When baking, there are many things that you will need to prepare before mixing into the dough or batter. One of these is a way to toast or dry out any leftover ingredients. This is important in terms of leaving enough moisture in the ingredient so it does not burn in the oven!
Another thing that can be dried is sweeteners such as sugar, glucose, sucrose, or anything else. These can all easily go bad if left over unless they are used at the correct temperature. If this happens, then the chemical reaction may no longer occur, and therefore, the product would potentially become ineffective.
If you have ever made cookies with chocolate chips, then you know what I mean. The chips might taste good, but if the cocoa powder goes rancid, then nothing really changes. Yeast needs some sort of carbohydrate source to work properly, and sugar is usually the best choice. Unfortunately, when baking yeast froths up and uses the sugar, more of it ends up staying liquid instead of blooming like foam.
That’s why we have to use corn starch to help solidify the mixture- otherwise, you could just make bubbles and not done! If you have extra corn starch, try drying it out for fun cookie chunks or bread crumbs!
So how do we make crispy cookies? In my experience, using cream of tartar (a sour acid) helps keep the chip soft and salty.
Look at the recipe
There’s no need to buy pre-made, packaged snacks unless you really like them! In fact, many of our favorite snack foods were originally made at home.
Making your own snacks is a fun way to increase your culinary skills. And if you are looking to save some money, it can be a great way to do so.
Many people make their own trail mix by buying cheap, packaged mixes that contain nuts and dried fruits. These are good ideas if you love those types of snacks.
But what about making your own salty or sweet chips or pretzels? Or how about creating your very own flavor infused dry fruits?
These recipes are simple to follow and will always work! No matter what kind of chips or pretzels you want to make, there’s an easy, time saving method to get you started.
In this article, we are going to look at one of my all-time favorites: cornstarch chips! They are totally delicious and almost impossible to stop eating once you have made enough for yourself.
If you want to give these a try then don’t forget to pin this page so you never miss another trick! Also, keep reading for more tips and tricks to help you make your own snacks.
Do the recipe
In many recipes, there’s an instruction to make “corn starch chunks” in the process step before adding the dry ingredients to the wet. This can be tricky to do correctly!
Too much corn starch will result in clumpy dough that you have to work through more slowly which could hurt the overall texture of your cookie or bread.
Not enough and you may not get the solid consistency needed for some textures such as crispy cookies or fluffy bread.
To ensure perfect results, we recommend using a half cup (100 grams) of corn starch per one batch of dough. We also suggest mixing it into the liquid first instead of baking it with the dried mix.
Why? Because then you can just stir it in at the end without having to worry about it settling down. Also, let cools down slightly before stirring in because otherwise, it might burn when you add it to the other mixture pieces.
Another good tip is to use a fork to push the corn starch around so that it mixes in better and less stuck to the side where it could burn.
Take notes
In addition to using it as a baking powder, you can also use corn starch in other ways to create recipes. One way is to mix it with water and form a paste like substance that you can then add into foods or use as an ingredient in another recipe.
You can then either cook this mixture along with the food or let it cool down and whisk it into another liquid to make a solution.
By adding extra moisture, the corn starch will eventually gel and thicken the product. When used in dried products such as cereals, yogurt, and dried fruits, eating these items will give you a slight buzz due to their glucose and fructose content.
These effects are mostly taste neutral and occur slowly so they’re not noticeable unless you look for them.
Journal about the process
One of my favorite recipes for making cornflake-type cookies or what we call crispy rice squares is something I got from our family cookbook.
It’s called Crispy Rice Squares with Chocolate Chip Cookies. And yes, it does sound weird, but they are very delicious!
The recipe makes a few batches so it’t not too expensive either. It’s also pretty straightforward to make, which is another reason why it’s such a great recipe.
What you need to know as you bake these crispy rice squares is that there will be some leftover rice in your pan. That’s totally okay because you can re-use this rice later in other dishes like fried rice or even just plain cooked rice if you wanted to.
Just remember to wash the rice first to remove any chemicals that might affect your health. You don’t want those to remain inside of the rice ever again! 🙂
When the rice in the pan looks almost dry, add one more Tablespoon of water to help it along. Then let it simmer down until it has completely dissolved into the oil.
Once it has, take your whisk (or fork) and stir the mixture slowly while scraping the sides of the pot to get all of the lovely, golden brown crispy rice bits.
Share the process with your friends
Having enough supply of dry goods is always a nice start in cooking or baking. Luckily, there are many easy ways to do this! One way is to make your own by breaking down old foods or making new ones. By sharing these tips, you can help other beginner cooks or bakers find ease in their culinary journey!
There’s no need to spend lots of money buying all the ingredients needed to make recipes. You can instead pick up some of the essentials at a local grocery store or online shopping site.
Once you have those basics, you can mix and match them to create new dishes or refresh old favorites. And while may not say it directly, I think we can agree that eating delicious food makes us happy? So why not enjoy the fruits of our labors and give back to others?
If you feel like you’ve reached the limit of what you could make from here, try looking into recipe-making books or YouTube videos for inspiration.
Comment on recipe blogs
When you make an entry into a food-making or cooking website, make sure to leave a comment. This is very important because most sites now ask for your input!
Many websites offer users the chance to talk about recipes and give feedback. By leaving a comment, you show interest in improving their recipe and/or cuisine and are thus encouraging them to keep posting recipes and comments.
The blogger can then respond to you directly or through another user. If there’s one tip I could share it’s to never underestimate the power of word to word praise. Even if you don’t agree with some aspect of the recipe or what they say about the ingredients, complimenting them on something will win them over.
Blogs depend heavily on comments so offering yours as positive feedback is very valuable.
And remember, even if you’re not too keen on their style of baking or culinary techniques, praising one item in the recipe or saying how good you think this ingredient is may gain you some new followers.
Also, be careful which brands of products you use in a recipe. Some people feel these brands do not taste authentic enough so unless you are working with expensive supplies, try looking up reviews before using them in a recipe.
Gain experience
When baking with cornbread or batter recipes, there’s an easy way to make sure your finished product is perfect – practice, practice, practice! Batter will always break down into pieces in some form, so when you start mixing dry ingredients like flour, sugar, and seasonings, you have to experiment to find what mix works best for yours.
That means if you run out of cornstarch, you won’t be too worried! You can simply grab another batch of cornstarch and keep cooking until it all goes back together again. It sounds crazy, but this is very important! If you are just starting out, try making one recipe of something before moving onto the next thing.
Also, don’t worry about going wrong. All great bakers fail sometimes, we all do! But instead of giving up, they pick themselves up and begin practicing anew, which is why most people have their own style and personality with baking.
Learn to cook
Cooking is a skill that everyone should have, but unfortunately, not many people learn how to do it properly. Luckily, you can pick up some of these skills very quickly! There are several ways to start learning how to cook.
Some of the most common ways to begin cooking include: experimenting with recipes or food types, reading about different techniques and steps, and having a good supply of ingredients.
With all of those things in place, your next step can be making or taking part in a culinary art project! What is that? It’s making or baking with chocolate!
Making chocolate isn’t quite enough though; you also need to know how to temper it correctly. Tempering takes melted chocolate and an ingredient such as cold liquid (egg whites) so it will set, which makes it possible to cut it into shapes. These shaped bars are called chips and they are perfect for eating or creating new dishes!
There are three main types of chocolate chips: plain white chocolate chip, milk chocolate chip, and dark chocolate chip. All three contain nuts or coconut as a binder, but what type of nut or coconut and what ratio each one has varies between brands.
What I like to do is use vanilla-infused cream of tartar as my binding agent because it works well together and doesn’t taste too strong.
