Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Essential Baker's Pantry


What kind of baker are you? Do you plan weeks in advance, or do you only bake when the spirit moves you? As gratifying as it can be to make a complicated dessert, I love spontaneous, simple baking. Friday night fruit crisp. Sunday morning muffins. Random weeknight crepes... for dinner. Sometimes the best treats are the ones that come together with little or no planning. With a well-stocked pantry, you can pull off almost anything. Here's what I recommend:

Dry Ingredients

Flour: all-purpose, cake
Sugar: granulated, light brown, confectioner's
Baking soda
Baking powder
Salt
Chocolate Chips
Cocoa Powder
Dried Fruit
Nuts

Perishable Ingredients

Butter 
Eggs 
Milk
Heavy cream
Sour cream
Lemons (or some other citrus, for the zest)

Spices etc.

Vanilla extract
Vanilla beans
Ground cinnamon

Bonus Ingredients

Dark brown sugar
Turbinado sugar
Fresh ginger
Jam
Greek Yogurt
Corn syrup
Molasses


What are your favorite recipes for spontaneous sweets?

1 comment:

  1. Popovers - sweet or savory (sprinkled with sugar or parmigiano cheese on top while baking)
    ages old recipe from Joy of Cooking.

    POPOVERS from Irma Rombauer, The Joy of Cooking

    (makes 8-10 popovers)

    Spread popover pans with oil and heat them for 10 minutes in a hot oven of 450 F degrees.

    Sift:

    1 cup bread flour

    Add:

    1/4 teaspoon salt

    Beat in a separate bowl until frothy:

    2 eggs

    Add:

    7/8 cup milk

    1 tablespoon melted butter

    Stir the liquid slowly into the sifted ingredients. Beat the ingredients until they are well blended, but no longer, then pour the batter into the oiled and heated pans, filling them only 1/3 full. Bake the popovers in a hot oven 450 F degrees for 20 minutes, then reduce the heat and dry them in a moderate oven 350 F degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove them at once from the pans.

    Heavy oven-proof glass custard cups may be substituted for iron pans. Butter them well but do not heat them. Bake them on a cookie sheet.

    From The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer, published in1931, The Bobbs-Merrill Company

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