A Cooks Best Friend

You have stocked your kitchen with quality Kaiser Bakeware now you find yourself with an abundance of cookies, muffins, left over cake and a pie coming out of the oven. How do you store all these various baked goods. Well get all that new bakeware cleaned up and let’s find out.

I discovered this great article from

Great American Home Baking

Although there is nothing like freshly baked breads, cakes and cookies, knowing how to store them properly is essential.

Storing in Tins

Airtight tins are great for storing breads, cakes and soft cookies for up to three days. After this moisture starts to evaporate and baked goods become stale and hard. To keep cookies and cakes fresher for longer, wrap tins tightly in plastic wrap.

Soft or chewy cookies will keep moist longer if they are stored with a slice of apple in the tin. Replace the apple daily.

To keep crisp cookies crisp, arrange them in layers in the tin with foil or waxed paper between them. Do not use paper towels, as these absorb fat and begin to turn rancid very quickly.

It’s better not to store different types of cookies in the same tin, as they absorb each other’s flavors.

Storing in Plastic Containers

Plastic containers tend to absorb odors and are not the best choice for storing baked goods at room temperature. However, baked goods wrapped in foil will store well in plastic containers for some time. Plastic containers are excellent for freezer storage.

Freezing

In many cases, freezing is the best form of storage. To achieve the best results, baked goods must be properly wrapped. Use a good packing material, such as heavy duty freezer wrap or foil. Wraps should be nonporous so that air, moisture and odors cannot seep into the baked goods. If moisture passes through the packing material, ice crystals will form on the baked goods, altering their texture. If goods are loosely wrapped, oxygen will seep in and affect the flavor. Press air out of freezer bags or plastic wrap, forcing the plastic to cling tightly around the baked goods. If using a plastic bag, use a straw to withdraw the air from the bag.

Before wrapping, cool baked goods completely. Cut bread and cake into serving slices, so that you remove only the portion you intend to use. For fastest freezing, make small packages. Set the freezer at the lowest temperature, so as not to overload it.

Tip: For iced cakes, freeze unwrapped until icing is frozen, then wrap and store.

Defrosting

For best results, defrost breads, cakes and cookies at room temperature in their packages. Fast defrosting can be done in the microwave; follow the manufacturer’s instructions, as the time varies with the size and density of baked goods. After defrosting in the microwave, let baked goods stand for a few minutes to evenly distribute the heat.

Breads and cakes can also be wrapped in foil and defrosted in the oven at 300F. After defrosting in the microwave or the oven, serve breads and cakes as soon as possible.

Defrost individual cookies at room temperature. Defrost iced cakes, tarts and pastries in their packages, either at room temperature or slowly in the refrigerator.

Breads and Coffee Cakes

Keep breads and coffee cakes at room temperature; do not refrigerate. Breads and coffee cakes also freeze well for up to three months, depending on their fat content. The less fat a baked item contains, the longer it will keep in the freezer. Loaves of bread, soft cakes and coffee cakes can all be frozen whole or sliced. If sliced, store them in tins and place waxed paper between the layers before freezing.

Cookies and Meringues

Keep soft or chewy cookies in airtight containers to prevent the fat from turning rancid. If refrigerated, bring cookies to room temperature before eating. Store bar cookies at room temperature in their baking pans, covered with foil.

Keep crisp butter cookies in airtight tins in a cool place, or refrigerate for a few weeks. Crisp cookies and meringues keep for several weeks if stored in airtight tins in a dry place.

Freeze butter cookies for longer storage. To freeze small sturdy cookies, place them in heavy duty plastic bags. Carefully pack fragile cookies with foil or waxed paper between each layer in tins or plastic containers before freezing. Freeze crisp cookies for up to four months. Unfilled meringue shells can be frozen and will keep for up to three months.

Pastries, Tarts and Frosted Cakes

These can be refrigerated for two days if they are well wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. Frozen pastries will keep for up to three months. Serve them quickly after defrosting.

To freeze unfilled baked or unbaked tart shells, wrap them separately in plastic wrap to avoid sticking. Filled tarts can be frozen in tins with foil or waxed paper between the layers and then wrapped with plastic wrap. Cream or custard tarts should be filled after they have been defrosted to prevent filling from becoming grainy. Fresh berry and jelly tarts should be filled after defrosting to prevent them from becoming watery.

Frosted cakes can be frozen for up to three months if well wrapped in foil and plastic wrap. To freeze a frosted cake without damaging the frosting, place the cake on a plate and freeze without wrapping. When the frosting is firm, wrap the cake well and return it to the freezer.

Muffins are one of the all time favorite desserts. They are easy to make and with a quality muffin pan you will achieve results that you can be proud of. No need to worry about dividing a cake evenly among your guests, with a muffin pan it’s already done for you.

Choosing a good muffin pan like the Kaiser Bakeware Classic muffin pan is a step in right direction. This muffin pan features high-quality steel that provides even and gentle heat distribution for consistent browning and baking. The nonstick coating will allow for easy release of your muffins and easy cleaning of your muffin pan. The black exterior will absorb heat and provide excellent heat distribution for even browning and shorter baking time.

So if a muffin pan is in your future, you should consider a Kaiser Bakeware Classic muffin pan. Happy baking!

Try This Delightful Recipe:

Berry Filled Muffins
A blueberry center is the buried secret of these lemon-flavored muffins

20 minutes preparation
18-20 minutes baking
Makes 12 muffins

Muffins

¼ cup (1/2 stick) butter, softened
½ cup granulated sugar, divided
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
1 cup buttermilk

Filling

1 cup fresh or frozen, thawed blueberries

1. Preheat oven 350F. Grease 12 standard size muffin pans cups or line with paper liners.

2. To prepare muffins, in a large bowl, using a wooden spoon or an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat together butter and all but 2 tablespoons sugar, until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat well.

3. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Using a wooden spoon, stir the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Fold in the lemon zest. Gradually stir in the buttermilk until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Do not over mix.

5. Spoon batter into prepared cups, filling two-thirds full. Toss blueberries with remaining sugar; spoon a heaping tablespoon into the center of each muffin.

6. Bake until golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool slightly. Turn muffins out onto rack. Serve warm.

Great American Home Baking

Baking Tips

For a change of flavor, use fresh or frozen thawed raspberries or strawberries to fill these muffins.

Bakeware are manufactured with a variety of materials. How do you decide on what best suits your baking needs? Well, I hope this article will go a long way in helping you to decide what’s best for you in bakeware.

Let’s start with stainless steel bakeware. By itself, stainless steel is not a good conductor of heat and will not promote even cooking or browning. However, stainless steel is strong, reliable, easy to clean and it looks great. What you will find is that stainless steel bakeware is manufactured with a layer of aluminum or copper between the stainless steel, making it a much better conductor of heat and your baked goods will brown evenly. You could say you will end up with the best of both worlds - strong, reliable, easy to clean and great results.

Aluminum bakeware is an excellent conductor of heat; it’s also versatile, durable and easy to clean. Aluminum is low maintenance and will produce great baking results every time. It heats evenly and brown evenly for the baking results you require.

Bakeware designed with tin are popular, as they are a good conductor of heat, heating slowly and evenly. The flip side to tin bakeware is that they will rust, so they require extra attention to prevent rust from forming. If you are willing to give your tinned bakeware that extra bit of care, you will be rewarded with excellent baked goods.

Silicone bakeware is flexible, versatile and will last a long time. You can use them in the oven or the microwave. They are dishwasher safe, freezer safe and will go from freezer to oven without concern. I would say that Silicone bakeware are on the same standing as aluminum bakeware, as they conduct heat very well and brown evenly.

Glass bakeware is also well represented in bakeware. Glass bakeware has the versatility of going from the refrigerator or freezer to a microwave or preheated oven and then to the table. Glass also gives you the ability to watch the baking process. It won’t stain easily, there fore it will remain attractive and will last you a long time.

In conclusion, look for bakeware manufactured with heavier gauge metal to prevent warping and will stand the test of time. A good example is the Kaiser Bakeware La Forme Perfect bakeware that features two-layer nonstick heavy-gauge steel construction, plus a silicone lined interior. I hope this will help shed a bit of light on your next bakeware purchase.

I would venture to say that most of us have a weakness for baked goods. However, most of us have forgotten or not experienced the taste of freshly baked goods, since we insist and only for convenience, on buying baked goods from our local supermarkets.

We tend to assume that baking or using bakeware at home is a complicated process. Admittedly, there are some recipes that require some special attention and lots of time, but your average everyday desserts such as apple pies, pecan pies, chocolate or vanilla cakes are easy to make at home. You just have to try it a few times and before you know it you will be making desserts right at home. You’ll never visit the supermarket again for pies or cakes; well, just read what’s in them!

You can easily stock your kitchen with the basic bakeware needed to bake pies, cakes, cookies and much more. Here is a list of bakeware that will get you baking just about anything you desire.

1) 8 x 4 x 2 inch loaf pan

2) 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan

3) 8 x 8 x 2 inch square baking pan

4) 9 x 9 x 2 inch square baking pan

5) 15 x 10 x 1 inch jelly roll pan

6) 9 x 2 inch round cake pan

7) 12 x 13 cookie sheet

8) 9 x 1 ½ inch pie plate

9) 12 cup muffin pan

10) Pizza pan

11) 12 x 18 cooling rack

12) Rolling pin

13) 10 inch tube pan

14) Rubber Spatulas

15) Blending Spoons

16) Steel Icing Spatula

17) 2 Qt., 4 Qt., 6 Qt., 8 Qt mixing bowls

18) Measuring cups

19) Measuring spoons

There is no need to stock your kitchen with all this bakeware all at once. When you decide to make a cake or a pie, simply go and get what you need before you get started. With your loaf pans, you can bake quick breads; for example banana bread. You won’t believe how easily you can bake delicious banana bread.

The square cake pans are great for brownies and squares. We all love brownies and here is another treat that’s a snap to make from scratch. You have got to try it. Once you have, you’ll be hooked for life!

With your new bakeware, it won’t be long before you are baking jelly rolls, cakes, pies and so much more. As you get comfortable with your baking you can start adding more bakeware, like springform pans - with removable bottoms for easy release and decorating - it works great when baking cheese cakes. Now you can start to really test your skills and add ramekins to your bakeware collection and start baking custards and soufflés.

Bundt cake pans will give your cakes style, while pizza stones for authentic pizza taste. So why not bring out your inner chef. It’s not only fun and relaxing, but it’s delicious too.

Be on the look out for our next discussion on the different type of materials that make up the various kinds of bakeware.

I recently made a surprising discovery. My wife is not a fan of baked cheese cakes – well I never met a cheese cake I didn’t like! I decided to try and find out why she did not like baked cheese cakes. Her response was that they were too dense and overpowering in taste. Her only experience with cheese cakes was from a box.

With my bakeware in hand, I decided to make her a home made cheese cake. Needless to say, her opinion of cheese cakes has now changed. She loves cheese cakes. There is really nothing like home made cheese cakes. Here is a great cheese cake recipe I found at My Cheesecake Recipes.com.

FYI: 150 Celsius = 300 Fahrenheit

Apricot Swirl Cheesecake

Ingredients

Crumb Crust:
185g shortbread biscuits
60g butterFilling
750g cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 eggs, separated
1/2 cup plain flour, sifted
1 cup cream
1 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla essence
Apricot Puree
60g dried apricots
1/2 cup sugar
1 tblsp rum
1 1/4 cups warm water
Note: if you don’t want to make the puree this way, you can use a can of Apricot Nectar instead.

Crust
Crush biscuits using the end of a rolling pin or in a food processor if you have one. Combine biscuit crumbs and melted butter in a bowl. Press mixture into the base of a 23cm springform cake tin. Refrigerate until set.

Apricot Puree (the long way)
Soak apricots in warm water for an hour. Put soaked apricots into a saucepan and add sugar. Simmer over very low heat until tender. This will take approx half an hour. Beat well with a whisk or process very gently in a food processor. Cool the mixture, add the rum and stir until smooth.

Filling
Beat cream cheese and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks until just blended. Add flour, lemon rind and juice, and vanilla and stir. Beat egg whites until stiff and they form soft peaks, whip cream until stiff. Fold egg white and then cream into cream cheese mix. Spoon a third of the mixture over crumb crust (don’t play with it too much otherwise you will end up with biscuit crumbs through the cheese mixture). Using half of the apricot nectar, drizzle it across the cheese mixture from left to right. Don’t cover it all over. Gently pour another third of the cheese mixture over and repeat the apricot puree layer. Top with the remaining cheese mixture. With a sharp pointed knife, gently cut through the mixture to swirl the puree. Again, don’t play with it. Do it and leave it alone. Stand the cake tin on an oven tray. Bake at 150 degrees Celsius for one hour. Turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake for a further hour in the oven. Refrigerate once the cheesecake is cool.

La Forme springform pans, invented by the world’s largest manufacturer, Kaiser Bakeware are made from a steel base metal for even heat distribution and browning. The La Forme springform pans are manufactured to the highest standards in Germany for over 85 years. The latest addition to the La Forme line is the La Forme Perfect, that features two-layer nonstick heavy-gauge steel construction, plus a silicone lined interior. What you end up with is the benefit of silicone bakeware and the strength of steel.

The La Forme pans are available with one of two nonstick surfaces, depending on what it will be used for. Selected pans are made with a cut and acid resistant Magnum coating, allowing you to cut your baked goods in the pan. The cut-resistant and the nonstick interiors will make for easy cleaning, which is a real plus.

Due to the fact that ovens vary in temperature, you will need your bakeware to be able to retain heat, but at the same time not burn your bake goods before the baking time is expired. With La Forme bakeware, your cakes and breads will bake uniformly and your cookies will brown evenly and maintain their shape. The La Forme springfrom pan also features a leak proof bottom, that eliminates messy spills and the springform buckle is guaranteed for life.

Make La Forme your choice in springform pans and for all your baking needs.