Creating Successful Sweets
For those of us with a weakness for sweets, there's nothing in the world quite like the taste of a perfectly baked cookie or the consistency of an expertly crafted piecrust. If you're one of the millions of Americans whose taste buds crave sugary delights like cakes, candies and tarts, you'll be glad to know that cooking and baking these great desserts is easier than you might think, as long as you know the secret tricks of the trade.
Ohio native Pamela Sturkey is an award-winning pastry chef and part owner of three restaurants in the Cincinnati area, Sturkey's and two Encore Café locations. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, Sturkey was Rising New Pastry Chef for Chocolates a la Carte in 2000. Here she offers some expert tips for making incredible sweet treats:
- Be careful with cookie dough.
In Sturkey's experience, making cookies can be very delicate process. Make sure that the butter is soft, but not too soft. If it's too soft, your cookies will go very flat in the oven. Be careful not to mix the dough too much, or the result will be a tough, flat cookie.
- Crack eggs cold.
Always crack eggs when they're cold. If you try to crack them when they're warm, the softness might cause the yolk to split.
- Bake pies at a high temperature.
A lot of people have trouble when they bake fruit pies because it is a wet mixture, and the bottom may not get fully baked. This is often the result of setting the oven at a temperature that's too low. To ensure that the bottom is done at the same time as the rest of the pie, Sturkey recommends a temperature of 375 to 385 degrees.
- Use a hot knife for cake cutting.
When cutting a cake remember to use a hot, wet knife. Then dry it, slice it down, and repeat these steps between each slice. This way, you won't get little crumbs on each piece, and the servings will look very professional.
For more information about desserts, baking, and fine cooking, check out the following website:
Sturkey's Restaurant
www.sturkeys.com
| 
){kind=logo}
