Soft Ball Stage

Making candy is fun but some of the terms are a bit unnerving.  Soft ball stage is 235-240 degrees.  If you don't have a candy thermometer you can just get a bowl of ice cold water and place a drop in it.  take that out and see if it will roll in your fingers without sticking to your fingers and form a ball that is squishy.  It takes about 5 minutes of boiling to reach this stage. 

Dry blended ingredients.

My good friend Alma always is so thoughtful in the gifts that she gives. She knows how much I love to make Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. One of the steps is to blend the oats. She realized that you could use a coffee grinder to do it instead. This little thing is so handy. I would much rather get this out then the blender. Thanks for the gift and awesome tip.

Sugared Surface

When I make things like sugar cookie I like to flour the surface before I roll out the dough. My Nana would also sugar the surface. I just do a mixture of half sugar, half flour. I think it makes the cookies taste just a little sweeter and not so floury from the surface flour:)

Also when I am making Banana bread or Zucchini bread I will sugar the pan. Grease the surfaces and then shake sugar in the pan. It helps the bread slip out easier and makes the sides and bottom more moist. Also it taste just a little sweeter:)

Brown Banana's

When you have bananas that are going brown use them in banana bread. There is always someone you can take a nice warm banana bread to. Also if you don't have time to make banana bread you can throw those banana's in the freezer and use them when you do have time.

Yeast

This yeast is the best advice I have gotten with all of my bread making mishaps. I would use the kind you could get at the grocery store until one of my friends suggested buying the yeast at a bakery. Who knew? I took her up on her advice. It has been a life saver in the rising department. It really works wonders. The best part is that you don't have to raise the yeast twice. You still can if you won't to. But if you are in a hurry you don't have to.

Vanilla

The most important thing you can do to a really fabulous treat that calls for vanilla is make sure you have a really good vanilla. When the vanilla is just so so then your treat will be also. I like mine imported from Mexico. I got some a year ago that I am almost out of. I now use it very sparingly. I think I will cry the day it runs out.