Save Yourself Time and Money With These Baking Hacks That Actually Work

Items Needed: Tin Foil
Avg. Cost: $2*

Have you ever wanted to make something but haven’t had the right baking sheet, so gave up completely and figured it just wasn’t meant to be? Everyone with an interest in cooking has been there at some point, but maybe we gave up too easily. 

Use Foil To Make A Smaller Cookie Sheet @jsimpsonluna / Pinterest.com

You can transform cookie sheets and other pans into smaller ones by simply using well-placed tin foil. Most of us have it in the house already, but if we don’t, it’s easy to pick some up from stores like Walmart for less than it would cost you to buy a new baking sheet or tin.

Items Needed: Standard food dye
Avg. Cost: $1 per pot*

There are tons of bakers around the world that make fabulous cakes with beautiful colors on them, but don’t be fooled into thinking that they’ve bought every color of icing under the sun. It’s way more likely that they just mixed their own to create a custom color. 

It’s actually really simple and you can make most colors by simply mixing the right amount of standard colors together. In no time at all, you’ll have Instagram-worthy cakes that look out of this world – and you won’t have had to spend a fortune on specific colors. 

Items Needed: Eggs
Avg. Cost: $3*

If you bake often but always keep your eggs in the refrigerator, then you might want to question your life choices. Cold eggs do the job well enough, but if you want an extra-fluffy bake that is even more delicious than usual, use room temperature eggs. 

Use Room Temperature Eggs @etsy / Pinterest.com

Room temperature eggs supposedly have more air trapped inside of them, which helps make cakes come out fluffy and moist. It’s worth trying this out next time you crack open the dozen you got last time you were at Target. You can thank us later. 

Items Needed: Vanilla Pudding Mix
Avg. Cost: $1*

Vanilla pudding on its own might not be to everyone’s taste, but have you ever thought about what it could do for your cookies? If you love baking cookies and trying out new recipes, then try adding vanilla pudding mix into your next batch. 

Add Vanilla Pudding Mix To Cookie Dough ©minicase / Shutterstock.com

The result is a really moist, chewy cookie that is way better than anything you’d buy off the shelf at Kroger. It has a mellow vanilla flavor that just adds a little something special to the whole thing, which is what baking is all about!

Items Needed: Paper plates
Avg. Cost: $1*

Everyone that’s ever been within arm’s length of an electric mixer knows that they are messy little kitchen tools. They’re great and useful for a ton of different things, but mixing batter can mean getting covered in it and scraping it from the walls for a week. 

Put A Paper Plate Over Mixer To Catch Splatter @maryloumcgilbra / Pinterest.com

To avoid that, place a paper plate over the top of the detachable whisk. It doesn’t harm the mixer at all, but it will stop you from redecorating your kitchen with cake mix. It’s a handy trick that not enough people know about – until now.

Items Needed: Milk and vinegar
Avg. Cost: $2*

Not everyone has buttermilk in the kitchen waiting and ready to go at a moment’s notice. If you decide to do some baking and the recipe calls for it but you don’t have it, don’t put the recipe down. Instead, mix milk and vinegar together and use the mixture as a substitute. 

Milk And Vinegar Can Replace Buttermilk @buzzfeed / Pinterest.com

It might sound gross, but it’s not. In fact, it makes the perfect replacement and when you’re eating your freshly baked cake, you’ll never know the difference. Bakers have been shouting about this one for decades, especially if they’re on YouTube. 

Items Needed: Unflavored floss
Avg. Cost: $2*

Rolling out the perfect cylinder shape of cookie dough, only to squash it when trying to cut it with a knife can be really irritating. Instead of rolling it out and reshaping it each time, put the knife down and head to the bathroom cabinet instead. 

Use Unflavored Floss To Cut Dough @kiwilimon / Pinterest.com

Floss works really well to cut cookie dough in a precise way. Just make sure you’re using unflavored floss and not the mint kind, or you might end up with a slight peppermint taste to your cookies after they’ve been baked. It’s not a bad thing in all cases, but it won’t win you any prizes on Netflix’s Nailed It! either. 

Items Needed: Sugar and water
Avg. Cost: $1*

Having friends over or throwing a party is always fun if you love being the host. But, if your guests are running late or the cake has been out for a touch too long and dried out, it can be a little disappointing. Instead of throwing it in the trash and heading to the store, mix up some simple syrup. 

Rehydrate Dried-Out Cake With Simple Syrup @kingarthurbaking / Pinterest.com

Simple syrup is as simple as it sounds as it’s just a mix of sugar and water. All you have to do is mix the two ingredients together and use a pastry brush or a spoon to apply it to the cake. It helps to breathe new life into your bake without impacting the taste.

Items Needed: A corkscrew
Avg. Cost: $1.50*

When it comes to decorating pie crusts and giving it a little bit of extra magic, most of us might just reach for a fork and do the standard press at the edges. If you want to try something new but aren’t that good with pastry, grab a corkscrew. 

Use A Corkscrew To Pattern Pie Crust @purewow / Pinterest.com

A corkscrew has the perfect shape to make your pie crust look magical and it’s easy to use. Plus, you can use it afterward to crack open the wine that accidentally fell into your basket while you were looking for eggs at Walmart. Everyone’s a winner here.

Items Needed: Flaky sea salt
Avg. Cost: $2*

Everyone with taste buds knows that sweet and salty go together like cookies and cream. In fact, salt might even go with cookies better than cream! This may just be the best-kept secret in baking. Some people swear by it, while others haven’t even heard of it. 

Sprinkle Cookies With Flaky Sea Salt Before Baking @ksushiu / Pinterest.com

Before you put your chocolate chip cookies in the oven to bake, sprinkle them with flaky sea salt. The salt brings out the rich flavor in the chocolate, making them even more special than they already were in the first place. Just be careful how much salt you use!

Items Needed: Unsalted butter
Avg. Cost: $3*

Tweaking recipes is one thing, but there are some things that you should never change, no matter how much of a bind you’re in. Salted butter should never be used in cakes, mainly because it can throw delicate flavors off. It’s more acceptable in cookies, but still, it’s best to follow the recipe when it comes to this. 

Make Sure You're Using Unsalted Butter For Cakes © Shutterstock.com

After all, no one wants to put tons of time and effort into creating beautiful baked goods only to find that it tastes nothing like you thought it would. Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to being a bakery god – no matter what Google says!

Items Needed: Usual brownie mix
Avg. Cost: $3*

Brownies are one of the best sweet treats out there, especially when they’re done right. If they spend too long in the oven, then you run the risk of serving something that’s dry and flaky when it should be gooey and addictive. 

Split Brownie Cook Time For Gooey-er Results @miriamaugst / Pinterest.com

Instead of throwing them in the oven and hoping for the best, split the cooking time in half, take them out, let them rest for fifteen minutes, and put them back in for the remaining bake-time. The result will be something that all of your friends will love. Your iPhone will be blowing up with recipe requests. 

Items Needed: A clean syringe
Avg. Cost: $2*

Decorating cookies isn’t an easy business, and a lot of the time, piping bags are too big and cumbersome to make the simple designs that you need. Instead of making things messy and ending up with gingerbread disasters, find a clean syringe. 

Decorate Cookies With A Syringe @mariadobiasova1 / Pinterest.com

These can easily be bought on sites like Amazon and you can reuse them over and over again. Fill them with icing and use them to decorate your cookies. You’ll be wondering why you hadn’t thought of it before and teaching your kids that this is the only method. 

Items Needed: Overbaked cookies
Avg. Cost: Free

No one is perfect. Even professional bakers can get distracted and leave something in the oven a little too long. If you’ve accidentally sent a batch of cookies into baking hell, don’t just scrap them and start a new batch. That’s a waste.

Over-Baked Cookies Make Perfect Pie Crust @Jujoarg / Pinterest.com

Instead, crush them and use them as a pie crust. Slightly over-baked cookies can make a delicious base for a pie, or even for a cheesecake if you want to get inventive. So, you can either make a pie instead or put in a fresh batch of cookies and have both!