Please Help Me Decipher "American" Recipes :)

[Malgal]

Hello,

I stumbled upon these forums while trying to google some cooking information. I feel really stupid asking these questions because I know how to cook and I know how to improvise. I am just not 100% sure what everything means in an American cookbook.

So I have some yummy muffins baking right now and whilst preparing them, I found myself asking a variety of questions.

1. Does "mix ingredients" mean by hand (wooden spoon) or does it mean in a mixer? Does it depend on what you are baking? I mix pancakes by hand, most cakes by mixer. What is the correct way to mix muffin batter? Does the terminology in the recipe give me the answer?

2. Should I always sift flour unless it says not to when baking? Or should I never sift flour unless it says to? I chose to sift my flour for these muffins.

3. What the heck does it mean by this: 1/4 cup butter, cubed? Where I come from, a cube would be 1 - 2 cm cubes. Surely this is not what this means? I opted to "dice" my butter but then when the next instructions were to mix with a fork and sprinkle over muffins, I decided to rub the butter in to give it a more uniform distribution. What exactly was I supposed to do? The muffins are looking very appetizing BTW

So thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

 

[Andy M.]

Mix means mix by whatever means you choose unless specified. Typically muffins are done by hand. If a recipe cautions you, "Don't over mix.", or "Mix until the ingredients are just barely combined" do it by hand.

Don't sift unless directed to. You also have to be careful to measure either before or after sifting as sifting makes a big difference in volume. e.g. 1 cup of flour, sifted is different from 1 cup of sifted flour. With the former, you measure then sift. With the latter, you sift then measure.

Cubing butter typically means 1 cm - 1.25 cm (1/2 inch) cubes in American recipes.

 

[Malgal]

Thank you for the answers. So, how does one "sprinkle" one cm cubes over the muffins? It was a mix of sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter. Should I have just scooped out one cube, along with a bunch of the dry ingredients and dumped one on top of each muffin?

The muffins aren't as good as they looked - I will try a different recipe next time.

 

[Andy M.]

Thank you for the answers. So, how does one "sprinkle" one cm cubes over the muffins? It was a mix of sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter. Should I have just scooped out one cube, along with a bunch of the dry ingredients and dumped one on top of each muffin?

The muffins aren't as good as they looked - I will try a different recipe next time.

You have to tell the whole story when you ask a question. When you ask about cubing butter, it gave me the impression you wanted to make a pie crust or similar.

What you are asking about is making a crumble topping for the muffins - different story all together.

Perhaps you could post that portion of the instructions, including what to do with the dry ingredients and we could advise more effectively.

 

[bakechef]

Thank you for the answers. So, how does one "sprinkle" one cm cubes over the muffins? It was a mix of sugar, flour, cinnamon and butter. Should I have just scooped out one cube, along with a bunch of the dry ingredients and dumped one on top of each muffin?

The muffins aren't as good as they looked - I will try a different recipe next time.

It sounds like you did the right thing by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients, this is how crumb and struesel toppings are made. I think what the recipe was instructing, was to take 1/4 cup butter (2 oz.) and just cut into small cubes so that it is easier to rub in I don't think you need to worry too much about the size of the cubes as long as you get it rubbed into the dry mix

 

[Malgal]

You have to tell the whole story when you ask a question. When you ask about cubing butter, it gave me the impression you wanted to make a pie crust or similar.

What you are asking about is making a crumble topping for the muffins - different story all together.

Perhaps you could post that portion of the instructions, including what to do with the dry ingredients and we could advise more effectively.

Sorry, I thought my third point in my original post made it clear that I was making a crumble topping for muffins. The instructions told me to mix the dry ingredients, add the butter (which was listed in the ingredients exactly as I described above) and mix with a fork. Then sprinkle over muffins.

 

[Malgal]

It sounds like you did the right thing by rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients, this is how crumb and struesel toppings are made. I think what the recipe was instructing, was to take 1/4 cup butter (2 oz.) and just cut into small cubes so that it is easier to rub in I don't think you need to worry too much about the size of the cubes as long as you get it rubbed into the dry mix

Thank you. It seemed the right thing to do at the time. The topping was still too crumbly though. Seems like there was a bit too much dry to wet ingredients.

 

[mollyanne]

This is a good thread Malgal. I'm sure there are others who are confused by the way Americans describe things too. These questions you have make perfect sense. What was it about your muffins that you didn't like? Taste? Texture? The topping?

What country are you from Malgal?...if you don't mind me asking.
Maldives? Malaysia? Mali? Malta? Those are all interesting countries so I was just curious.

 

[Malgal]

This is a good thread Malgal. I'm sure there are others who are confused by the way Americans describe things too. These questions you have make perfect sense. What was it about your muffins that you didn't like? Taste? Texture? The topping?

What country are you from Malgal?...if you don't mind me asking.
Maldives? Malaysia? Mali? Malta? Those are all interesting countries so I was just curious.

Thank you. I really did feel a bit stupid asking because I come from nowhere as exotic as the locations you have suggested, and English is my first language - I am Australian. It is quite amazing how many little differences there are in our cooking "language" and in the ingredients themselves. I usually improvise but figured it was time to actually ask some questions in the hope that the answers will make my cooking better! Oh, the screen name comes from Alaskan Malamute. I have an 11 yr old female and just recently put down my 12 year old boy who was my first born

In spite of the amount of sugar in the recipe, they weren't as sweet as I thought they would be but that might have been because of the amount of blueberries. They were also a bit drier than they should have been (but nowhere near what I would call dry). I stuck a skewer in after 20 min and they were not cooked so I gave another 5 minutes. I think I should have given them a bit less time. I am in a relatively new house and don't bake often so I am not really used to my oven yet. And the topping was too crumbly. Most of it fell off when I took the muffins out of the pan.

 

[Andy M.]

You shouldn't feel stupid. Actually, you were clever enough to realize there were differences and to ask the questions. As I understand it, there is also a difference in the size of a cup measure and tablespoon.

 

[Malgal]

You shouldn't feel stupid. Actually, you were clever enough to realize there were differences and to ask the questions. As I understand it, there is also a difference in the size of a cup measure and tablespoon.

Thanks. Yes there are differences. I never correct for them LOL. I don't make too many recipes from Australia any more. Just the occasional pavlova, Christmas pudding and shortbread. I don't know what the difference in the cup measure is (to me a cup is 250 ml). As for the tablespoon thing, in one country (the US?) I think it is 30 ml while in Australia it is equal to 4 tsp = 20 ml. I could be wrong. I just use the table spoon measures I have in my kitchen and they were all bought in the US.

 

[Alix]

Hey Malgal, a tbsp in North America is 15ml or 3 tsps. In the UK it is 20ml. Not sure what it is in Oz. I'm attaching my favorite blueberry muffin recipe. Give this one a go. Its lovely!

 

[Malgal]

Hey Malgal, a tbsp in North America is 15ml or 3 tsps. In the UK it is 20ml. Not sure what it is in Oz. I'm attaching my favorite blueberry muffin recipe. Give this one a go. Its lovely!

Oooh, thanks for the recipe. I have more blueberries so I will give them a shot this afternoon. Have you ever tried using blueberry yogurt instead of the pie filling? I see you suggest just using extra milk but I was wondering if yogurt might work since I have a tub of blueberry in my fridge right now.

And yes, 15 ml - I was thinking of a medicine measuring cup where 30 ml is actually 2 tbsp - thanks for the correction! In Oz it is 20 ml.

 

[Wyogal]

In muffin recipes that call for sour cream, yogurt would be a good substitute.

 

[Alix]

Oooh, thanks for the recipe. I have more blueberries so I will give them a shot this afternoon. Have you ever tried using blueberry yogurt instead of the pie filling? I see you suggest just using extra milk but I was wondering if yogurt might work since I have a tub of blueberry in my fridge right now.

And yes, 15 ml - I was thinking of a medicine measuring cup where 30 ml is actually 2 tbsp - thanks for the correction! In Oz it is 20 ml.

I've not used yogurt. The pie filling really punches up the blueberry flavor. I think you should try the yogurt and maybe add some smushed blueberries to it and see what happens. Let us know, I think that would be a good experiment and it would likely have good results.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Malgal; Typically, moisture in quickbreads (muffins, cakes, banana bread, etc.) comes from the fat content in the batter. If your recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil, try increasing it to 1/3, plus two tbs. This will result in a more moist end product. As for the crumble top, or streusel falling off, add a tbs. or so of water to the topping mixture. This will allow the starches in the flour to bind together, without making it too wet. As for flavor, add more sweetener to the batter. A great way to intensify the blueberry flavor is to purchase concentrated blueberry juice and add a couple tbs. to the batter.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Kayelle]

I really don't have any information to add here, but I just wanted to welcome you to the site, Malgal. This thread is a very interesting read. I hope you stick around Malgal, I bet you'll find it as addicting as I have. Again, welcome to DC.

 

[Malgal]

Thanks to everyone for their input and the welcomes Here is what I ended up doing. I used 1/2 cup of blueberry yogurt instead of the pie filling. Since it was fat-free, I added an extra tablespoon of butter. I am eating a muffin hot out of the oven right now and it is delicious! Perhaps a bit heavier than muffins usually are but I am not sure. I don't regularly eat muffins.

Now off to find something to do with the fresh blackberries before they go moldy! Thanks again everyone.

 

[Malgal]

Now off to find something to do with the fresh blackberries before they go moldy! Thanks again everyone.

I made a "no cook" jam, just incase anyone is wondering. Yummy!

 

[Phaedra]

a tbsp in North America is 15ml or 3 tsps. In the UK it is 20ml.

I hate to have to correct you, but in the UK a tbsp [tablespoon] is 15ml and not 20ml.

see "Liquid Measures" on the following conversion chart:

Conversion Tables

Phaedra - expat Brit