14 Clever Baking Hacks and Ideas That’ll Make Baking Easier

Do you enjoy baking at home? Have you ever wondered how to make baking easier? Sometimes a simple hack can make baking at home so much easier!

I have been baking ever since I was a little girl; it was always something my mom and I did together. It later inspired me to go to culinary school. I love baking, making sweets is just in my heart and soul but I could always use better ways to make baking at home a lot better.

These hacks help with keeping your baked goods fresh, making your own powdered sugar when you are out and keeping ingredients in your mixing bowl instead of all over your kitchen floor.

Here are 14 clever hacks that are sure to make baking at home easy!

Let’s Start Hacking!

 

1. How to Get Perfect Chocolate Curls Every Time

The easiest way to make chocolate curls or chocolate shavings is with a vegetable peeler. Use a potato peeler to make chocolate peels for garnish on cakes, cupcakes and pastries. The best way to get perfect curls each time is to chill the chocolate before in the refrigerator for about 5 minutes. Once you have all your curls then make sure to keep them cold so they don’t melt before you can use them as a garnish!

2. Use a Hot Knife to Slice Cake Perfectly

Start with heating a knife under hot water, dry it off, and make sure it is fully dry before moving on. Then use the hot knife to easily slice through cakes perfectly every time. This prevents losing large chunks of the cake and keeping the filling and frosting from melding together. If you are cutting a lot of cake periodically stop and repeat the process again.

3. Baking Bread from Scratch

Making bread from scratch like this simple focaccia bread recipe requires some rising time before baking. Sometimes you can’t find a place for your dough to rise? Stick it in a low-temperature, preheated oven. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees then turn it off before sticking your dough in.

4. Need Room Temperature Eggs Quickly

Get room temperature eggs by submerging refrigerated eggs in warm (not boiling) water for 3 minutes. Fill a cereal bowl, Tupperware or pot with warm water and bathe your eggs in there for 3 minutes.

5. Soften Butter Without A Microwave

Soften a stick of butter quickly with a heated glass or glass bowl. Pour boiling water into a glass to heat it up. Then, dump out the water and place it over the stick of butter. The butter will be softened within minutes without it completely melting. This is better than the microwaving the butter because you won’t be getting hot spots or really melted spots in the butter.

6. Dip Cookie Cutters Into Flour

Dip cookie cutters in flour first before cutting dough to help cookies retain their shape and prevent from sticking. Use a pastry brush to remove any extra flour.

7. Keep Cookies Fresh with a Slice of Bread

Source from The Krazy Coupon Lady

Keep cookies fresh by putting a slice of bread in an airtight container with them. Nobody likes stale cookies! The Krazy Coupon Lady suggests placing a slice of bread inside an airtight bag with your batch of cookies to keep them soft and fresh longer. This also works great for keeping brown sugar soft and clump free.

Related Posts:

• 16 Cake Decorating Tools Every Baker Should Have

• How to Make a Magical Unicorn Cake

• How to Make Homemade Bourbon Vanilla Extract

8. Quickly Ripen Bananas In Your Oven

Ripen bananas quickly by baking them for 40 minutes in a 300 degree oven. Place unripe bananas on a parchment lined baking sheet and stick them in a preheated oven. Check bananas after 30 minutes, and if they’re black and soft to the touch, they’re ready. Make sure you cool the bananas completely before using them in recipes.

9. Don’t Have Any Eggs, Use a Banana

1/2 banana = 1 egg. If you are in a pinch and don’t have eggs, use half of a ripe, mashed banana as an egg substitute when baking sweets. Whether you’re making pancakes or quick breads, use a ripe banana when you’re out of eggs. The moisture from the banana binds ingredients together very well you won’t miss the eggs! Works Best in fat free cookies, breads, muffins and pancakes!

10. Homemade Oat Flour in a Blender

Create homemade oat flour with a blender or a food processor works just as well. Place 1 cup of rolled oats in a blender and pulse on high for about 30 seconds or until the oatmeal becomes the consistency of flour. The oat flour is great for cookies, breads and cakes.

11. DIY Powdered Sugar

And run granulated sugar through a blender or food processor to get confectioners’ sugar. Add 1 cup of granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to a blender or food processor and use the pulse setting until a powder forms. Use just like normal powdered sugar easily in frostings and a dusting garnish. Sift to get lump free confectioners’ sugar.

12. Grate the Butter Before

Grate butter for easy mixing when making biscuits or pie crust. This is a great hack for making this easy pie dough for your sweet treats. Keep the butter nice and cold before grating and after grating. This cold butter creates the best results for baking!

13. Help Keep the Ingredients in the KitchenAid Bowl

Keep flour and other ingredients from flying by draping a kitchen towel over the mixing bowl. Often times when adding dry ingredients into your mixing bowl no matter how slow you might add the flour without fail ingredients are bound to fly out!

14. Or, Create Your Own Splash Guard

Create your own splash guard with an ice cream bucket lid. Use the lid from a gallon ice cream bucket, and cut from a hole in the center, adjusting the opening based on the size and movement of your mixer’s paddle. When mixing, you may need to hold down the lid. Just throw it in the dishwasher when done!

 

Whether you are new to baking or a seasoned veteran in the kitchen, anyone can use these baking hacks that will make baking so much easier!

Happy Baking!

Pin It! Save it for later!

8