tablespoons.  When the flour gets reduced to "3/8" of a cup, it makes it easier to use this scoop, rather than trying to "eyeball" half of a 1/4-cup measuring cup.  It's also an easy way to measure out 2 T. of applesauce in a single scoop. 


Mini muffin pan - I don't always fill up all the cavities, and I have found that it's easier to get muffins and cupcakes to cook all the way through, if I made them smaller.  I typically prefer to grease the wells with Spectrum, rather than using paper liners, because the muffin often sticks to the liner.


"Whoopie Pie"/Muffin Top pan - I also use this pan to get around the fact that I have a hard time getting my batters to cook well, all the way through.  It's also a good pan for biscuits or rolls.

Cookie scoop - Getting the batter into those mini-muffin cavities is so much easier with a small cookie scoop.

1 comment:

  1. I hate that! It happens to me all the time with allergy free baking. And it just makes me sick to have to throw it all away. Well, usually my little guy (who very rarely gets sweets) will eat just about anything with a little sugar - even if it tastes like socks :) So, he'll get one and the rest get trashed. This is a good idea...

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