pretzels
We use Snyder’s mini pretzels for every recipe that calls for mini pretzels. We use these small ones for the same reason we use mini marshmallows and mini chocolate chips: you get a wider distribution of their flavor and a little bit in every bite, plus it’s super-cute to see a whole pretzel peeking out of a compost cookie.
salt
We use kosher salt, which has larger granules than iodized table salt. There is something about iodized salt that I don’t like flavorwise. Plus it is really small and it can be confused with sugar, and that scares me. Kosher salt is usually located on the shelf right near the iodized salt at the grocery store. Please use it; it’s so much better.
spices
Treat your spices with love and care. They aren’t going to go bad, but don’t use a spice that’s been sitting around for five years in your pantry along with some rancid nuts and old rainbow jimmies. As far as the kind of spices we use, I’m a straightforward McCormick girl. If you have a grinder and the time, and you want to freshly grind whole spices, go for it, but if you already have them powdered, there’s no shame in that.
sugar
We use classic Domino sugar. Also, it’s local—the plant is literally right down the street from our kitchen. We don’t use superfine sugar, just the regular old granulated stuff.
We also use Domino confectioners’ sugar (also known as powdered sugar at home, or “10X” in the trade) and light and dark brown sugars. We don’t use dark brown sugar very often because I’m not a huge fan of its outright deep, dark molasses flavor.
vanilla extract
We use two different kinds of vanilla extract, brown Patisse brand and clear McCormick brand. Neither is of any fancy caliber, but we use these specific vanilla extracts on purpose because they are the flavor that most people relate to in their baked goods. Vanilla beans and fancy vanilla paste do not taste like home to me, but commercial vanilla extract does.
We use brown (standard) vanilla extract in 90 percent of our baked goods. It’s the extract that flavors nearly every homemade chocolate chip cookie. We use clear McCormick vanilla extract for the Birthday Cake, Birthday Cake Crumb, and Birthday Cake Frosting. It is vanilla in flavor, but not flavored by any actual vanilla beans. It’s “vanilla” in more of a guilty tub-of-frosting, box-cake way. The two are not interchangeable in recipes. Both Patisse brown extract and McCormick clear vanilla are available online.
vinegar
The main vinegars you will find in this cookbook are sherry, rice wine, and distilled white. Each has its own nuances, and we use each for a reason—kind of like when people pair wine with food. We use vinegars to bump up flavor intensity or add balance to a recipe. I like sherry vinegar with cherries or deep red berries. Distilled white vinegar is perfect in our red velvet cake. And, of course, we use apple cider vinegar for anything involving apples or pears.
yeast
Our Mother Dough recipe calls for active dry yeast. Be sure to keep it in an airtight container and store it in the refrigerator. Active dry yeast has an expiration date, and nothing is worse than spending a lot of time making a beautiful bread dough that will never rise because you used dead yeast.
The equipment in our kitchen is, in part, what sets some of our techniques and final products apart from others. In many instances, we’ve eliminated the process of tempering eggs or simplified the method of making an ice cream base with the use of a simple appliance such as a hand blender or countertop blender. We’re not going to tell you you need keep that blade on your chef’s knife sharp (sorry, Dave) or that you need a slab of marble to temper chocolate properly. We’ve simplified our equipment needs to the necessities and their substitute counterparts.
acetate
We use sheets of acetate to assemble all of our cakes, building the layers up in a cake ring. We leave the cakes bare on the sides because we spend a ton of time developing the colorful layers and textural nuances, so why in god’s name would we want to hide them under a layer of frosting? The acetate gives you clear walls to build within and leaves a really pretty, shiny edge once it’s removed. It’s important to peel the acetate off while the cake is still frozen, because if it is at room temperature, or even refrigerated, the sides of the cake will stick to the acetate and it won’t have that clean smooth edge. You can buy acetate sheets at craft stores, some stationery stores, some office-supply stores, and online.
bench scraper
If you buy a good-quality metal bench scraper, then you’ve just bought yourself a new best friend, especially where the crumb and mother dough chapters are concerned. A bench scraper is all you need to break up crumbs, portion the mother dough, and clean up the kitchen counter in a cinch when you are done.
blenders
We use a commercial Vita-Prep blender, a vital part of our kitchen, all day, every day. But there is no need to buy a blender as expensive as a Vita-Prep. All you need is a dependable blender, and if you already have one, that will do fine.
We use an inexpensive hand blender, sometimes known as an immersion blender, to mix all of our milks and ice cream bases. We also use it to blend ganache to keep it smooth without heating it up or incorporating air into it. If you don’t own a hand blender, you are missing out on simplifying tasks and easy cleanup.
brushes
I always buy cheap pastry brushes. We’ve bought expensive brushes, and they go missing or deconstruct just as quickly as the cheaper ones. Keep one brush that you use only for pastry. You never want to use the same brush to egg-wash bread dough that you used to brush baby back ribs on the grill. Wash the brush in the dishwasher or soak it in hot soapy water for a few minutes. Once it gets really raggedy (which it will), boil it in a pot of water for 10 minutes to bring it back to life. We replace brushes when we notice they are starting to shed their bristles.
cake rings
Every cake recipe in this book calls for baking the batter in a quarter sheet pan, then using a 6-inch cake ring (which you build the cake in) to cut out rounds. A cake ring is basically a cake pan with no bottom. If you already have a 6-inch cake pan, though, you can use that to cut the rounds and to build the cake. You can find cake rings at amazon.com, starting at $5.95.
chinois
The chinois, also known as a China cap, a fine-mesh strainer, or a sieve, is a piece of equipment that we live and die by. There is no substitution for one; it is the last line of defense to ensure a supersmooth product with little mess. A chinois is a conical strainer that tapers toward the bottom, so you can strain cereal milk or lemon juice into the smallest of vessels with no spillage. Get the finest-mesh chinois you can.
containers
We use quart and pint plastic containers; the ones that are synonymous with take-out Chinese soup. They are clear, airtight, and extraordinarily valuable, because they will increase the shelf life and freshness of whatever they’re holding. It’s really important that the containers you use to store desserts aren’t the same ones that you store raw onions or leftover spicy beef from Taco Tuesday. Nobody wants to eat cornflake crunch that tastes like Ortega’s taco seasonings. And if you don’t use an airtight container, after day one, your food is going to taste like your refrigerator—and chances are your refrigerator smells like old cheese and water-packed ham.
food processor
We use an industrial-strength food processor, called a Robot Coupe. It costs around $800 new, and it’s rare to find them used because they last forever. By no means do you need to use a Robot Coupe in your home kitchen, but you definitely need a food processor of some sort for grinding down crumbs for pie crusts or grinding nut brittles into almost a powder. If you don’t have one, you should get married so you can put one on your registry. (In fact, you should probably just convince someone to marry you so you can put all of the equipment listed in this section on your registry.)
gloves
We use gloves not only because the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene requires us to do so, but also because w
e like to keep our hands clean. Molding a chocolate crust into a pie tin with bare hands is a bad idea: you’ll be scrubbing chocolate out from under your fingernails for weeks. We like disposable latex gloves for the easiest cleanup.
ice cream machine
We don’t have an ice cream machine. We use soft-serve machines at the Milk Bars and at Noodle Bar, and we use a Pacojet for everything else.
The Pacojet is a European marvel that takes a frozen block of sorbet or ice cream and shaves it down into tiny layers, all the while incorporating air into it, so that the final product comes out like it was just spun in an ice cream machine—except it only takes ninety seconds. The only problem with Pacojets is that they cost nearly five grand. No joke.
So, we did you the honor of re-creating all of our soft-serve and Pacojet recipes so that they work in a home ice cream maker. We used a Donvier ice cream machine (readily available at amazon.com) to test all of the recipes. If you have the ice cream attachment for the KitchenAid stand mixer, that is another good one to use.
ice cream scoop
If you want to make cookies that look like our cookies, you need to buy a no. 16, 2¾-ounce NSF blue-handled ice cream scoop. Scoop ice cream onto plated desserts with the same blue scoop, or use it to portion out brioche dough. The scoops are simple to track down online and not too expensive.
knives
The knife of a pastry chef is notoriously dull. Make no mistake, our knives aren’t any different, but we only sharpen them when it comes time to break down a chicken for family meal or to dice two cases of apples. I use a paring knife for almost everything, but you will also need a larger chef’s knife for a few of the recipes in the book. I recommend a 5-, 6-, or 7-inch chef’s knife; the most important part in choosing one is making sure you feel comfortable with its size.
ladle
We use a ladle to help pass things through a chinois, and that’s pretty much it. We use a 2- or 3-ounce ladle; anything else is too big to fit inside the bottom of the chinois. But, while a ladle makes things easier, if you don’t have one, you can use the back of a spoon instead.
microwave
We don’t have a stovetop (we have one lowly induction burner), and I am mad for microwave ovens. We use our microwave for everything from melt-ing butter and chocolate to heating liquids before adding bloomed gelatin to them. The microwave is one of man’s greatest inventions, and it is the cleanest and easiest way to apply heat to a world of desserts. Make sure you use a microwave-safe bowl. It’s important to note that, depending on the size and age of your microwave, it will heat more quickly, slowly, powerfully, or feebly than ours. Get to know your microwave. When melting anything in a microwave, don’t power it up for 3 minutes and walk away. Check on anything you are microwaving at 15- or 30-second intervals, stirring each time to ensure a gently melted or warmed-through ingredient.
mixer and attachments
You need a stand mixer, and you need the paddle, hook, and whisk attachments. A handheld granny mixer won’t work for this cookbook. A lot of our recipes require mixing dough for an extended amount of time; plus, most of the cookie doughs are way too heavy for a granny mixer. We use a Brevel, but you could use a KitchenAid, a Viking, or a Sunbeam.
molds and vessels
Our favorite molds are made of silicone. They make it easy to unmold and to clean. They certainly aren’t necessary—our desserts taste the same regardless of what shape they’re molded into—but they make plated desserts seem more composed and classy. The Saltine Panna Cotta, for example, calls for a 2-ounce round mold. We tried to change it up for you at home, though; you can set the Cereal Milk Panna Cotta in 5-ounce juice glasses from your cupboard.
parchment paper
We get parchment paper in sheets that perfectly fit our full-sized sheet pans. You can get by with using wax paper, or use a Silpat if you have one. Just don’t use aluminum foil; it conducts more heat and will burn the bottom of your cookies.
peeler
A peeler is not a necessity, but it will make your life a lot easier when it comes to peeling apples, carrots, potatoes, and things of that nature. As with a chef’s knife, make sure you choose a peeler you are comfortable holding in your hand.
pie tins
We use 10-inch disposable aluminum foil pie tins that are 1 inch deep. We use disposable tins because of the insane number of pies we bake off every day. If you already have a 9-inch pie tin, you can totally use it; just keep in mind that when you are molding a crust or filling it you may need to adjust the measurements and bake times (where applicable) slightly. If you’re giving away pies left and right, though, you should definitely use disposable ones so you don’t have to remember which friend ended up with your cute pie plate.
plastic wrap
Professional plastic wrap is a necessity. Saran Wrap is a flimsy joke. We use Purity Wrap Food Service Film, which you can buy at amazon.com. It is inexpensive, wraps around anything, and keeps everything inside its force fields fresh. Once you use this stuff, you’ll never go back to supermarket brands.
pots and pans
We love All-Clad—their pots are the best. They have heavy bottoms that rarely cause anything to burn. To cook from this book, you need three heavy-bottomed pots or saucepans: a small one that holds 1 to 2 quarts, a medium one that holds 3 to 4 quarts, and a large one that holds 4 to 6 quarts.
rolling pin
There is a wealth of pie recipes in this book, but not a single one of them involves rolling out pie dough with a rolling pin. I think that’s pretty cool. You will only need a rolling pin for the Cinnamon Bun Pie and the mother dough chapter and to break up pieces of nut brittles before you grind them down. That’s it.
scale
One of the main messages of this cookbook is to be precise when it makes a difference and not to sweat things when it doesn’t. When measuring ingredients for any recipe, precision makes a huge difference. If you spend the money on this cookbook and take the time to read it, do yourself a favor and invest in a $30 scale that measures grams, one of the most accurate measurements you can take in a kitchen. To be nice, we still give you “freedom measurements” for each weight, but I can’t emphasize enough how much more perfect and uniform your desserts will turn out if you weigh the ingredients in grams. Treat your scale with love and respect. Never store anything on top of it, and make sure it stays calibrated. We check our scales once a week by placing a pound of butter on each of them to make sure they read 453 grams (that’s 1 pound, or 16 ounces, or 2 cups butter to all of you non-gram speakers).
sheet pans
My mother has really horrible, thin, wobbly baking sheets. I was just as guilty in my home kitchen too, until I snuck two home from the bakery one day. Invest in good-quality, heavy, rimmed sheet pans: one 10 × 13-inch “quarter sheet” pan for cakes, and one or more 13 × 18-inch sheet pans called “half-sheet” pans in the trade for cookies and everything else. Treat them with the same integrity and respect that you do for the mixing process of cakes and cookies, because that sheet pan is what the success of the final product is based on. Wash and store them with the same esteem.
silpat
A Silpat is like a piece of parchment paper, except that it’s made of silicone and you can use it over and over again. It’s a nonstick mat for sheet pans. You can use it to bake cookies, or to pour caramel or brittle onto and let it harden. Make sure you have one that matches the size of the sheet pan you have. Hand-wash your Silpat in warm soapy water with a nonabrasive sponge or even a washcloth.
sound system
Our sound system consists of five mismatched $10 plug-into-the-wall speakers. We all listen to music while we work. It makes the hard times seem so good. It’s how we set the tone in the kitchen and get comfortable. If I’m feeling tired and I know I have an uphill battle, I always listen to rhythmic, upbeat music. I’m also a huge fan of Neil Young and Bob Dylan, because there is something about their music that is calming and nurturing; it reminds me of being at home. I love t
he mellow, whiny, dream-like stuff because it kind of speaks to my imagination. I find it an interesting study in human science to hear what other people like to listen to while baking.
spatula
A heatproof spatula is a great investment, and it is a necessity for the nut brittle chapter. You start each nut brittle recipe by making a dry caramel, using your heatproof spatula (I don’t like using wooden spoons). It is very versatile, and you can use it for so many different things—hot or cold. All you need is one.
spoons, tasting
When you make something, always have four or five clean spoons nearby so that you can taste as you go and adjust the recipe accordingly, then taste again. Plus, it’s a great excuse to eat raw batter.
tape
Specifically, blue tape. Painters were really onto something when they came up with it. The stuff sticks, but then it comes off and doesn’t leave a mess. Amazing. We use it to label everything that we make. We use a Sharpie marker to write the name of the item, the date it was made, and the initials of whoever made it on the tape.
thermometers
We use two different types of thermometers: one for our ovens and a digital one for when we make Peanut Butter Nougat or Italian meringue. An oven thermometer is essential for getting uniformly consistent baking results every time. The digital thermometer is key in getting the sugar to just the right temperature before pouring it into egg whites. Having both types of thermometers is nonnegotiable.
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