Use These Egg-Centric Baking Hacks to up Your Game

Holiday baking season has arrived—from cookie swaps to parties to baking for Santa – there are endless opportunities to flex your muscles in the kitchen throughout December. Given busy schedules, you may be thinking there’s no time for an exacting thing like baking, but think again! All you need are some handy tricks to help you get your bake on. At the very least, if these easy-to-use baking hacks don’t change your life, they’ll up your cookie exchange game—guaranteed.

Out With the Shells!

• Cracking eggshells can be a frustrating experience. If you’re prone to finding stray bits in the bowl, never fear–the shells will be attracted to your wet finger. Just give it a rinse under the water, pop it in the bowl, and voila.

Room Temp

• When baking, bring your eggs to room temperature since it helps them blend evenly into batter. Want to speed up the process? Place eggs in a bowl of warm water for about 15 minutes.

Meringue Exchange

• All those canapé calories won’t just undo themselves. Some advice? Skip the frosting and make a meringue instead. Start by whipping egg whites in a standing mixer until frothy. Sweeten them with a touch of sugar or a sugar substitute, such as Stevia or Monk Fruit, and add a pinch of cream of tartar to stabilize the whites. Once stiff peaks form, top your baked beauties with the cloud-like results. Then, caramelize them in the oven or give them a quick “torch” until they’re lightly browned.

One at a Time

• After creaming butter and sugar, eggs should be added one at a time. Thoroughly beating the egg before the next one is added helps the mixture retain more trapped air bubbles which will contribute to leavening.

Extra Eggs for the Poofiest Cakes

• Go egg-wild. The reason? Adding an extra egg into cake batter can make it lighter and “poof-ier”. Don’t go too far, though, or you’ll have a too-dense result. Three eggs for a standard, made-from-scratch cake is typically just right.

• Even if you’re not a bake-from-scratch type, a boxed cake can achieve bakery-grade results. Simply add one extra egg to the number instructed on the package. Then, replace the recommended amount of oil with twice the amount of melted butter.

Wash & Shine

• Lightly beaten eggs, whether whole, separated, plain or combined with water or milk, can be used as an “egg wash.” Brush the egg mixture on the surface of breads, pastries, cookies, pretzels or biscuits to help them attain a beautiful shine when baked.

For holiday recipes, baking hacks and more, visit IncredibleEgg.org and Incredible Eggs on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

December 2, 2014/0 Comments/by Administrator