Basic baking equipment needed to bake cookies

Are you ready to take up baking? Can you imagine your self skimming through the recipe book with great cookie recipes that will guide you to bake cookies that taste great and you can impress your friends and family with? Before you start baking you will need basic baking equipment.

List of basic baking equipment

1.Measuring cup
You need to be precise when baking, you cannot use a regular mug or a cup when measuring the amount of sugar and flour you need for your batter.A measuring cup has levels that helps you measure the correct amounts of dry ingredients and liquids.

2.Sifter
A sifter will break up the clumps in flour and also devoid any foreign matter.the sifting process also aerates the flour and gives it more volume.For best results sift small quantities at a time, it makes sifting faster and easier but it also prevents spills.

3.Spatula
A spatula is a combination of a knife and a spoon.This tool is indispensable when it comes to baking because it is used for mixing the batter and applying the frosting. A spatula is usually made from plastic, silicon or rubber.There are also spatulas made of stainless steel available.

4.Rolling pin
One of the most basic baking equipment is the rolling pin that is used to flattening and shaping your dough.It is very difficult if not impossible to kneading or molding the dough with your bare hands.Rolling pins are usually made of wood, but there are rolling pins also made of plastic, glass, stainless steel and even marble.A rolling pin is cylindrical and thick.It has two handles on each end.

5.Cookie cutters
A cookie cutter is used to shape your cookies after you have made the dough, this is a good time to go artistic.Cookie cutters are usually made of plastic, aluminum, tin and stainless steel and they come in many different shapes like circles, hearts, stars and squares.

6.Cookie press
A well known baking equipment is the cookie press that is used to press designs on cookies.A cookie press is usually composed of a cylinder with a plunger on one end.The cookies are marked by special designer plates that are attached to the press.

7.Oven mitts
Your cookies will go in a hot oven and the oven mitts will protect your hands from getting burned from the hot baking trays.Oven mitts are well insulated and made of a soft fabric.Oven mitts will not help against hot liquids, the liquid will seep through the fabric and burn your hands.

When purchasing baking ingredients and baking equipment it is good to know that food will go bad, it deteriorates over time.

While food containers and packets have "best by" dates and expiration dates, it can be misleading.If you buy food that has it´s expiration date in 4 days, it will not be completely useless the day after.With food, the fresher it is, the better it is.

The food expiration dates and "best by" dates are always set by the manufacturer who knows the manufacturing process and storage conditions, so it is not always reliable to trust the expiration dates completely.As a consumer, getting the manufacturing date would be much better but it is almost never available.

What is it that makes food go bad? The answer is oxidation that creates rancidity in the food.Stale-tasting, bad smelling products should be thrown out as soon as possible.

If a product contains a lot of fat it is more likely to get oxidized.Products with low fat like white flour will keep for a long time and butter that has high-fat will keep good for long because it is stored in the right conditions.

Think about these things when you go to the store buying baking equipment and baking ingredients.