Posts Tagged ‘flour’

Our TKW Family has grown exponentially these past few months and I couldn’t be more proud and happy! Really, I wish you all could see the smile on my face and the tears in my eyes to see our Facebook wall turn 2000+ family members and even more website subscribers!

As a way to say ‘Thank You’ for believing in me and my dream The Kitchen Whisperer and our friends at King Arthur Flour ( I so ♥  King Arthur Flour!!!) are giving away this incredible gift set!

We’re calling it the Baker’s Essential Set!

For as long as I can remember, stemming back to my grandmother’s kitchen, King Arthur Flour has always been present.  They were part of the family and honestly the only flours and products I trust when it comes to what I put in my baked goods.

When I first put The Kitchen Whisperer on Facebook, King Arthur Flour was one of the first pages that I liked.  I’ve built up such a great rapport with the folks that work there that they, too, are like family!  I’ve never dealt with a company that has been more helpful, kind and just genuine than them.  They set the bar for customer service and outstanding ethics.

I keep saying that one day when I make my trip up to their Bakedom up in Vermont that I just may not leave.  They are forewarned that myself and Mr. Fantabulous are moving in   I’ll work in the bakery and he can lift the heavy stuff

So I know you’re anxiously waiting… what’s up for grabs???

Oh you people are sooooooooooo going to love this!!!

LOOK AT ALL THAT STUFF!!!  This Baker’s Essential Set comes loaded with the following:

♥ Coupon for a 5lb bag of flour for FREE (we love free coupons!!!)
♥ Package of All-Purpose Baking Cocoa (seriously this is best cocoa out there!)
♥ Package of Sticky Bun Sugar (if you love sticky buns but aren’t sure how they get that killer sticky sauce on ‘em.. this is the secret!)
♥ Package of Lemon Bits (these are amazing in scones, cookies, cakes)
♥ Package of Blueberry Jammy Bits (I’m in love with these things!!!)
♥ Package of Raspberry Jammy Bits (These in granola and cookies are FABULOUS!!)
♥ Bottle of Madagascar Vanilla Extract (I swear by this stuff!)
♥ and one of the BEST All-Purpose Baking books out there!  The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion is one of my all-time FAVORITE books ever!

Pretty wicked, right?! Wanna know how to win this amazing Baker’s Essential Set?  Well listen up because it’s super simple and the best part, it’s FREE!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment on this post telling us: “If you won this Baker’s Essential Set, what’s the first thing you would bake with the ingredients?”

Bonus Entries

1. Join The Kitchen Whisperer  on Facebook. Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
2. Subscribe to The Kitchen Whisperer via email (upper right corner of the website). Leave a separate comment letting us know you subscribed via email.
3. Join King Arthur Flour on Facebook.  Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
4. Follow The Kitchen Whisperer on Twitter.  Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
   
5. Follow The Kitchen Whisperer on Pinterest.  Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
6. Subscribe to the King Arthur Flour’s Newsletter. Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
7. Follow King Arthur Flour on Twitter.  Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.
   
8. Follow King Arthur Flour on Pinterest.  Leave a separate comment letting us know you did so.

That’s 9 chances to win!!!  Holy cow!!!

9 chances to win this Baker’s Essential Set!!!  That’s amazing!!!

The giveaway is open until Friday, August 31, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST. The giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. When commenting, be sure to include a valid email address however do not post your email in your comment. 1 winner will be chosen randomly and announced on this post. We will email the winner and if the winner doesn’t respond in 48 hours, a new winner will be chosen. Good luck!

Disclosure: This giveaway is provided by The Kitchen Whisperer, LLC and King Arthur Flour, but our opinions are our own.

**********UPDATE: CONTEST HAS ENDED*******

The winners have been contacted.

Yep that time of year is upon us and I’m afraid to tell you this but… it’s rapidly approaching.  While I can’t help you much on present suggestions (well not unless they are for me – I like diamonds, pigs, kitchen gadgets and All-Clad) what I can help you out on are some tried and true tips to help you survive the holiday baking season.

Go through your cookbooks, recipe boxes, magazine papers you “borrowed” from your dr’s office (c’mon admin it, you’ve done it – we all have at least once or ten times in our lives. Shhh I won’t tell) and make a list of your top 10 items you want to bake.  Yes 10; if you plan ahead you can make at least 10 different types which would look amazing on any cookie tray!  You don’t have to make a bajillion of each; just a few dozen really.  Enough for you, your family and guests.  Okay.. maybe a few more for you.  After all YOU baked ‘em, you should be able to enjoy them!

Ingredients…

Go through your recipes and write down what all you need:

• Flour – typically most cookies call for All Purpose Flour.  If a recipe calls for Self-Rising flour and you only have All Purpose, don’t panic.  The only real difference between the two is Self Rising already has the leavening and salt in it.  To make All Purpose flour into Self Rising, simply follow this rule of thumb.  1 cup of Self Rising flour = 1 cup of All Purpose flour plus 1 tsp of baking soda and 1/4 tsp salt.  See now, that wasn’t too bad!
• Sugar (white and brown) – very few cookies I make call for dark brown sugar but it doesn’t hurt to keep a box of it on hand (and tightly sealed!)
• GOOD VANILLA not that imitation vanilla flavor crap either!  I’m serious here people. I will come to your kitchen and take away your rolling pin if I find out that you bought it.  You want honest-to-goodness REAL vanilla.  Yes it’s pricey but you only use a little bit of it and it lasts.  You wouldn’t exactly use imitation cow when eating a steak would you?  Yeah, I think not
• Unsalted butter – no margarine or tub stuff.  The oil content in that is too high and your cookies will have a higher tendency to burn.
• Eggs – use Large, not extra large (unless your recipe calls specifically for extra large). Also, make sure they are fresh.  No, not from a chicken’s booty fresh, but not outdated.
• Baking Soda & Baking Powder – Please, please please check the expiration dates on these.  Prior to starting The Kitchen Whisperer I would replace both of these every year at Christmas time.  Even though they may be kept in a covered container, the ingredients will lose their potency and your cookies will not rise properly.
• Cream Cheese, fillings (preserves, icings, etc for thumbprints, pastries and so forth)
• Nuts – Look in your cabinets right now; I’ll wait.  No.. seriously, go look.  If you are storing nuts in anything other than the freezer or fridge, I would strongly urge you to not eat them.  Why?  Nuts contain fat and fat, over a period of time can go rancid.
• Decorations – Sprinkles (jimmies if you’re from Pittsburgh), dusting sugars, nonpareils, icings, food colorings, kisses and candy for cookies
• Chocolate – Chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips (I’m so in love with these right now), chocolate for melting – drizzles and dippings
• Parchment Paper – I will not bake one piece of bread, dough or cookie without it!  It is a Godsend to any baker!
• Containers – You’re gonna need somewhere to house all of your hard work.  Make sure they are air tight.  If they aren’t and you want to use it anyway, wrap the container with plastic wrap. As Mr. Fantabulous would say “Cocoon it!”
• Baking pans/sheets, bowls, spatulas and cooling racks – make sure you have at least 2 cookie sheets.  I like 3 only because it gives the one that I just took out of the oven more time to cool while I’m placing cookies on one and the last one is in the oven.
• Spices – no, I’m not talking about chili powder (which actually goes really well with chocolate) but the other spices – Cream of Tartar for Snickerdoodles, Ginger, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, all spice

Prep Work

I’ve been getting a ton of questions about “Hey, I want to get started early on my Christmas baking.  Can I bake the stuff now and freeze it?”  My response is “Sure you can but…”  What’s the “but???”  Cookies never quite taste the same after they are fully baked and then frozen/thawed.  Again, even before I started TKW, I always made all of my dough (at least all of the dough that could be pre-made), shaped the cookies, flash froze them and then packaged them up with the temperature and time they take to bake them written on the package. Then the week of Christmas when we all have 9000 parties to attend, I would take out enough of each cookie I wanted to bake and pop them straight into the oven, frozen and all.  You end up with a fresh, thick awesome cookie.  Now granted, don’t make the dough 6 months in advance but 3 months in advance is good.  Right now, with Christmas being less then a month away  your cookies will be good to go.

You figure each dough takes about 15-30  minutes to prep.  Make it, shape it/scoop it and then place on a parchment paper lined sheet. Pop the pan in the freezer and in about 30 minutes to an hour, take the pan out and put the partially frozen cookies into a freezer baggie.  Label it and put them back into the freezer.  In one night, you could easily knock out 3-4 doughs.  So in 3 days you could easily make those 10 types of cookies you have on your wish list.

Baking Days

When you’re ready to start baking, look at your recipes and start off with those cookies that cook at the lowest temperature.  It’s easier to start off with a cooler oven and gradually increase the heat per each cookie than the other way.  You have more control over the heat.  If the cookies that you’re baking require decorations (kisses for Peanut Butter Blossoms), sprinkles, colored sugars – have that stuff all ready prepped/unwrapped BEFORE you start baking.

Set up a cooling rack station and a decorating station.  Have a helper if you want.  Turn on some holidays tunes, light a few candles and get into the festive spirit.

Keep in mind that frozen cookies will take a tad longer than fresh-from-the-bowl cookies. So if your chocolate chip cookies take 9-11 minutes normally at 375,  straight from the freezer will take 2-3 minutes longer.

Yep that time of year is upon us and I’m afraid to tell you this but… it’s rapidly approaching.  While I can’t help you much on present suggestions (well not unless they are for me – I like diamonds, pigs, kitchen gadgets and All-Clad) what I can help you out on are some tried and true tips to help you survive the holiday baking season.