• Easy cleaning (rice): Rice stuck to the bottom of your pot? Add lukewarm to cold water and soak 15 minutes to release. Use lukewarm to cold water for all starches and proteins, and hot water for tomato sauce and grease.
• Perfectly baked cookies: Chill cookie batter before baking the cookies if you want to avoid the browned edges so frequently seen on homemade cookies. Make the dough, shape the cookies, and chill them on the sheet for a while. This prevents the batter from spreading out too fast in the oven, resulting in that singed edge.
• Use unwaxed, flavorless dental floss to cut the dough for cinnamon rolls or to split a cake layer. You can also use it to sew up stuffed chicken breasts and pork tenderloin. Once the meat is cooked the dental floss just slides right out with a gentle pull.
• Double the chocolate: When making chocolate cake, dust the pan with cocoa instead of flour
• When making deviled eggs, just for a little nicer presentation, put the yolk mixture in a plastic bag and cut the tip (to make a pastry bag) and squeeze it into the egg to make a nice swirl.
• Measuring cup magic: Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot water. Dump out the hot water but don't dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
• Many Uses for the Melon Baller: Use a melon baller to seed pears. It makes a nice half-round where the seeds were – great for filling with spiced cream cheese. It's also nice for removing bruised spots from fruit when making fruit salad.
