Baking for Beginners: How to Make a Sponge Cake

The sponge cake is ideal for beginning cooks. It's fairly easy to make, it tastes delicious and it has a texture that's unlike any other cake.

The recipe is adapted from the Better Homes Cookbook. It's a standard sponge cake recipe, but I've added quite a few details to the instructions to make the steps more clear to readers (Better Homes is an excellent cookbook, but occasionally its instructions lack context and detail).

Finally, in order to bake this cake, you'll need to get your hands on a 10" tube pan (also called an angel food cake pan). Make sure you get one with a removable bottom. This one at Amazon will do just fine, but you can find one for under $20 at any discount store. No need to overspend here: I bought a really crappy and inexpensive one more than 10 years ago and it's still going strong.


*******************
Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
6 eggs, separated into yolks and whites
1 Tablespoon finely grated orange peel
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar

Directions:
1) Separate the yolks from the whites of the six eggs. Place the yolks into a medium bowl and place the whites in a larger bowl. Set the egg whites aside for now (feel free to put them into your refrigerator to keep them cool).

2) In the medium bowl, beat the yolks on high speed with an electric mixer for five minutes until they thicken slightly and turn a brighter yellow/lemon color. Add the orange peel, orange juice and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes until combined. Continue beating, and slowly add in the 1 cup of sugar. Beat for another five minutes until yolk mixture thickens and (roughly) doubles in volume.

3) Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the flour over the yolk mixture. Gently fold* the flour into the yolk mixture with a rubber scraper until combined. Repeat with remaining flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, and be sure to avoid overworking the batter. Set yolk mixture aside.

4) Wash beaters carefully. In the larger bowl, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar at medium-high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add in the 1/2 cup sugar, beating at high speed until stiff peaks form.

5) Gently fold one cup of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and combine well. Then, fold the yolk mixture into the remaining egg white mixture.

6) Pour batter into an ungreased 10" tube pan and bake at 325F for 50-55 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a fork or a toothpick into the top of the cake. If it comes out clean, it's done.

7) Immediately flip the cake upside-down, leaving it in the pan to cool. When fully cooled, loosen the sides of the cake with a knife and carefully remove from pan.

Serves 8-10.
*********************
Recipe Notes:
1) What is "folding"? It's a baking term that describe a technique of gently combining ingredients. To "fold" one ingredient into another (like in steps 3 and 5 above), use a large rubber scraper. Gently lift the batter from below with the flat side of the scraper, then gently flip the rubber scraper over and lay the batter back down on top. Continue--again, gently--until the ingredients are fully combined. The point of folding ingredients rather then stirring them is to avoid overworking the batter. This keeps the texture of the cake light and fluffy.

Another (stretched) analogy for folding batter is to imagine shovel-spading your garden: take a shovel full of dirt, flip it over and lay the dirt upside-down on top of the ground right next to you. Imagine doing this process with batter, spatula and a bowl, and you've got it.

One last point on folding: Whenever a recipe instructs you to "fold" something, never use an electric mixer. Just don't.

2) If you're confused about the difference between "stiff peaks" and "soft peaks" when beating egg whites, have a look at my post on Waffles for a somewhat juvenile explanation.

3) Finally, a few photos:

Invert the pan as soon as you take it out of the oven. Let the cake cool fully:

After the cake has cooled, loosen the cake from the pan edge by running a knife gently around the cake:

Gently pull the cake out...

And then help yourself!

Laura: Wait. You already ate a third of this cake?
Dan: [*Burp*] No.... it must have been somebody else.



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For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

Oatmeal Cookies: How To Never Over- Or Under-Bake Cookies Ever Again

The other day Laura was about to bake up a batch of oatmeal cookies and she asked me for some advice:

Laura: So, our oven I think runs cooler than the one in our old place. So, should I put the temp up 25 degrees higher? And add two minutes to the cooking time? Or should I add 15 degrees and one minute? Or what?

Dan: No. All your questions are wrong.

And I wonder why Laura doesn't seek my advice more often.

But let me explain what I was trying to get at. Baking conditions can vary significantly from kitchen to kitchen. Some ovens run cold, others hot. Which means cookies baked to perfection in 12 minutes in one oven can burn to a crisp in another.

Furthermore, baking conditions can vary meaningfully even in the same kitchen: Is it a hot summer afternoon, or a cold winter morning? Did you leave your ingredients out on the counter for an hour while you did something else, warming the shortening, milk and eggs? Do you obsessively check your cookies while they bake (uh, like I do), thereby wasting your oven's heat? Any of these factors can impact a recipe's results.

Therefore, if you're baking something for the very first time, or if you're baking in a new kitchen, be sure to observe the following three rules:

1) Be aware that something unexpected could happen in your baking results.

2) Follow your recipe and cooking times to the letter, but test bake a mini-batch first. Don't risk an entire sheet of cookies.

3) Check the results. If you need to make an adjustment, tweak one--and only one--variable. Start by adjusting the cooking time.

Why adjust the cooking time rather than the temperature? Because it's the easiest variable to adjust on the fly. If things come out underdone, add 1-2 minutes to the cooking time. If they come out overdone, subtract 1-2 minutes. [Protip: Always remember to err on the side of undercooking. You can always put underdone cookies back in the oven. Burnt cookies are lost to humanity forever.]

Laura's mistake was making assumptions about the oven in our new kitchen--and tinkering with multiple baking variables--before she even tested anything. This is a recipe for sadness... and tiny little slabs of carbon. If you start making multiple changes before you've even tested a single cookie, how can you know what the proper time and temperature should be at all?

What I was trying to say when I tactlessly told Laura "all your questions are wrong" was that you can't know what variable to tweak... until you know what variable to tweak. Do a test batch first.

Know this, and you'll never screw up a batch of cookies again.

************************************
Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup Crisco or vegetable shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups oats

Directions:
1) Thoroughly cream shortening and brown and white sugars. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well.
2) Sift flour with baking soda and salt, add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats with a sturdy spatula and combine well.
3) Form dough into cylindrical rolls about one-and-a-half inches in diameter, wrap dough in wax paper or foil and freeze.
4) To bake, first preheat oven to 350F. Slice frozen dough into (roughly) 1/4-inch thick slices, place onto a parchment paper-lined (or greased) cookie sheet, and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes at 350F until lightly browned.

Makes about 40-50 cookies... with dough left over for eating.

Related Posts:
Mint Melts: Teaching Kids to Cook With an Easy Cookie Recipe
Cookbook Review: The Cornbread Gospels
The Muffin Blogroll: 12 Great Muffin Recipes You'll Love to Bake


How can I support Casual Kitchen?
For those readers interested in supporting Casual Kitchen, the easiest way is to do so is to do all your shopping at Amazon.com via the links on this site. You can also link to me or subscribe to my RSS feed. Finally, consider sharing this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to Facebook, Twitter (follow me @danielckoontz!) or to bookmarking sites like reddit, digg or stumbleupon. I'm deeply grateful to my readers for their ongoing support.

The Muffin Blogroll: 12 Great Muffin Recipes You'll Love to Bake

Muffins are one of nature's perfect foods. They are addictively easy to make, so they are an excellent entry point into baking for novice cooks. And because muffin recipes are surprisingly flexible and can be made in endless variations, even the most experienced cooks never get bored with baking them.

And after the success of Casual Kitchen's Granola Blogroll and Apple Recipe Blogroll, both of which ran earlier this year, I decided to bring a little bit of order to the muffin universe by capturing for my readers some of the internet's most creative and interesting muffin recipes. As always, you can be assured that these recipes will be reasonably easy and will contain reasonably easy-to-find ingredients. You should find every one of them a pleasure to make in your own home.

Making this blogroll was an absolute blast. I hope you find it a helpful source of new ideas for your kitchen!
*****************************
1) Raspberry and Lime Muffins from Closet Cooking
Kevin adapts and simplifies a recipe from Elle's New England Kitchen (worth checking her site out too by the way). What's attractive about this recipe is the counterintuitive combination of lime juice and raspberries. This recipe has quite a few steps, but don't be intimidated--it's not that complicated. Glorious.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lime zest
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries
1/4 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1/2 cup icing sugar
3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl.
3. Beat in the eggs, vanilla extract and lime zest.
4. Mix in the milk.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients.
6. Gently fold in the raspberries.
7. Spoon the mixture in to a greased muffin pan.
8. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20-25 minutes.
9. Mix the lime juice and zest with the icing sugar and pour over the muffins.
10. Sprinkle the muffins with the sugar.
11. Broil the muffins until the sugar on top bubbles, about 2 minutes. Be careful and watch them to make sure that they do not burn.

2) Classic Bran Muffins from Allrecipes.com
Ah, the bran muffin. Delicious, easy to make, and full of healthy fiber. I've selected this particular recipe because it uses buttermilk rather than plain old milk. This variation gives the muffin a rich, buttery flavor, yet this added richness comes without too much of an increase in fat content. Also, feel free to consider the raisins optional.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.
2. Mix together wheat bran and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes.
3. Beat together oil, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to buttermilk/bran mixture. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Stir flour mixture into buttermilk mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins and spoon batter into prepared muffin tins.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool and enjoy!

3) Zucchini Basil Muffins from Nancy's Kitchen
Wow on this really unusual but delicious-sounding muffin recipe! You don't always have to have fruity-sweet muffins, you know. If you follow the link, look for the recipe about 2/3 of the way down the page.

2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
2/3 cup oil
2 c. flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. Salt
2 cup shredded zucchini
2 tbsp. minced basil
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Beat eggs in bowl. Stir in milk and oil. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix dry ingredients into egg mixture just until flour is moistened. Batter should not be completely smooth. Gently mix in zucchini and basil. Fill greased muffin caps about 3/4 full. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pan. makes 10-18 muffins depending on size of pan.

4) Lemonade Muffins from That's My Home
Talk about creative use of an everyday ingredient! Thanks to Mary Ellen of That's My Home for an absolutely amazing-sounding recipe. For a lower-budget variation, consider the walnuts optional. See also her Ginger Rhubarb muffins and her Strawberry Coconut muffins as well.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 beaten egg
6 ounce can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. In another bowl, mix only 1/2 cup of the lemonade mix, egg, milk, and oil. Add to dry mix, stirring until just moistened. Gently stir in (optional) nuts.

Spoon into greased muffin pans and bake and bake at 375° F. for 15-20 minutes or tests clean (CK note: what she means by this is if you stick a knife or a toothpick into the center of a muffin and it comes out clean, then the muffin is done). While hot, brush with remaining lemonade and sprinkle with white sugar.

Yield: 8-9 large muffins.

5) Triple Chocolate Muffins from Bed and Breakfast Inns Online
I'd like to extend a personal thank you to the Glynn House Inn Bed & Breakfast for somehow reading my mind and sharing this glorious recipe.

1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Powder
1/4 cup Dutch Cocoa
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Put flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa in a large bowl. Stir together making a well in the center. Beat butter, sugar and egg together well. Mix in milk and vanilla. Pour into the well and stir to moisten. Fold in the two types of chocolate chips. Do not over mix. Bake in 400 F oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to test the center of the muffin to ensure they are done.

Makes 6-8 Muffins

6) Simpson House Corn Blueberry Muffins from Bed and Breakfast Inns Online Simpson, eh? Here's an excellent and easy-to-make breakfast muffin that melds the infrequent combination of corn meal and blueberries. Thanks to the Simpson House Inn for this recipe, which they suggest pairing with huevos rancheros.

1 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 beaten egg
1 1/2 cups blueberries

Sift dry ingredients.
Add wet ingredients, stir slightly.
Fold in blueberries.
Bake in greased muffin tins at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.
Yields 12 muffins

7) Whole Wheat Apple Muffins from Smitten Kitchen
One can always count on Smitten Kitchen for quality recipes. This one really stood out because of the combination of fresh apples (don't worry, apple season will return soon enough), wheat flour, and a delectably crunchy brown sugar topping.

1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (8 ounces) buttermilk or yogurt
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Grease and flour an 18 cup muffin tin and set aside.

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and add the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar. Beat until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well; stop once to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.Mix in the buttermilk gently. (If you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle.) Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups, sprinkling the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar on top. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then turn them out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 18.

8) Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins from Food Art and Random Thoughts
Anyone who's made banana bread will love this classic recipe. The chocolate chips add immeasurably to the pleasure.

Ingredients:
100 grams (3 1/2 oz) butter, melted
2-3 ripe bananas (you need approx 1 cup)
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:
In a large bowl mix together melted butter, mashed banana, vanilla essence and milk
In another bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar and chocolate chips
Tip the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just combined
Do not overmix or else you will end up with tough, peak topped muffins
Spoon into prepared muffin pan
Bake in a preheated 220 C/430 F oven for 10-12 minutes
Leave in muffin pan for 5 minutes before turning out to cool on a wire rack

Makes 12 muffins

9) Mocha Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins from Allrecipes:
And if bananas and chocolate aren't enough, how about adding a delicious coffee essence? Truly delicious, and an easy recipe too.

Ingredients:
1 cup margarine
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 egg
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules, dissolved in
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Blend butter or margarine, sugar, egg, banana, dissolved coffee, and vanilla in food processor for 2 minutes. Add flour, salt, baking powder, and soda, and blend just until flour disappears. Add chocolate chips and mix in with wooden spoon. Spoon mixture into 15 to 18 paper-lined muffin cups.
3. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

10) Orange Oatmeal Muffins from Allrecipes
This recipe features inexpensive oats as the base and hints of orange flavor as the, uh, treble. An excellent example of combining everyday ingredients in a highly creative way.

Ingredients:
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease or paper-line muffin pans.
2. In a small bowl soak oats in orange juice and water for 15 minutes.
3. In a large bowl cream together butter or margarine and sugars. Beat in eggs and oat mixture.
4. In a separate bowl, blend flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and nutmeg. Stir into batter. Stir in vanilla and raisins. Spoon batter into prepared muffin pans, filling 2/3 full.
5. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

11) Cranberry Zinger Muffins from CheapHealthyGood
Not only will you enjoy this easy, zesty and laughably cheap muffin recipe (only 34c per muffin!), but you'll also enjoy the hilarity of a post structured in the form of an SAT exam. The math section could have only been written by an English lit major.

Ingredients:
2 c flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 large egg
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1/2 t grated fresh ginger
Rind of one lemon grated
Rind of one orange, grated
3/4 c citrus juice (combined juice of 2 lemons and 2 oranges)
1 1/4 c fresh or frozen cranberries
2 T sugar

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 400. Coat a 12-muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Whisk together the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside. Using a hand mixer or pastry cutter, cream the sugar and butter until smooth, mix in the egg. Add the orange juice and ginger, lemon, and orange peel and stir to combine. Mix the flour and cranberries into the batter just until combined. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan. Sprinkle each with sugar.

2) Bake for 15 to 20 minutes our until the muffins are lightly browned, puff up, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the tin set on a wire rack for about 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the tin and eat them warm or let them cool completely on wire rack.

Makes 12 muffins.

12) Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Muffins from Jugalbandi
I saved the most unusual--and the most compelling--recipe for last. These muffins are savory, not sweet, and they sound absolutely amazing.

Ingredients:
1 cup green onions, chopped (both green and white parts)
4 egg whites (or 2 whole eggs - half cup)
3/4 to 1 cup milk
2 cups wholewheat pastry flour (or all purpose flour)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp. dry crumbled oregano
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1.5 cups skinned and chopped roasted red peppers (canned okay)
7 oz. goat cheese, in little bits
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp ajwain (bishop’s weed) or cumin seeds
1/4 tsp cayenne powder or red pepper flakes
lots of freshly cracked black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Grease a muffin tray or add paper liners.
2. In 2 tbsp. of the oil, add the ajwain/cumin, stir for a couple seconds, add the garlic and onions (white part) and cook for 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Let cool. (Pour cold milk over them. Start with 1/2 cup milk)
4. Beat eggs until foamy; blend in remaining oil, milk and onions. Add the chopped onion greens.
5. Add flour, baking powder, oregano, salt, black pepper and cayenne/pepper flakes. Mix gently until there are no floury lumps.
6. Stir in chopped roasted red peppers and cheese. Add more milk if you need to. Check the salt and other seasonings.
7. Spoon into 12 greased muffin tins. If you have one empty spot, fill it halfway with water.
8. Bake 20 to 22 minutes. Test the muffin in the middle with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it’s done. Let the muffins cool for 10 minutes on a rack.

Makes 12 medium muffins.

***************************
Let me conclude today's post with three pieces of advice on muffin-making:

1) Two important rules on using fruit in muffins: 1) If you are using frozen fruits or berries, don't put them directly into the batter, or you'll have cold spots in each muffin where the batter will be undercooked. Instead, thaw them and let them get to room temperature before adding them to the batter. 2) With either fresh or frozen-but-thawed fruits or berries, be sure to fold the batter very gently so the fruit doesn't get too badly beaten up.

2) On overworking muffin batter: for most muffin recipes, you do not want to use an electric mixer except for combining the liquid ingredients. When it comes time to combine the dry and liquid ingredients, gently stir everything together with a rubber scraper (many recipes even specify that your batter should still be lumpy). This way you won't overwork the batter, which will make your muffins come out with a tough texture.

3) Equipment: another advantage to muffin recipes is the de minimus cost for equipment. If you've already set up even a basic kitchen, you will already have basic tools like mixing bowls, measuring spoons and an electric mixer. Thus all you will really need to purchase is a trusty muffin pan and perhaps some optional paper muffin cups. I inherited a castoff aluminum muffin pan from my mother's kitchen that's still going strong after some 40 years of use, so you certainly don't need to spend big money for a muffin pan. Something like this Farberware 12 cup muffin pan (available on Amazon for a measly $10) will suffice.



Related Posts:
How to Tell if a Recipe is Worth Cooking With Five Easy Questions
An Easy Granola Recipe
The Favorite Cookbooks of My Favorite Bloggers
Blueberry Coffee Cake: Nostalgia Foods

How can I support Casual Kitchen?
If you enjoy reading Casual Kitchen, tell a friend and spread the word! You can also support me by linking to me, subscribing to my RSS feed, or submitting this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg or stumbleupon.

A List of Corn Bread Recipe Modifications

In our continuing efforts to help Casual Kitchen's readers increase their powers in the kitchen, I'd like return to the concept of recipe modification and share a list of possible modifications to our cornbread recipe from the other day.

One of the most useful skills a cook can have is the ability to confidently modify a recipe. It enables you to improve recipes, change them to your liking, or if necessary, adjust them to match the ingredients you already have in your pantry. We've covered many of the concepts and rules behind modifying recipes in a three part series some time ago. If you're interested in more detail on this subject, please have a look.

When you make modifications to a recipe, there are elements of both art and science involved. That's why this discipline is, at least in my opinion, one of cooking's most unique skills. And cornbread is a simple and basic food that makes for a perfect blank slate for interesting modifications.

One reminder: whenever you make modifications to baked foods, there are certain relationships that you need to keep constant. The ratio of of dry ingredients to liquid ingredients, and the ratio of leavening agents to everything else, must be kept roughly the same. You can't arbitrarily add an extra egg to this recipe, or add more milk or butter, unless you increase the other ingredients proportionally. Just be mindful of this rule when you try baking modifications of you own.

That said, let's share a list of potential modifications that could really add some pizazz to what is ordinarily a simple and basic dish. Which of these sound most interesting to you?

1) Add a teaspoon (or more!) of cayenne pepper to the batter for a slight spicy kick.
2) Add finely minced jalapeño peppers (perhaps two tablespoons, more or less).
3) Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup of whole corn kernels to the batter.
4) Add a small amount (perhaps 1/4 cup) of other fruits to the batter, such as blueberries, strawberries, finely chopped apple pieces, dried fruits, etc.
5) Use wheat flour (we've tried this modification and suggest replacing half of the white flour with wheat flour, and then adding an extra 1/4 cup of milk to the batter to keep the batter texture consistant).
6) Add extra sugar to the batter for a sweeter cornbread (5-6 tablespoons rather than 4).
7) Add both extra sugar and minced jalapenos for a spicy/sweet cornbread (it may sound like a strange taste combination, but it really works)
8) Add a 1/2 cup of grated cheddar, or other mild cheese, to the batter.
9) Add 1/2 to 1 teaspoon cinnamon to the batter.

Obviously this is far from an exhaustive list--what are possible modifications that I haven't mentioned that you'd like to try?

Related Posts:
How to Use Leftover Ingredients
Seven Ways to Jazz Up Your Morning Eggs
Brazen Recipe Modification: How to Turn a Bad Recipe Into a Good One -- Lime and Chipotle Shrimp
The Granola Blogroll: The Ultimate Authority on Great Granola Recipes

How can I support Casual Kitchen?
If you enjoy reading Casual Kitchen, tell a friend and spread the word! You can also support me by subscribing to my RSS feed, or submitting this article, or any other article you particularly enjoyed here, to bookmarking sites like del.icio.us, digg or stumbleupon.

How to Make the Best Cornbread. Ever.

Corn bread.

It might be the easiest of all bread recipes. It's an unintimidating starting point for beginners who want to learn the pleasures of baking. And it combines simple, honest ingredients into a deliciously textured, not-too-sweet bread. Cornbread is almost like dessert, but with little sugar and even less guilt.

I've been making corn bread for years and have always liked it, but I'd never found a recipe that really knocked my socks off. Until now. I believe I've now found the perfect cornbread recipe, buried in a cookbook we've had on our shelves for more than ten years. A cookbook that I just hadn't properly exploited before.

And to any of my readers new to baking, this is an ideal recipe to get your feet wet. You might have a few startup costs for some baking or mixing tools, but because this recipe is so easy and so delicious, it is an extremely encouraging way for a novice chef to get started down the road towards baking other foods.

I guarantee that this cornbread will be a home run in your home.

*************************
Corn Bread
(very slightly adapted from The Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas)
PS: be sure to take a look at this follow-up post with several cornbread modification ideas!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups white flour
3/4 cup whole grain corn meal (can use regular degerminated corn meal--see note 1 below)
4 Tablespoons sugar
5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg
1 cup milk
2 Tablespoons melted butter

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375F.
2) Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl.
3) Beat the egg with the milk and add to the dry ingredients. Quickly add the melted butter and stir with a rubber scraper until ingredients are combined well.
4) Spread the batter into a buttered 9-inch pie dish.
5) Bake in oven for 30-35 minutes, or until it is lightly browned around the edges, or until a fork stuck into the center of the pan comes out clean. Serve hot.

Serves 4-6.************************
Five brief recipe notes:

1) A note on types of corn meal: This dish will come out well if you use regular corn meal, but it will have an even better texture if you use whole grain corn meal. If you can find Indian Head Old Fashioned Stone Ground Yellow Corn Meal in your store (see the photo to the right), get it--it's a steal at about $1.59 for a two-pound bag. In contrast, regular corn meal (Quaker is a typical brand), is both degerminated and is more finely and uniformly milled. Here's an instance where the "finer" product just isn't quite as good.

2) Try making this corn bread in a buttered pie dish rather than a more traditional square baking pan. A wider, flatter pie pan exposes more surface area of the batter to heat, so the cornbread cooks more evenly throughout. It was also quite easy to cut and scoop out pieces, and cleanup was a snap.

3) Laughable cheapness alert: This entire batch of cornbread can be made for well under $1.00. To put this in context, I used to pay $1.79 each day for a mediocre cornmeal muffin on the way into work--more than it cost me to buy an entire two-pound bag of corn meal. Yet again more evidence that you can cook food at home that is not only less expensive, but often much higher quality, than anything you can find in stores or restaurants.

4) A note to beginning bakers on start-up costs: To make this recipe, you'll need to add some tools to your kitchen: an inexpensive flour sifter, some inexpensive mixing bowls, measuring cups and measuring spoons, an electric mixer, and obviously, a pie pan. I'd guesstimate that you can get good-quality examples of all these items at a discount department store for around $50. That might seem like a lot, but keep in mind that this is a one-time expense that's well less than the cost of a nice dinner out for two. Also, all of these items will last for years--even decades! Heck, I'm still using an electric hand mixer that I bought for $19 back in 1991.

If you'd like some more ideas on how to save money on kitchen items like these, feel free to take a look at a post I wrote on managing kitchen setup costs.

5) Finally, a question for my readers: What do you like to put on your cornbread? Butter? Maple syrup? Strawberry jam? Let me know in the comments!

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Be sure to take a look at our follow-up post with several modifications to try with this basic cornbread recipe!

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Eight Tips to Make Cooking At Home Laughably Cheap
More Applications of the 80/20 Rule to Diet, Food and Cooking

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