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Pam asks: Can you use wheat flour in place of white flour in an oatmeal cookie recipe to make them more healthy?
Baking S.O.S. says: Absolutely!The general rule when substituting wheat flour in a recipe is to use half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour. If you try to use more than that (i.e. using all whole wheat flour), the texture and taste is completely altered. This is especially important when making cookies: you still want them to be tender and chewy. Using all whole wheat flour would make them more tough.
Good luck!
Baking S.O.S. says: I have been working with the administration, staff, and fellow parents in my children’s school district for many months to make changes to the Health & Wellness policy for the entire school district.
One of the topics that concerns many parents is the excessive amount of candy, sugary cupcakes and desserts served during classroom celebrations–from birthdays to holiday parties.
I am offering the following muffin recipes as a suggested alternative to cupcakes in the classroom. I will admit that the recipes are not exactly “healthy;” however, each recipe does contain a fruit and/or vegetable to boost the nutritional value, and they are at least a step in the right direction by eliminating “empty calories” found in high-fat, high-sugar frostings. It is my effort to compromise between those that desire to provide a tasty treat for class parties and those that want to eliminate desserts all together from the classroom.
Feel free to use these recipes in YOUR child’s next class party. I have tested all of the recipes many times with my own kids and their classmates, and each recipe–made from scratch with REAL ingredients (not tons of preservatives and additives from store-bought desserts)–gets a big “thumbs up” from kids and adults alike. Enjoy!
Apple Oatmeal Muffins
Ingredients
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/3 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 C. oats (uncooked oatmeal)
¾ C. milk
½ C. canola oil
2 large eggs
2 C. apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (approx. 2 C.)
Directions:
1. Sift dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon) together into a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir oatmeal in by hand.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, and eggs, then stir into dry ingredients just until mixed. Fold in apples by hand.
4. Pour batter into paper-lined muffins tins. Bake at 375 degree F for 18-20 minutes until tops spring back and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yield: 1 dozen muffins
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
2 ¾ C. all-purpose flour
¼ C. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 C. sugar
1 C. canola oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 C. grated zucchini
1 C. chocolate chips
Directions
1. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a separate large mixing bowl (or electric mixer).
3. Add in zucchini, then add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
5. Line muffin tins with paper liners and spray with cooking spray. Fill pans ? full with batter.
6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yield: 2 ½ dozen muffins
Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Nut Muffins
Ingredients
2 ¼ C. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. salt
2 C. sugar
1 C. canola oil
3 large eggs
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 C. chopped pecans (optional)
1 C. raisins (optional)
Streusel Topping
¾ C. all-purpose flour
½ C. sugar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
¼ C. unsalted butter, softened
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with muffin papers and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour through salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat together the sugar, oil, eggs and pumpkin.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix just until blended. Fold in pecans and raisins (if using).
5. For streusel topping: combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir with a fork until crumbly.
6. Fill muffin tins ¾ full with batter, then sprinkle streusel topping on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until top springs back when touched and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yield: 1 ½ – 2 dozen muffins
Catherine says: My daughter wants a strawberry cake for her birthday, and I like the recipe I started with (below). I need to add either food coloring or gelatin to get the right color, but it came out pretty dense and a little dry. The self-rising flour is brand new, so the leavening shouldn’t be the problem. I would be content to tinker and taste until I get it right, but the party is on Friday, so I’m out of time. Any suggestions would be very helpful.
Strawberry Cake
Ingredients:
Nonstick vegetable spray
All-purpose flour, for pans
3 cups self-rising flour
2 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup pureed strawberries, strained*
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon zest
4 large eggs, beaten
red food coloring**
Directions:
– Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray and flour three 8-by-2-inch round cake pans, tapping out excess flour; set aside.
– Prepare the cake batter; in a large bowl, stir to combine self-rising flour, sugar, oil, pureed strawberries, vanilla, lemon zest, and eggs.
– Divide batter evenly between prepared pans, smoothing with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until the tops spring back when gently pressed with your fingertips, 26 to 28 minutes.
– Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool 10 minutes. Invert cakes onto wire rack. Re-invert cakes and let them cool completely, top sides up.
Baking S.O.S. says: This is a tough challenge, especially since you are out of time for testing the recipe and making any further adjustments.
I will try to break it down into several different problems and possible solutions.
1) You mentioned that you either need to add gelatin or food coloring to get the right color. I would suggest that you not use gelatin at all and opt for the food coloring only. Gelatin’s main purpose is to bind and set soft desserts (such as a mousse or Bavarian). Adding gelatin to the cake would only make it more dense and tough.
2) You mentioned that the cake is dense. Since you feel confident that the leavening is not the problem, we need to find another way to make the cake lighter and less dense. One possible option would be to whip the eggs to incorporate air into them. This is a common technique for adding leavening to cakes to help them rise more.
The recipe calls for beaten eggs, but it doesn’t say how much to beat them. I would suggest whipping the eggs in a stand mixer with the whip attachment on medium speed (4-6 setting) until the eggs are double in volume. [If you do not have a stand mixer, you can use a hand-held electric mixer to achieve the same results.] You would need to do this as a separate step in the mixing process, then fold the beaten eggs into the base cake batter in 3 separate stages. Fold the beaten eggs in by hand using a rubber spatula and stirring carefully so as not to deflate the egg foam. Stir until no visible streaks of egg foam remain. This should help lighten and leaven the cake a little bit.
3) You mentioned that the cake is also dry. In looking at the recipe, there is very little fat in the batter–only 3/4 cup of oil. Fat lends tenderness and moisture to a cake. Perhaps this recipe needs more fat.
The recipe also has no other liquid ingredient to give it moisture. Most cake batters will call for some type of liquid–such as milk, buttermilk, or even water–to make the cake moist and tender.
Because you don’t have any additional time to tinker with this recipe, as you say, I would be afraid to suggest adding a specific type or amount of fat or liquid to this recipe. It would require many trials (and errors, I’m afraid) to find out just how much additional fat and/or liquid you need to add in order to get the results you are looking for.
The only suggestion I can give that will add moisture to this cake without changing the base recipe is this:
European-style cakes (such as spongecakes) are dry by nature. These types of cakes are moistened AFTER they are baked by soaking the cake layers with a simple syrup. (a very common technique for making European-style cakes)
Simple syrup is nothing more than a 50-50 ratio of sugar and water boiled together. So for example:
1 cup of water
1 cup of granulated sugar
Place in a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a boil. *Do not stir once it has come to a boil. Boil 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Allow to cool to room temp before using.
**Simple syrup needs to be flavored to complement the flavor of the cake, as well. It is used not only to moisten the cake layers, but also to impart extra flavor to the cake.
Since you are making a strawberry cake, I would suggest boiling some strawberries in the simple syrup, then straining through a mesh strainer to remove the strawberry pulp. You will be left with a pretty pink strawberry-flavored syrup that should help impart some pink color to the cake AND give it additional strawberry flavor.
Simply use a pastry brush to brush the syrup directly onto the cake layers BEFORE you add any icing. Be generous with the syrup, but don’t drown the cake. You don’t want it to turn into a mushy, soggy mess. 🙂
I hope those suggestions will help improve the texture and flavor of the cake. I can’t promise it will be exactly what you want, but it will probably be an improvement over the original recipe.
Good luck!
Linda asks: Why does my pumpkin pie always crack across the middle?
Baking S.O.S. says:
My guess is that the pie is baking too long or at too high a temperature…..that would cause the pie to crack.
I checked the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie recipe on-line to see what the exact baking directions are. It says to start the oven at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees for another 40-50 minutes.
I would suggest baking the pie on the lowest oven rack. This will not only help set the bottom crust, minimizing sogginess, but it will also keep the top of the pie from getting too hot and over-baking (if it were too close to the top of the oven).
Another option would be to reduce the oven temperature lower and bake the pie a little longer. The rationale for this is that a pumpkin pie is really a type of custard because it is set with eggs. The eggs should be baked at a lower temperature for a longer time so that they set without curdling, creating a creamy texture.
You could try reducing the heat to 325 degrees instead of 350 and bake the pie for an extra 5 or 10 minutes longer.
The initial temperature of 425 is still necessary to set the bottom crust, preventing sogginess. But after that, you should be able to reduce the heat to 325 and just bake the pie longer. I think these changes should help prevent your pie from cracking.
Erica asks: I would like to make blueberry muffin batter ahead and then just pour into muffin tins & bake Christmas morning. I was thinking I could make the batter then add fresh blueberries right before I bake. Will this work if I make the batter the night before?
Baking S.O.S. says: Baking powder, which makes the muffins rise, will start to react as soon as you mix the wet ingredients with the dry. You will get the most leavening (rising) from your batter if you bake it right away. Over time, the baking powder will lose its effectiveness if you allow the batter to sit too long before you bake it.
But having said that, I used to work at a bakery where we would mix up the muffin batter the night before, store it in the refrigerator, then bake it off the next morning so the muffins would be hot and fresh. Storing the batter in the refrigerator will help slow down the baking powder reaction so that it does not lose as much leavening power. It should be just fine if you only store it in the frige for one night. (don’t hold it any longer than that, though)
Also, using fresh blueberries with this method is a good idea. Frozen blueberries would thaw in the batter and release their juices, turning the entire batter purple. I hope you have a very enjoyable Christmas morning!
Erica asks: Does it make any difference if I use salted butter when it says unsalted? Is it just a flavor thing? My husband picked up the wrong kind, and I’d like to just use what I’ve got if it won’t ruin everything!
Baking S.O.S says: It is preferable to use unsalted butter in baked goods because recipes almost always call for salt in the ingredients. Using salted butter could make the product taste TOO salty.
But in answer to your question, you CAN substitute salted butter in place of unsalted butter. To account for the added salt in the butter, try omitting or reducing the amount of salt called for in the recipe. It should turn out just fine.
Cathi asks: When substituting cake flour in place of all purpose flour, do I need to change measurements for any other ingredients? ie cakes, cookies, pizza dough, pancakes?
Baking S.O.S. says: If you substitute cake flour for all-purpose flour in a recipe, you do not need to alter the quantities of the other ingredients in the recipe. However, I would suggest increasing the amount of cake flour a little bit.
Cake flour is lighter and fluffier than all-purpose flour, so it does not measure the same cup-for-cup. So for each cup of all-purpose flour called for in a recipe, I would suggest using 2-4 extra tablespoons of cake flour.
One more note: Because cake flour is so soft and light, I would not suggest using it for pizza dough. Pizza dough requires more structure because it is more like bread. You need more gluten for more structure, and all-purpose flour contains more gluten than cake flour. Bread flour is even better for pizza dough because it contains even more gluten.
But for soft, tender baked goods like cake and cookies, substituting cake flour for all-purpose would be perfectly fine.
I hope that helps!
Joy says: I made an Italian Meringue Buttercream last Saturday. I refrigerated it and used again today. I noticed while I was pressing the decorating bag while making a flower that the water was coming out. It looks like the water was not mixed well in my IMBC. What should I do?
Just want to let you know when I made my IMBC, I messed up. I did not use the right stand mixer, but I used my electric hand mixer. I noticed it was too hard when I made it so I added some more water to it. But on the other hand, I was able to use it to ice my cake last week. Could it be that the butter that I used was not yet in room temperature? Please help…thanks!
Baking S.O.S. says: This question is a little bit trickier to answer because I’m not certain if my idea of Italian Meringue Buttercream is the same as the recipe that you used to make your IMBC. But I will try!
First, regardless of which type of buttercream you make, it should always be used at room temperature when decorating. It is fine to store a buttercream in the refrigerator–or even the freezer for longer storage–but you need to allow it to warm up to room temperature before trying to use it. I typically pull my buttercream out of the frige at least 2 hours before I am ready to use it. That alone may be the solution to your problem.
Another common problem with buttercreams is–as you mentioned–the temperature of the butter when you are mixing the buttercream. Typically, the butter should be soft but not melting: around 65 degrees is ideal.
If the base meringue mixture is too warm and the butter is too cold, then the buttercream will “break”–this means it will separate and, yes, it may seems a little “watery.”
My experience with Italian Meringue is this: You make a caramelized sugar syrup by cooking sugar and water together until a candy thermometer registers 245 degrees. Then you pour the sugar syrup slowly into the meringue to cook the egg whites, making them safe to consume. Finally, you gradually beat in the cool but soft butter until the buttercream comes together.
If the buttercream breaks because it is too cold, you can place a bowl of warm water under your mixing bowl to warm it up slowly, making the buttercream come together nicely.
If the buttercream breaks because it is too warm, do the opposite: place a bowl of ice under the mixing bowl to chill it down.
I would not suggest adding additional water to your IMBC in order to get it to the desired consistency, but that is only because I do not know what procedure you are using. If you are using a ready-made mix that simply calls for water, then you could be completely fine.
Just for the record: I don’t typically like to make Italian Meringue Buttercream because it requires a fair amount of experience and practice in order to get it right! I would recommend starting with a Simple Buttercream or even a Swiss Meringue Buttercream until you get more comfortable with the techniques.
Good luck!
Samantha says: I keep experiencing the same problem when I make cupcakes: When I take them out of the oven, the papers that you are supposed to put them in to keep them from sticking always look brown or burnt. I like the colors that are on the papers. How can I keep them from burning??????
Baking S.O.S. says: Unfortunately, the paper cupcake liners will always look brown or even burned after baking–there is no way to avoid it due to the high heat of the oven and the fact that the paper liners absorb some of the oils from the cake batter, making them a bit “greasy” and darkening the decorative patterns.
If you would like the paper liners to look fresh and clean after baking, I would suggest placing a new cupcake liner over the outside of the old ones.
A new trend in cupcakes seems to be decorative cupcake “wrappers” such as these I found at  kitchenkrafts.com. I have seen similar cupcake wrappers at my local cake supply store. These are a little more costly, but they make for a nice presentation, and they solve that ever-present problem of cupcake liners that look dark and burned.
I hope that helps!
Kathy asks: Here’s my situation: I was getting ingredients together for a baking project but couldn’t complete it because I didn’t have the proper ingredients. I mixed together:
2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
And stopped.
My question is: What can I put with this mixture to create an edible product? I’m not as experienced a baker as others to just whip up the missing parts of a recipe.
Please help.
Baking S.O.S. says: Thanks for the challenge, Kathy!
The first thing you need to know is that baking is a science: you cannot creatively adjust the ingredients as desired without changing the intended outcome of the dessert. So don’t feel badly for not being experienced enough to just “whip something up.” That is fine for cooking, but it simply does not work for baking.
With that in mind, I, too, cannot creatively finish your unfinished recipe here. But what I can do is look at the ingredient list and see that you have a good base for a simple cookie recipe, such as chocolate chip, perhaps. Most chocolate chip cookie recipes call for a combination of brown sugar and white sugar, but you could simply omit the brown sugar and use all white sugar since that is what you have so far.
Next, I would recommend following a recipe that has already been developed and tested using the proportion of ingredients you have already started with.
I found the following Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on allrecipes.com, and I think it is as close as you are going to get to your proportion of dry ingredients. (unless you want to go back to attempting the original recipe you started to make)
I hope that helps. Best of luck to you!
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Muffin Recipes for Healthful Alternatives to Cupcakes in School Parties
Baking S.O.S. says: I have been working with the administration, staff, and fellow parents in my children’s school district for many months to make changes to the Health & Wellness policy for the entire school district.
One of the topics that concerns many parents is the excessive amount of candy, sugary cupcakes and desserts served during classroom celebrations–from birthdays to holiday parties.
I am offering the following muffin recipes as a suggested alternative to cupcakes in the classroom. I will admit that the recipes are not exactly “healthy;” however, each recipe does contain a fruit and/or vegetable to boost the nutritional value, and they are at least a step in the right direction by eliminating “empty calories” found in high-fat, high-sugar frostings. It is my effort to compromise between those that desire to provide a tasty treat for class parties and those that want to eliminate desserts all together from the classroom.
Feel free to use these recipes in YOUR child’s next class party. I have tested all of the recipes many times with my own kids and their classmates, and each recipe–made from scratch with REAL ingredients (not tons of preservatives and additives from store-bought desserts)–gets a big “thumbs up” from kids and adults alike. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 C. all-purpose flour
1/3 C. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 C. oats (uncooked oatmeal)
¾ C. milk
½ C. canola oil
2 large eggs
2 C. apples, peeled, cored, and chopped (approx. 2 C.)
Directions:
1. Sift dry ingredients (flour through cinnamon) together into a large mixing bowl.
2. Stir oatmeal in by hand.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, oil, and eggs, then stir into dry ingredients just until mixed. Fold in apples by hand.
4. Pour batter into paper-lined muffins tins. Bake at 375 degree F for 18-20 minutes until tops spring back and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yield: 1 dozen muffins
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
2 ¾ C. all-purpose flour
¼ C. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3 C. sugar
1 C. canola oil
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 C. grated zucchini
1 C. chocolate chips
Directions
1. Sift dry ingredients together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Mix sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a separate large mixing bowl (or electric mixer).
3. Add in zucchini, then add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
4. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
5. Line muffin tins with paper liners and spray with cooking spray. Fill pans ? full with batter.
6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yield: 2 ½ dozen muffins
Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Nut Muffins
Ingredients
2 ¼ C. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
½ tsp. cloves
¼ tsp. salt
2 C. sugar
1 C. canola oil
3 large eggs
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1 C. chopped pecans (optional)
1 C. raisins (optional)
Streusel Topping
¾ C. all-purpose flour
½ C. sugar
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
¼ C. unsalted butter, softened
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tins with muffin papers and spray lightly with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients: flour through salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (or the bowl of an electric stand mixer), beat together the sugar, oil, eggs and pumpkin.
4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix just until blended. Fold in pecans and raisins (if using).
5. For streusel topping: combine all ingredients in a small bowl and stir with a fork until crumbly.
6. Fill muffin tins ¾ full with batter, then sprinkle streusel topping on top. Bake for 20-25 minutes until top springs back when touched and a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Yield: 1 ½ – 2 dozen muffins