Tips For Using Silicone Baking Pans

I am glad that I researched how to cook with silicone bakeware. I would never have thought it necessary to use cooking spray on the cake pans. 

The Dough Academy suggests that even though these pans are non-stick, using a cooking spray coating can prevent further sticking. 

I used the spray and my cakes released perfectly from my pans and left very few crumbs behind. This was my first time using silicone baking pans. 

I think people buy them so that they don't have to oil the pans in advance. I believe that they would have worked well in that way but I will probably continue to use spray. 

The pans are worth having because they are very lightweight, easy to clean and I didn't have to flour them after spraying them.

Silicone bakeware how to use.

I cut up the 10" cake and put it in the freezer, except for a few pieces. Then I put the 6" cake in the 10" pan. 

Baking with silicone pans.

I ordered my pans from Temu, a 6" and a 10".

Find more baking tips for silicone pans and other cooking help at The Dough Academy, whose mission is to provide you with the knowledge, tips, and tricks you need to become a dough-making master.

Tags make lovely presentations for baking gifts. Print your own tags, cut out, punch holes and add pretty baker's twine or ribbon to embellish your edible gifts. 

Baker's twine is a two-tone twist of white and a color. It comes on cards or rolls. Traditionally, bakers used it to tie up white boxes of baked goods. It adds such a festive touch!

Tags for baked goods.

      Downloadable Gift Tags To Print

Thrown Together Banana & Applesauce Muffins

I don’t even know how they got that way in the fridge without me noticing. It was overnight, I think. My bananas were so ugly! They were so yucky that I didn’t want to touch them but I couldn’t bring myself to throw them out. They weren’t terribly ugly on the inside though, just mushy. 

I knew I had the basics in the pantry to whip up some small muffins. Anyone who has cooked for a few years knows the basic ingredients for bread products. I keep self-rising flour too, so it’s easy peasy! I guesstimated all measures. 

For 6 muffins, I mashed the 2 bananas in a bowl. I added 2 eggs, about 3/4 cups of sugar and a tsp of vanilla. I stirred it up well by hand. I then added self-rising flour, applesauce to thicken them and add more flavor, and a little milk. I gently stirred it, again by hand, until it was just moistened and still lumpy.

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I closely watched the consistency because I didn’t want them to bake out overly dry or too soft and crumbly. I could always have added more flour if the mix became too wet but that would possibly mean having to add more sugar, vanilla, etc. Sometimes adding more flour and other ingredients at the late stage of mixing can toughen and coarsen the end product.

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Spooned the mix into the greased muffin tin. I chopped up some nuts that I had on hand and sprinkled them over the tops with a little sugar. I pressed the nuts down a little with the back of a spoon so that they would not fall off during the rising.

I baked them on 400 and watched them after about 20 min. When they began to brown, I tested them with a knife until they were done to my liking.

They came out REALLY well! With butter spread over the tops and coffee, they were delish! As you can see, two were quickly gone!

TIPS:

• Using milk browns better than water, though water will do in a pinch for some recipes.

• Adding applesauce will add moisture so reduce the amount of milk/liquid.

• When guesstimating, it’s better to add a little liquid at a time rather than having to add more flour/dry products because the mix has become too wet. Over-compensating and over-stirring can make the baked good coarse and tough. 

Lettuce Craft Forum featured this post.

See other Kitchen Minute posts.

 

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Kitchen Minute: Bake The Best Biscuits

One of my fav things to bake is biscuits! I've loved them with the tang of real butter and homemade blackberry jam since I was a child. I learned the importance of cutting shortening into the flour but it wasn't until recently that I learned to ensure that the ingredients are cold, or chilled. I go a step further and chill all of my utensils and my baking pan in the fridge as I'm preparing to bake my biscuits.

Below is the link to a good article on how to bake mistake-free biscuits. It's straightforward and easy to read. 

The tip I most like is to lay the biscuits on the pan touching each other. They tell you why. The most challenging tip to me is to heat the oven to 475 degrees. It makes me nervous to think of baking them at that high of a temp but I'm going to try it.

11 Ways You're Ruining Your Biscuits

By Lisa Cericola for Southern Living

Images: Pixabay, Unsplash

Recipes Collection Journal Book

Though Family Heirloom & Favorites Recipes is a collection of blank recipe cards in book form, it is also more than that. See more info at the Amazon Books tab.