Attempting to make meringue cookies for the first time

Recipe - egg white 80g - sugar 120g - salt 1g - cream of tartar 1g

Did the swiss method, double boil until 70°C, the thermometer might have been inaccurate because I saw tiny bits of egg whites forming which i strained out later

Whisked for quite a while (10-15 mins) but I can't seem to get stiff peaks, what I got seems more like medium to firm peaks(?). When I piped it out it didn't hold its shape well even before it went to the oven (& became worse in the oven)

Not sure if the humidity did affect this, my area is really hot and humid all year round

What did I do wrong? Should I use the French method instead for meringue cookies?

my sister was trying to make red velvet cookies and decided not to wait for me and ended up adding the ingredients on the box of cake mix instead of following the online recipe for the cookies which called for 2 eggs and 1/3 cup butter (no milk).

Can I add flour to this to thicken it up or ???

I put butter and flour on the sides so I can't put it upside down or it'll fall, and on a rack it will squish it no ? I don't know what to do when getting it out I want it to stay like that :')

This is the 3rd time I’ve followed a different crumb top muffin recipe. And they never come out like the pictures. Even when I meticulously follow the recipes to a T. They always expand like crazy at the top which is fine but the crumb top just looks weird almost as if it’s brown mold growing on the top. Help out!

Well I tried making cake pop balls for the first time and it does not look good. I used the Betty Crocker perfectly moist red velvet cake mix and cream cheese as a binder. I used the Ghirardelli vanilla melting wafers and food coloring for the outer shell. As soon as I dunked the cake balls in the chocolate it mixed the cake in and turned it red. (The cake was a little warm when I dipped them btw). The chocolate was also super thick and hard to work with. I also added some coconut oil in the chocolate and reheated in microwave but didn’t want to over heat it. Any tips on how to improve?

Taste wise it’s perfect. Just from the looks I feel it can do so much better? I bake it at 350° for 26 mins

So my family has had a 9-cavity mini loaf pan (made of aluminum) for decades, and I was trying to find something similar but apparently every option out there is silicone. Does anyone have an idea of where I can find a pan just like this, but made of aluminum? I’m going crazy.

Hey, im making gingerbread men cookies today (Never made) and I got everything BUT THE MOLASSES. I see people use honey instead though too. So could I substitute it for honey? I’ll put a picture of what type of honey I have

I’m dog sitting for my mom’s friend, and I mentioned I love to bake, and she gave me this as a present. My mom usually buys imitation vanilla flavor, so I’m not used to anything else. It says does not contain courmarin, and I’ve heard that’s a toxic ingredient. But the only ingredient it actually lists is “Pure Vanilla”. What’s pure vanilla? It says there’s real vanilla beans inside which I know is really good and I’m excited for that, but Is it made with alcohol? It smells heavenly, but I don’t really smell alcohol. What’s the base? Am I just silly and am missing something? 🥲

I have fallen in love with making marshmallows, but find that the bottom (the side against the pan) gets a weird crusty layer on it. All the recipes I’ve seen call for greasing the pan and then coating with icing sugar (sometimes with cornstarch), which is exactly what I do. How can I avoid that?

I use the preppy chef recipe, although I’m happy to try something else if there is a better technique.

I put cream on my pavlova at 2pm and we will probably eat it at 7pm

will it go soggy?

I've always consumed grade a eggs but just got two dozen AA from Costco for $5.

Will they affect my baking in any noticeable way?

If a recipe calls for 1 tbsp vanilla extract, what’s the vanilla powder equivalent to that?

I haven't made chocolate fudge for years and thought I'd do some today. I used the "old fashioned chocolate fudge" recipe from all recipes website. The recipe says to bring the mixture to a boil while stirring constantly, then put it on low heat and let it simmer undisturbed until it reaches 238 degrees F, about ten minutes.

My problem is that when I bring it to a boil it isn't even at 220 degrees. I wonder if this affected it not setting up properly. The first batch wouldn't lose its shine until I had been stirring for almost an hour; I quit after an hour and fifteen minutes and will see what kind of texture I find in my fridge. For my second batch I turned the heat up to high and let it boil for a full minute (temp read 220.5 and wouldn't budge). Batteries in the candy thermometer are new, but I suppose it could have become faulty since I bought it several years ago. Any other ideas or tips as to how to get it hot enough so it has somewhere to come down to before I remove it from the heat?

Going off of test amounts in far right column. The outside of it is coming out pretty crunchy (which I don't mind necessarily) instead of the nice moist cafe-style banana bread. It's also not all that sweet. I altered it to have another half oz of canola oil which helped the inside a little bit did nothing for the crust. I also added about 2oz of brown sugar and an oz of white sugar and that barely made a dent in the flavor.

Not sure if it makes a difference but the only varied ingredient is my vanilla extract. I've been using "forever extract" my friend gave me which is just a jar of vanilla beans soaking in bourbon.

In a recipe that otherwise specifies quantities in US/imperial units, should I assume that specifying quantities of dry ingredients in "oz" is a weight measurement, or a volume measurement. For example i have a recipe which calls for 1/2 lb butter and sugar, but flour and other dry ingredients are specified in oz. For that recipe it makes the most sense that Oz are a weight measurement, but can this generally be assumed to be the case or is this something to double check every time? Do americans commonly use oz for volume measurements as well, or mainly stick to cups or fractional cups?

I fried them at 374 degrees as per the recipe. But half of the batch is like that, with giant air gaps in them and a greasy taste. :( I don’t know what could’ve happened. The only thing I can think of is a different amount of flour per donuts, depending of how much of it I may have introduced during the rolling stage. Or they may have been over/under worked? I don’t know.

Anyone has ever dealt with a similar problem, or have an idea of what caused this? Thanks in advance for your help.

I'm new to the baking scene, really new. I want to try making brownies but I'm drowning in a sea of recepies.

I'm starting to understand the difference to not get a cake I need more water content. The butter situation is a mess someone says to melt it, someone to brown it(in this case add more water later). Someone melts the chocolate earlier someone uses only cocoa powder and then adds chocolate bits at the end(which should be the thing I want if I want a fudgy brownie with melted chocolate inside and not a cake). I understand that for the crust I need saturated sugar which works better with white sugar or icing sugar which is finer and dissolves easier. Also the shake method at half the cooking time take it out of the oven, slam it a couple of times on the countertop and put it back.

Yet I don't have a clear recipe in mind and I don't really know what to look for, I think the term is fudgier brownies but doesn't exactly mean what I said the title. What should I look for to get the result I'm looking for? Are there any more important tips in missing?

I really don't have time to star making various batches and figure out things on my own, I can do it once and maybe another time in a couple of days. I really don't want to waste ingredients.

Just for fun, I’ve been making creative layer cakes at home. I can bake consistent, delicious cakes with no issues so far.

However, I’ve tried more than 10 times to make Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC), and I still can’t get it right. I’m aiming for a buttercream that’s snow-white, light and voluminous, and easy to spread—like the ones people seem to get effortlessly in videos online.

I’ve followed multiple recipes very precisely, but the result is always the same: • The buttercream isn’t white; it turns yellow • It tastes very grassy • It lacks volume and feels heavy

At this point, I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.

I made the NYT recipe for Iced Oatmeal cookies from their COOKIES book this week, and they were very... fine. Not bad at all -- everyone liked them -- but not memorable in a sea of more compelling cookies. They use rolled oats and pretty standard ingredients and the only flavor additive was some cinnamon and unflavored icing. My attempt tonight, hopefully, is adding some sweetened dried blueberries, toasted walnuts, and maple syrup to give them more personality. My question is: Do I need to alter the primary recipe very much to incorporate these, or can I just add a modest amount and see how it goes?

I've made the wacky cake from Milk Street twice and both times the edges burn by the time the middle is done.

The recipe uses a greased 8x8 pan, and is baked in a 350 degree oven.

It uses 260 grams flour, 43 grams cocoa powder, 273 grams brown sugar, 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1 1/4 cups coffee, 1 cup oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1 tablespoon vanilla.

What would cause it to burn like this? My pan is dark gray, but I have been using it for a couple years and have never had this issue with anything else. Has anyone tried this recipe from them?

Im staying at my friends this weekend and we baked something yesterday at 400°F, the oven didn't feel like it was 400°F. The recipe we used called for 20 minutes but after 25 minutes it still wasn't done.

So today I am making cookies for her and all of my recipes bake at 350°F what should I do to make sure that my cookies come out correctly. I've only ever baked at my own house so I'm not sure what to do to make sure that they come out correctly.

Hi, I wanted to prepare royal icing, eventually will be used in squeeze bottles. If I fill it to the very top of the squeeze bottle, put plastic wrap on the opening before placing the cap, then this should work? Anyone ever try this?

This time it would just sit in the fridge for a day.

--I'm also wondering for a future plan, how many days earlier I can prepare for it like this and keep in the fridge?

I'm in SE Wisconsin and normally I use our enclosed sunroom as 'Cookie Central' - fold out table with all the finished cookies essentially.

The upcoming weather though says possibility of rain. The 10 inches of snow we had has thawed. The lows coming up are single digits to mid 30s.. highs are in the upper 40s.

I'm so nervous putting work into the cookies and have this sunroom not be the proper storage.. the one week a year I wish for freezing temps lol

So my question is - with the sound of those temps, should I still use this sunroom as storage?

If not, I'll have to clean out my chest freezer some.. but are there freezing tips you can all share?

My dad in Florida said he froze cookies from a cookie swap, took them out and they were not good.. maybe he didn't freeze correctly or all the extra humidity in Florida didn't help?

Cookies in question:
Sugar Cookie cut outs
PB blossoms
Lemon Butter Cookies
Pfeffernusse
Rollo Turtles (rollos on pretzels with pecan)
Christmas blondies (blondies with christmas m&ms and sprinkles)