These weird scientific kitchen tips to make holiday baking easier will come in so handy this season!

I absolutely LOVE how science plays such a big role in baking, but also can help you out when you are in a jam. Like when you run out of an important ingredient, or your brown sugar is rock hard! Thanks to science, there are some tips to save and keep handy to make holiday baking easier this year!

Let’s get started!

Weird Scientific Kitchen Tips To Make Holiday Baking Easier

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Does your recipe call for buttermilk, but you have none??

Simple! Use 1 cup of regular milk, then add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice. The acidity of the vinegar or lemon will sour the milk making it just like buttermilk!

Keep your brown sugar soft and fresh with bread!

Every year, I whip out all my ingredients for baking. Usually, the brown sugar is hard as a rock! All you have to do is place a slice of bread in the container it’s in, let it sit for awhile. It will be soft and fresh! Read more about that in this fun post.

Slightly under bake your cookies!

If you are baking sugar cookies this seasons, the key to making them SOFT is to under bake them. They will continue to bake outside of the oven, so under baking makes sure they won’t get hard. Read more awesome tips for the perfect sugar cookie in this post.

Keep cookies softer for longer with bread or apples!

Like above, you want cookies to stay soft this season. Under baking them is key, but if you make them a few days ahead of time, you want them to stay soft in their container too. You can add a slice of bread or a slice of apple to a Tupperware full of cookies to keep them soft! The sealed off container will help the cookies absorb moisture so they stay soft.

If you run out of BAKING POWDER, use this…

Baking powder is one of those ingredients you probably run out of easily because it isn’t as versatile as baking soda. You can replace any baking powder in a recipe with this handy ratio–> 1 tsp of baking powder = 1/4 tsp baking soda + 1/2 tsp vinegar. Vinegar will have a leavening impact on baked goods when you use it with baking soda (the acid and base react to form carbon dioxide and salt). I have used this substitution before and it works!

Make gluten-free taste better with these ideas…

Gluten-free mixes can have an off taste since they typically use bean flours as part of the mix. Gluten-free flours don’t have the gluten protein, so they also have a different texture. I have a post on some great things to add to gluten-free mixes to makes them taste amazing, read more here.

If you run out of eggs, try one of these substitutes!

You can find some easy substitutes for eggs in this list. This is also great if you can’t eat eggs! The key to eggs is texture and absorption in baking.

Add in your butter, a little before room temperature

If you are using a mixer for any type of baking for cookies, add in your butter a little before it is actually room temperature. This keeps it the perfect consistency. Read more about it in this post about secrets to the perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Bake a cake with just a can of coke and a cake mix!

You can actually use any type of soft drink! All you need is a 12 oz can and a cake mix. Here is a recipe. The reasons this works is due to the carbonation in the coke. Carbonation works as an extra leavening agent and also the wet ingredient usually needed for a cake mix.

This comes in a handy if you run out of ingredients too!

Easily convert tablespoons to cups

I always need this when I bake! This is more math than science, but still a handy thing to know. You can copy and paste this too!

16 tbsp= 1 cup
12 tbsp= 3/4 cup
10 tbsp+ 2 tsp = 2/3 cup
8 tbsp = 1/2 cup
6 tbsp= 3/8 cup
5 tbsp + 1 tsp = 1/3 cup
4 tbsp = 1/4 cup
2 tbsp = 1/8 cup
2 tbsp + 2 tsp = 1/6 cup
1 tbsp = 1/16 cup
3 tsp = 1 tbsp   

Fix gritty melted chocolate with boiling water

Have you ever melted chocolate then it comes out really gritty and clumpy?? You can fix this with a little boiling water. Here are some instructions! There is so much science going on in chocolate with the fat, cocoa, and sugar!

Rotate pies and cakes halfway through baking

This isn’t necessarily science based, but it is physics based. Most ovens won’t bake evenly, especially if you have something large in there. Rotating halfway trough will help the entire item bake the same on all sides! I do this with pies now and it makes a HUGE difference in the crust.

Microwave citrus to get more juice out

I love using winter citrus in baking! If you microwave the citrus (just stick the entire fruit in there) for a few seconds, it will breakdown the carbohydrates making it more juicy!

Make whipped cream in a mason jar

Did you know you can make whipped cream with just a mason jar? I love how simple this is to do plus less equipment needed. The movement of the liquid against the jar is what turns the heavy liquid cream into whipped cream. Here is a recipe!

DON’T use old baking soda or baking powder!

This is a simple tip, but so important. These leavening agents deactivate over time, so if yours is too old, it won’t help at all with baking. These are good for about 9-12 months once opened!

Okay, those are my weird scientific tips for easier holiday baking! I hope it can come in handy for you this season!

 

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