Make A Mix – Plum Cooking.com

How To Easily Make Dark Corn Syrup

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Tue, 29 Nov 2022 19:27:39 +0000

Make Dark Corn Syrup At Home In Just A Few Seconds

Instead of Running To The Store

So, you just pulled out grandma’s favorite pie recipe only to discover every ingredient is in your pantry except dark corn syrup.

Your first thought is probably can I substitute light corn syrup for dark corn syrup? (Answer) Yes and No!

For the most part, it will work but the flavor and color will both be off.

No need to run to the store, you probably have the two ingredients you need to make dark corn syrup in the pantry.

That’s right, just 2 ingredients.

This is truly one of those recipes that are so simple you’ll wonder why you’ve bothered to buy it premade all these years.

Why Pay More

The best part is once you realize the ingredients needed to make dark corn syrup have a shelf life of (literally years after opening) you can stop paying through the nose for the ingredients by purchasing in bulk rather than those tiny bottles that cost a fortune. per oz compared to per oz in bulk

Indefinite Shelf Life

If you don’t have these two simple ingredients in your pantry, perhaps it’s time to rethink your pantry. Did you know that things like light corn syrup, molasses, salt, and white rice, among many other common ingredients found in the average pantry, when stored properly, will keep for years, (Even After Opening)

More Handy Pantry Ideas

Farmers Markets In My Area

Easy Homemade Pork Gravy Mix

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 16:03:44 +0000

Easy Homemade Pork Gravy Mix

A jar of ham or pork gravy costs $2.00, $3.00, $4.00, or even more at the store! This dry gravy mix recipe can make the same amount of gravy for just pennies and be mixed up in just minutes.

Save both time & money by making it in bulk. Stored properly, it will keep for up to a year in the cupboard. As a bonus, you’ll be able to pronounce all the ingredients.

Looking for a great meat market nearby? Click Here!

Need gravy for that pork chop? No need to open a jar or packet of pre-made stuff. This easy homemade pork gravy mix is quick and simple

Looking for something to go with those pork chops? Why not check out some side recipes on Plum Cookin’

Easy Beef Gravy Mix Recipe

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 30 Jul 2020 13:35:10 +0000

Easy Homemade Beef Gravy Mix Recipe

This mix keeps very well so if you make it in bulk it saves you both time & money. Stored properly, it will easily keep 6 months to a year. As a bonus, you’ll be able to pronounce all the ingredients.

A jar of beef gravy costs $2.00, $3.00, $4.00, or even more at the store! This dry beef gravy mix recipe can make the same amount of gravy. It can be made in minutes, for just pennies and not dollars.

Looking for a great meat market nearby? Click Here!

Need gravy for that beef roast? No need to open a jar or packet of pre-made stuff. This easy homemade beef gravy mix is quick and simple

Looking for something to go with that wonderful beef roast? Why not check out some side recipes on Plum Cookin’

Biscuit and Baking Mix Amazing And Homemade

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 03:02:16 +0000

Biscuit And Baking Mix

Easily The Most Versatile Mix In Your Kitchen

Ever wonder why biscuit and baking mixes like Bisquick and other baking mixes are so popular? It’s not just marketing. They’re easy to use and let you skip any number of steps depending on how complete the mix is.

The biggest reason they’re so popular is their versatility. The number of recipe ideas that have sprung forth from having that one box of mix in the family kitchen is quite literally almost endless. It includes kitchen classics like,

Biscuits
Pancakes
Waffles
Crumb Cakes
Cookies
Shortbreads
Dumplings
Pizza Crust
Pot Pies
There are too many to list

While a good biscuit and baking mix is amazingly convenient and almost a must-have for today’s busy home kitchens, making mixes like this yourself makes them incredibly inexpensive as well.

There’s also a certain comfort to be gained from knowing all the ingredients stored away in your premade mixes.

The best-kept little secret about making your premade baking mix yourself is that when someone asks whether you made all these biscuits, pancakes, or whatever from scratch. You can answer with a resounding, “yep, start to finish.”

A Few Considerations When Creating A Premade Baking Mix

First, If you’re going to make a biscuit and baking mix, you will need to add in some shortening or fat of some type. If not, you should consider simply using your Super Easy Homemade Self-Rising Flour instead of a premade biscuit and baking mix. It will still give you the advantage of skipping a few steps, but you will need to cut in a shortening each time.

Your choices for the shortening can include any food fat that forms a solid at room temperature. The most common types of shortening used would be Lard, Vegetable Shortening, Butter, or Margarine. There are, of course, others, but these four are pretty much universally available.

If choosing to use butter and margarine, keep in mind, that they are solid but very soft at room temperature. Butter and margarine can become rancid if left out for too long in the heat of summer, for example.

Either will work, but if you’re making enough mix to store for weeks or even months at a time, you’ll need to keep those versions of the baking mix in a very cool place such as your refrigerator.

Personally, my precious refrigerator space is far too limited. The last thing in the world I’ll be keeping in my refrigerator is a package of a baking mix for any length of time, let alone months. I will always use a shelf-stable shortening in my premade baking mix.

Now I know someone will say to me, oh, you should only use this type of shortening. Or, tell me, that type of shortening isn’t good for you.

I’ll take just a moment here to thank social media for helping to create a culture that is afraid of everything. Here is the truth. All shortening is fat, and none of them are all that “good for you.” Use what works best for your situation and enjoy life.

You can use a large mixing bowl and a handheld whisk or a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening when making the mix. My personal preference is just using the whisk.

If you’re making a baking mix in bulk, say a few pounds of flour at a time, you may also choose to use a stand mixer to cut in your shortening as well.

Homemade mixes of any kind do not come with a box. You can use storage bags to store your mix, however, just like bags of flour, they are prone to ripping open. You’re better off finding a rigid, airtight container that will stand the test of time.

Another consideration is recipes. When you buy a box of mix from the store they often come with several basic recipes conveniently printed right on the box. If you like having recipes right on the package, try printing them on large address labels and sticking them on your package.

How Long Will It Keep

The Question I Always Get

Most Americans have been nothing short of bamboozled by expiration dates on their food these days. Many people even think these dates are required and regulated. The truth is, other than the formula used for babies, most of these dates are merely suggestions by the manufacturer.

For definitive answers on how long the food items will keep on your pantry shelves at home, I would strongly suggest a visit to my friends at Still Tasty. They are, in my opinion, the best shelf life guide you are likely to find on the internet, and I can all but guarantee you’ll discover you’ve been throwing a lot of cash in the trash over the years.

Super Easy Homemade Self Rising Flour

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Mon, 29 Jun 2020 22:33:00 +0000

Homemade Self Rising Flour

A True Kitchen Workhorse

With homemade self rising flour you don’t need to go looking for baking powder or salt. It’s built right into your homemade self rising flour. There are hundreds of uses right out of the package.

Without adding additional baking powder or salt, you can use homemade self rising flour to make favorites such as,

pizza crust
cuppa, cuppa, canna (A Personal Favorite)
coffee cake
cream biscuits
cookies
and more.

For those recipes that still need a little more lift, you can always add additional baking soda to the mix.

During my life, I’ve loved to cook for as long as I can remember. I’ve worked in numerous kitchens in every position, from bottle washer to head chef. Additionally, I’ve lived in the southwest, southeast, and northern midwest, so I’ve had the opportunity to experience a wide variety of foods, recipes, and cooking styles. I have to say, the differences in cooking methods in various regions of the country have always amazed me.

While it’s available all over the country, my northern friends are far less likely to have self rising flour in their pantry. My southern friends would tend to ask, how the heck do you make fried chicken without self-rising flour? I have to admit I tend to lean southern on my personal cooking preferences.

Substituting Self-Rising Flour for All-Purpose Flour

Different brands of self-rising flour do vary slightly in the amount of leavening (baking powder) they add to their self-rising flour. In general, you can substitute self-rising flour right out of the bag for all-purpose flour in any recipe that calls for between, say, 1/2 teaspoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons per cup of flour.

If I’m using a store-bought brand, I will usually assume that it contains about 1 tsp per cup. That measure seems to work out pretty well when deciding if I need to add more.

That said, I do love the grab-and-go convenience of self-rising flour, but the variable from one brand to the next is one of the reasons I prefer to make mine rather than buy it.

Homemade Dry Mixes Save Time And Money

The truth is, whether you choose to start from scratch every single time or you choose the time-saving convenience of using homemade self rising flour, they both work. When you get used to having self-rising flour in your pantry, you’ll find it very quick and convenient to use in your kitchen.

If you’re going to use a store-bought brand, here are a few that get the Plum Cookin’ Recommendation

You can make self-rising flour yourself. It’s not difficult at all, but sadly, most of the recipes you’ll find will only tell you how to make a cup or two when you’re in a pinch.

Seriously, if you’re going to take the time to make a cup or two, why on earth would you not just make a pound or two? Or five, for that matter?

All you need is a large bowl, a whisk, an air-tight container, and a couple of minutes. It works just as well, keeps just as well, and will probably cost you less to boot.

At the very least, you’ll have a supply in the pantry when you need it, even if it’s months down the line.

One big bonus to having self-rising flour on hand that no one ever mentions is that now, you have a mix you can build upon to create dozens of other ready-made dry mixes. Some great examples are,

Preseasoned coating for fish
Preseasoned coating for chicken
All-purpose baking mix
Buttermilk Biscuit Mix
Pancake Mix
Waffle Mix
Hot Roll Mix
Bread Mix
All can be made by starting with self-rising flour as a base, to name just a few.

Once you find that perfect seasoning blend the whole family loves, turn it into a pre-made dry mix. The possibilities are endless, and the taste and consistency of your recipes will improve.

Easy How To Make Brown Sugar Recipe

Karen and Denny's Kitchen — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 01:09:00 +0000

How To Make Brown Sugar With Just 2 Ingredients

Seriously, just 2 ingredients to make brown sugar? Can it really be that easy?

It has happened to all of us right in the middle of making your favorite banana nut bread or chocolate chip cookie recipe. You reach up for the brown sugar only to discover the bag is empty. Or, if you have kids, the bag is just missing altogether. No need to ask who, because you already know it was the mystery kid down the street named Not Me. In my house, the kid was here so often I threatened to set a dinner plate out for him, but I digress.

At this point, you may think about using plain old granulated sugar instead of brown sugar, but you know it will not come out the same. So what do you do? Run to the store, skip the recipe altogether?
Why not learn how to make brown sugar at home and on the spot? Yep, as long as you have two common pantry staples in your pantry, you have brown sugar.

Are You Using Fresh Brown Sugar

I mean really fresh brown sugar, not the stuff you find in the bag at your local grocery store. In fact, if you’ve ever learned how to make brown sugar yourself, you have probably never tasted fresh.

The difference between the brown sugar you buy off the grocery store shelf and the homemade 2-ingredient brown sugar is stunning.

Honestly, this recipe is the real thing and not a substitute recipe. This no-fail recipe is so easy to make and makes the best around. This brown sugar will work in any recipe and will store perfectly well in an airtight container kept in your pantry. If you want moist, aromatic, brown sugar, rich in both flavor tones and color? I believe homemade is the only way to go

So How Do I Do This

Even though they are not, we tend to think of sugar and brown sugar as two completely different things. Whether you are looking to learn how to make brown sugar light, or dark, this is probably one of the easiest recipes on the site because it requires just two ingredients!

Granulated sugar. Yep, plain white sugar. We can talk about the differences between cane sugar, beet sugar, and raw sugar later.
Unsulphured molasses.
These two ingredients are all it takes to make brown sugar yourself and creates both its moist texture and distinct flavor.

When making just a cup or two at a time, you need no fancy equipment. All you need is a mixing bowl, a spatula, a spoon, or a sturdy whisk.

Add the granulated sugar and molasses to a mixing bowl.
Stir the sugar and molasses together until they are well combined.
When you see no lumps, no clumps, and everything is one even color, poof, you’re done.

Better Still

Once you discover how to make brown sugar you’ll also discover that it stores every bit as well as the store-bought version. So as long as you have a mixer of any kind. Be it a hand mixer, stand mixer, or a child who was silly enough to say they are bored, you can make brown sugar by the pound.

Personally, my preference these days is the stand mixer, and you can check out that process in the video below. But then my kids and grandkids all learned long ago never to tell me they were bored. Your preference may vary.

FAQ’s

How should I store this?

You are going to want an airtight container. Here is what I use, and I will always recommend storing things like brown sugar in because they work. These are incredibly durable containers that can last a lifetime. The best part, when I open one up months later, my brown sugar is still perfect.
What I would never recommend for store-bought brown sugar or for your fresh when you make brown sugar yourself, is a plastic bag. Even when you squeeze the air out, sooner or later, the bag will get torn, then leak, and eventually attract critters. Worst of all, at some point, end up in a landfill or the ocean.

Will this work as a brown sugar substitute?

Beyond Yes, when you make brown sugar yourself, it is the real thing, not a substitute. This is what’s in the bag at the store. It’s just fresh!

Does brown sugar go bad?

Whether you choose to make it one cup at a time or five pounds at a time, storing it in an airtight container will keep it fresh.
As for how long it will last? When properly stored and kept free from contaminants, when you make brown sugar it has an indefinite shelf life.
We tend to think of sugar as a sweetener, and it certainly is. Not only is it sweet, but it can also be a preservative.
- The Big Six Methods of Preserving.
  - Freezing Food – Preserves food by lowering the temperature at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit.
  - Dehydrating – Reducing moisture of food to low levels
  - Pickling – preserve (food or other perishable items) in vinegar, brine, or a similar solution.
  - Canning – Storing, properly, cooked food in a vacuum-sealed jar or can)
  - Curing – Using salts to draw the moisture from food for preservation
  - Candying – Cooked in or with sugar, or syrup, to preserve

Why does my brown sugar become hard?

Air hardens brown sugar. Airtight containers help prevent this.

How do I soften brown sugar?

If you use a bag or a container that is not airtight to store your brown sugar, sooner or later, you will own a doorstop. Don’t panic! Place a slice of bread in the package with the brown sugar, and within a few hours, the bread will harden, and the sugar will be nice and soft again.

What’s the difference between light and dark brown sugar?

The only difference between light and dark is the amount of molasses added to the sugar. Dark has more molasses.

A Few Things You Can Make With Brown Sugar

Frosting
Cookies
Syrup
Caramel Corn
Muffins
Pineapple Upsidedown Cake
Apple Cake
The list goes on and on

Your Great Grand Parents Were Wiser Than You Think

They Bought In Bulk
Stored In Bulk
They realized surviving tomorrow, just may depend on it