There are two baking ingredients I never have in my pantry because I rarely need them. With these substitute recipes, I may never have to buy them. Thanks to Gemma Stafford, a former chef, I can make them at home (with ingredients I always have) for when I get a notion to bake a pastry that calls for one or the other. I love Gemma's recipes, tips, and videos but her website has so many ads and popups it's slowwww to load and murder to scroll, therefore although I'll link her website here I'm reluctant to send readers over there to be frustrated, so I'm reposting her 2 substitute recipes below also:
I) Substitute Corn Syrup
Ingredients:
2 cups (16oz/450g) sugar
3/4 cup (6floz/170ml) water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar (there is no substitute for this)
2 teaspoons lemon juice (stops sugar from clumping)
a pinch of salt
Directions:
1) Toss the sugar, water, cream of tartar, lemon juice, and salt into a heavy saucepan.
2) Bring to a medium boil, stir until the sugar dissolves, then turn down the heat to a gentle boil and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until the mixture reduces quite a bit. Once cooled the syrup thickens.
Ingredients:
2 cups (16oz/450g) dark brown sugar
3/4 cups (6floz/170ml) water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons lemon juice freshly squeezed
1) In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, add the dark brown sugar, water, cream of tartar, and lemon juice. Stir to dissolve the sugar.
2) Once the sugar dissolves, reduce the heat and simmer for 4 - 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. Cool and store in a sealed glass jar.
Gemma is an excellent baker and teacher and you should check out her how-to YouTube videos, but oi vay that website!
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So now let's bake something!
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| All blondie photos and recipe courtesy of ATK |
Let's use our homemade corn syrup to make America's Test Kitchen's Brown Butter Blondies -- linked here -- another website with inconveniences that you can overcome by watching its videos on Youtube.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup corn syrup
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, oven-toasted and chopped coarsely
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon flake sea salt, crumbled
Prepare a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with 2 sheets of aluminum foil with flaps (and crisscrossed +) so that you can lift the blondies up out of the pan after they are baked. Make sure you press the foil into the 4 corners of the pan and grease or use cooking spray on the foil.
Directions:
1) In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, salt, and baking powder.
2) Melt the butter in a 10-inch skillet. Over medium heat, simmer the butter, whisking throughout until it's golden brown and has a nutty aroma, which gives the blondies a butterscotch flavor. Transfer to a large heat-proof mixing bowl.
3) Add the sugar to the hot butter and whisk.
4) Next add the eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth.
5) Stir in the flour mixture until fluffy. Test Kitchen uses a spatula to incorporate the ingredients.
6) Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips.
7) Spread evenly into the prepared baking pan and sprinkle to top with the flaked sea salt.
8) Bake in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for 35 - 40 minutes (turning the pan around at 20 minutes) until golden brown and the cake springs back to the touch.
9) Let the blondies cool completely in the pan before lifting the foil with the pastry out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Makes 24 bars.
Sometimes it takes a professional baker to perfect a substitution that works in our recipes. Thank you, Gemma Stafford (and Test Kitchen for the best blondies). Who wants to run to the supermarket every time you turn around, not to mention, stock 2 ingredients you rarely use! Now there's no need to do either.
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