12 problem solving Recipes

roughly a century ago , the founder of wellesley college held that, pies, lies, and doughnuts should never have a place in wellesley college. students honed their fudge-making skills in secret. we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. here s what we discovered, test kitchen discoveries, it seems decades of chocolate overload have desensitized the modern palate , and far more chocolate flavor was required of our cake. we substituted some of the bar chocolate for cocoa powder bloomed in hot water to deepen its flavor., our thick , fudgy frosting required an extra-sturdy cake to support it. all-purpose flour in place of pastry flour gave the cake more stability., traditional recipes called for thick sour milk, an ingredient we weren tsp quite prepared to call for. instead, we used buttermilk to give our cake a hint of tang., our filling recipe needed to be simple, so we immediately scrapped anything that required a candy thermometer. we found an unexpected solution that called for evaporated milk., our frosting kept falling apart when we added chocolate to the warm sugar mixture. the heat was causing the fat in the chocolate to separate, a problem easily solved by adding butter and evaporated milk first to cool it down a bit.

lime juice, pineapple juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, coconut rum, creme de banane

jumbo shrimp (precooked ,peeled and de-veined), boneless beef top sirloin steaks (cut into bite size pieces), oyster sauce, olive oil, garlic cloves (minced ), red pepper (cut into bite size chunks ), yellow pepper (cut into bite size chunks ), carrot (fancy shave cuts), pineapple (1 can of chunks with juice), spinach (fresh ), raisins, black beans (in garlic sauce purchased at asian markets), rice (brown jasmine), salt (lemon-pepper)

sugar cookie recipe, after trying over 50 sugar cookie recipes , i found this 1 to be my absolute favorite. i love this basic sugar cookie recipe for many reasons. it taste great. it is simple with few ingredients. it will maintain it s shape which makes the dough ideal for molding. you must chill the dough for a couple hours (or overnight is great) or it will be very sticky to work with., butter, softened, cream cheese, softened, sugar, egg, vanilla, all purpose flour, in large mixer bowl combine all cookie ingredients , except flour., beat at medium speed , scraping bowl often until creamy., reduce speed to low ; add flour. beat, scraping bowl often, until well mixed., divide dough into 2 equal portions; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate unitl firm (at least 2 hours)., heat oven to 350o. roll out on lightly floured surface or parchment paper. bake for 7 to 10 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned. remove from cookie sheets; cool completely., url : cookiedecorating.com, chocolate cut-out recipe, yummy! crisp chocolate cut-outs with a brownie-cookie type flavor. this dough should be chilled for an hour or two (or overnight) or it may be sticky to roll., butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, all purpose flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt, in large mixer bowl beat butter , sugar, egg and vanilla until well blended. in medium bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt; add to butter mixture and blend well., refrigerate dough about 1 hour or until firm enough to roll., preheat oven to 325o. on lightly floured surface or parchment paper, roll out dough. bake 5 to 7 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched., cookie sheets ; cool completely., url : cookiedecorating.com, run sugar, run sugar icing is the classic cookie icing. it is a smooth textured icing that forms a very hard crust. it is made by taking royal icing at it s fluffiest form and adding water to make it flow. when it dries, you can stack the cookies. this type of icing takes several hours to dry. the icing has a simple, flavor with some crunch., powdered sugar, meringue powder, gum arabic, cream of tarter, water, water, first , mix-up royal icing (use this recipe or follow instructions on the commercial royal icing), in small mixing bowl, combine water, meringue powder and cream of tarter., beat until stiff peaks form ., in separate bowl, combine powdered sugar and gum arabic. mix thouroughly, then add to meringue., beat on low , then medium speed until stiff peaks form. after the royal icing has been mixed, divide the mixture into several small containers and cover with wet towel. add a small amount of water to each batch until it us just barely fluid, not watery. test consistency by dropping a small amount from spoon onto waxed paper. it should smooth itself in about 10 seconds. if it runs too much, add more powdered sugar. if it is too thick, add a bit more water., remember : keep this icing covered when you are not using it. it dries out quickly. place the icing in a bag with a tip #3 or #4. outline the area to be covered. quickly fill in the outline. if the icing is running off the cookie, too much water was added to the royal icing. if the icing is not smooth, add a bit more water to the royal icing. when icing crusts, pipe adjoining color. for added dimension or outlining, allow icing to harden (several minutes) and pipe on the top., royal icing, is probably the most popular icing that cookie decorators use. it is preferable because it holds up very well if the cookies need to be stacked, shipped, stored, etc.. royal icing can be made into a very nice glaze and also works great for very fine detail work. the biggest problem with royal icing is that it dries hard as a rock, and also tends to dry out the cookies more than a buttercream icing would. the drying rock-hard isn tsp a big deal if you are doing a cookie that has a thin layer of glaze and some basic outlines or decorations, but if you need a cookie to have thick piping, the thick decorations would almost be impossible to eat in royal icing., meringue powder, powdered sugar, water, vanilla extract (use clear vanilla if you want a pure white icing), almond extract, beat all ingredients together until stiff peaks form (about 10 minutes). to vary the consistency, add water to thin and add powdered sugar to thicken.

test kitchen discoveries, use our recipe for double-crust pie dough or use 1 15-oz box of pillsbury ready to roll pie crust., we found a few tricks to create bright lemon flavor while tempering the bitterness of the pith: squeeze the seeded lemon slices and reserve the juice for the filling. simmer the slices and then add them to the filling with the uncooked juice for bright lemon flavor without any macerating time., remember to squeeze the lemon slices in a fine-mesh strainer to remove any seeds or pulp that would mar the otherwise smooth filling., pie spends a generous 40 minutes in the oven , which can cause the heat-sensitive eggs in the filling to curdle. to avoid this problem, a tbsp of cornstarch stabilizes the eggs and ensures a smooth filling., have an extra lemon on hand in case the three sliced lemons do not yield the necessary 6 tbsp of juice ., is right

problem : batter curdles and separates., solution : eggs were not added 1 at a time and beaten thoroughly after each addition; an electric mixer was set at too high a speed; and/or the eggs were too cold. try adding 1 tbsp. flour per egg and reducing the speed of the electric mixer., problem : cake didn tsp rise., solution : too much or not enough fat or liquid in the batter; batter was overbeaten; and/or oven temperature was too high., problem : cake is tough., solution : butter and sugar were underbeaten in the early stages of mixing; batter was overbeaten after the flour was added; not enough sugar; not enough baking powder; and/or not enough fat. try brushing cake layers with sugar syrup, or filling and frosting the layers with a generous layer of moist frosting., problem : cake crumb is sticky., solution : too much sugar in the batter or sugar was too coarse., problem: top crust is hard ., solution : oven temperature was too high; cake was overbaked; and/or cake was baked too close to the top of the oven. try slicing off the top of the cake layer before frosting.

boiling water, bourbon (1 jigger), lemons, cinnamon stick, sugar