Baking experiments etc.

I did a lot of baking over the weekend for the coming weeks and I found that I was having to improvise a bit. Thought I would share some of it here.

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I made an apple crisp for company on Saturday. My mother-in-law had been up over the week and had picked a quarter grocery sack of my apples (early!) They were too sour to eat so I am baking then up into things. I was running low on flour and need some for muffins for hubby's lunches, so I improvised and used 1/2 cornmeal. This tasted really good in a crisp. I may try using all cornmeal instead of white flour next time.

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Then muffins. Oat meal raisin. I had just re-read my Tightwad Gazette book for the jillionth time and remembered that the author says you can use peanut butter for part or all of the oil. It works great! I ended up needing extra milk as the batter was too dry, but the muffins were really good. I want to try this with other baked goods.

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And finally, here is a tip for using you electric hand mixer...take a paper plate and poke a hole in middle for the beaters. then attach them to mixer like normal so you have a "shield". The paper plate should fit right over the bowl of whatever you are mixing and prevent spatters.

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For more kitchen tips go to: http://tammysrecipes.com/ and have a great day!