7 Cooking Hacks & Baking Tips

Bring new life to crystallized honey by placing the container in a bowl of hot water for 5 to 10 minutes.

Now, don’t flip out on us, but you don’t always have to flip your food. When roasting items such as French fries and veggies, preheat your cookie sheet in the oven. This eliminates the need to flip halfway through.

When your pot runneth over, prevent overboiling by placing a wooden spoon across the top of it. Because wood is not a good material for conducting heat, the hot water strays away from the handle.

When cooking an entire turkey or chicken, ice the breast of the bird. Since the dark thigh meat needs more time to cook than the white breast meat, chilling the breasts will promote even cooking.

When you want to sauté, but all your measuring spoons are dirty, no need to dismay! A standard spout on an olive oil cruet meters out oil at 1 tablespoon per 6 seconds. Count to 6 to pour the perfect tablespoon (or to 2 for a teaspoon, 24 for a quarter cup, etc.).

There’s nothing worse than pulling out a pan of perfect brownies only to destroy the entire pan when it comes time to slice. For flawlessly square, clean-cut brownies (or other bars), grease a baking pan, line it with two strips of parchment (one from left to right, one from front to back, crossed through the middle), and grease the parchment paper too. Once cooked, let the brownies sit until cool to the touch. Use the parchment paper edges to lift the brownies from the pan. Then slice with a serrated knife.

No muffin liners? No problem! Use 5-inch squares of parchment paper instead. To help the paper stick better, spray each muffin-well first. Then press the squares into each hole, folding the sides as needed to create flat walls. Bonus: The makeshift liners look pretty darn fancy with those popped collars.