Kitchen Hacking

[ase]

How do you get tea stains off your cups? I dumped my favorite cup in the sink with pork marinade, and I can't tell if the soap, vinegar, oil, spices, or alchemical combination did a number on the stains.

The last time I made my favorite butterscotch walnut cookies, they came out flatter than pancakes. Adding twice as much flour as usual soaked up the grease, but messed with the flavor. I blame that evening's pouring rain, and also the brown sugar, and possibly the butter. The batch before that - made with margarine - turned out fantastic. Obviously, I need to set up a controlled experiment. Yum, cookie experiment! For reference:

Butterscotch Walnut Cookies (from the 1974 Joy of Cooking)

1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup + 1 tsbp flour (vile lies; I always use at least a cup)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 to 1 cup crushed walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 (give or take +25 degrees). Melt butter in a saucepan. Stir brown sugar into it until dissolved. Cool slightly, then beat in well egg and vanilla. Sift and measure flour, then resift with baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture. Add walnuts. Drop well apart on greased cookie sheet (I use parchment paper instead) and bake for six 10-12 minutes.

Having navigated Christmas dinner, I'm getting ambitious: since it's dough and assorted toppings, homemade pizza might actually be free of

Wow, it's truth on the internet! I'm third-gen American, and I still think, "how are you?" is supposed to be answered honestly. Bluntly, even.

Comments

[florentinescot.livejournal.com]

Make a paste of baking soda -- Mom always used Arm & HAmmer .....

[ase.livejournal.com]

I'll try sometime - thanks!

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

I use SOS or Brillo for cleaning, and so far I haven't harmed a cup yet. Of course, I don't rub terribly hard (but then, I don't need to -- the tea stains come right off).

If you're talking about fragile porcelain, I'd probably drop the Brillo and maybe get one of those plastic net thingies that do the same job as Brillo but aren't so harsh.

[ase.livejournal.com]

It's my favorite chipped coffee mug, which has known the loving touch (ha) of a brillo pad in the past. If there's a chemical option that'll get the bits I miss in the corners, I would be pleased.

[wmslawhorn.livejournal.com]

I never melt butter for cookies...creme the butter and sugar together... you need more flour to get consistancy if you melt the butter. I had a really bad chocolate chip cookie experience... they were ok until they cooled... hard as a rock.

Next time, try using shortening for your cookies. Just a little less shortening than butter or margerine...

[ase.livejournal.com]

This is the only cookie recipe I have that melts the butter, and when it works it is all the good sugar and nut moments in the world. Unfortunately, it works about 2 times in three.

Where do I getshortening, anyway? It's one of those things I missed somewhere in the American pop culture education.

[nwl.livejournal.com]

Shortening is found in the baking section of the grocery store. It's with the oils. It's the solid, white stuff, usually in a can on the lower shelves.

Alton Brown did a show on cookies, making the same chocolate chip cookie recipe three different ways for three different outcomes. You might be able to find it on line searching with his name and chocolate chip cookie. Cooking is chemistry, so get into the chemistry of baking.

[rwl.livejournal.com]

Just running it through the dishwasher every so often seems to work for me.

[ase.livejournal.com]

Oh, right! I have a dishwasher again! I'll see if it gets out the stains at the bottom that I always miss.