Hints and Tips: In the Kitchen

Here are a few hints and tips for the kitchen. :) My Mom always had us butter bread by melting it and spooning it on, which worked great when we had a lot to do. Using the pastry brush works good as well.

To butter many slices of bread quickly and evenly, heat the butter until soft, then "paint" it on with a flat pastry brush.

Place aluminium foil under the napkin in your roll basket and the rolls will stay hot longer.

Many vegetables and fruits, including potatoes and apples, retain many of their nutrients in their skin. So when possible, leave the skin on your fruits and vegetables and cook them whole.

Cookie dough can be frozen up to three months in an airtight container or refrigerated three to four days.

Cookies will spread if your dough is too pliable by allowing butter to get too soft. If your cookies are spreading too much, try refrigerating the dough for a couple of hours before baking.

When rolling out cookie dough to cut, use a thin dusting of confectioners' sugar instead of flour on the board. The flour tends to make the dough thicker and heavier, while the dusting of sugar will help the cookie to brown evenly.