lesson 2: room temperature

to celebrate our first snowflakes of the year (very briefly) this afternoon, I wanted to bake some mini pies! did I really need an excuse: no, not really. not one bit. i like to bake and this pie maker makes it so easy and fast.

todays lesson relates to our favorite baking term "room temperature."

how does this affect our pies?

1. store bought pie crusts are rolled into tubes and kept refrigerated. if I were to take the crust out of the fridge and try to unroll it, I would see the crust crack open in spots, making little holes; not what I want in my mini pie crusts. so, i take them out and take the roll out of the plastic wrapping and let it sit out for a while. I don't let the crust get all the way to room temp because then they become soft, sticky and difficult to work with.

2. however, when it comes to the ingredients for the filling, room temperature is better. I made chocolate cheesecakes today and good cheesecake demands that all ingredients be room temp. this allows them to blend together nicely, and faster, making for a smooth filling that doesn't have a lot of air whipped into it, leaving it dense and delicious.

I took this photo after having quickly placed the crusts and spooned out the filling.

also of note, as with my art making, when I bake I like to use what I already have on hand. since I didn't have any bittersweet baking chocolate on hand (I know, what kind of baker doesn't have baking chocolate in their pantry?) I grabbed my cocoa and followed the directions on the package to substitute (1 tablespoon vegetable oil + 3 tablespoons cocoa). it worked perfectly.

but really I should let you be the judge of that ;)

what do you think?