Bon Appetit Desserts (8 page)

Paddle-shaped graters
with handles and
long, slender rasp graters
both come in coarse, ribbon, and extra-fine rasp styles that allow you to grate everything from whole nutmeg and fresh ginger to the outermost layer of citrus peel. (The long, thin grater makes grating citrus zest especially easy—its slender shape allows you to draw the grater back and forth over a piece of citrus fruit, as if bowing a cello.)

A
rotary grater
, crank operated and cylindrical with a small chamber, makes quick work of grating chocolate for sprinkling over a finished dessert.

A conventional
box grater
has four sides with different-size holes for grating, shredding, and slicing. Generally, this kind of grater is best used in savory cooking, but the side with large holes can be used for grating carrots for carrot cake, and the smaller holes are suitable for finely grating chocolate, ginger, and citrus zest. Use the holes with pronged perforations for hard, dry ingredients like nutmeg.

When grating or slicing large amounts, the grater and slicer disks on a food processor are the quickest way to get the job done.

See page 452 in the Frozen Desserts chapter.

Used by professional bakers, a
kitchen scale
is helpful for measuring ingredients by weight rather than volume, which helps ensure consistent results in the commercial kitchen. Avid home bakers use kitchen scales, too, for measuring dry ingredients like flour, cornmeal, chocolate, nuts, and brown sugar. (For a list of weight-volume equivalencies, see page 634). Mechanical scales start at about $20, digital scales at about $50. Both can weigh items up to about 11 pounds, and should be able to measure in ¼-ounce increments.

Designed to last, stay sharp, and feel comfortable in the hand, good knives make cooking a pleasure. Because you’ll use them every day, it’s worth the extra cost to go for top-quality knives. Most top-tier, long-lasting knives are forged from a single piece of high-carbon stain-resistant steel.

A 6- or 8-inch
chef’s knife
is great for chopping nuts, fruit, and chocolate and for mincing fresh ginger.

A long,
serrated bread knife
is handy for halving cake layers, as well as for slicing Bundt cakes and pound cakes (a smaller serrated knife is good for cutting citrus and smaller cakes).

A
paring knife
serves well for peeling fruit, separating citrus pulp from pith, and mincing small quantities.

A long, thin-blade
slicing knife
works well for cutting rich cheesecakes and flourless chocolate cakes.

Ceramic knives
have a following among some cooks. With a blade made of hard, high-tech ceramic, these knives come in 3- to 6-inch sizes and are ultrasharp—they can cut through an apple as if it were butter. Ceramic knives are also costly, prone to shattering if dropped on a hard surface, and require special equipment for both honing and sharpening.

To choose the knives that are right for you, visit a well-stocked kitchen supply store and try different models to figure out which design feels best in your hand.

Loaf pans come in metal, tempered glass, porcelain, and earthenware. Dimensions vary slightly depending on the manufacturer, but a full-size pan generally measures about 9×5 inches and is about 3 inches deep. Loaf pans are convenient for making quick breads, pound cakes, fruitcakes, and dessert terrines. At holiday time,
miniature loaf pans
are great for baking small, gift-size breads and cakes.

You’ll need both dry and liquid measuring cups.

Dry measuring cups
are sold in sets of ¼-, ⅓-, ½- and 1-cup capacities. Sets that also include ⅔-cup and ¾-cup measures are available.

Liquid measuring cups
are essential because they provide extra space at the top so the liquid won’t spill, and the pour spout makes it easy to add the liquid to a pot or mixing bowl. Look for ones that are made of heat-resistant glass with easy-to-read markings. You’ll use 1-, 2-, and 4-cup measuring cups most often; an 8-cup measure is a bonus when making larger quantities—and it can double as another mixing bowl.

A basic set of measuring spoons, usually made of metal or plastic, includes ¼-, ½, and 1-teaspoon sizes, plus a 1-tablespoon size. Sets with ⅛-teaspoon and ½-tablespoon measures are also available. It’s well worth buying more than one set of measuring spoons if you do a lot of baking so that you don’t have to stop and clean spoons while making a cake or other dessert.

Ovenproof up to 420°F, parchment paper is often used to line baking sheets and cake pans. It’s helpful for removing cakes from pans after baking. Plus, it eliminates the need for a spatula when transferring cookies, crostatas, and scones from a baking sheet to a cooling rack—simply slide the paper off the baking sheet and onto the rack.

Use a pastry bag, which can be fitted with a variety of tips, both plain and star shaped, for piping icing, cookie doughs, and meringues. Made of washable plastic-coated cloth,
traditional pastry bags
are reusable, while
disposable pastry bags
, suitable for one use only, are made of clear plastic. Available at specialty cookware stores and in the baking section of some supermarkets, disposable bags are sturdy and cheap, and a boon to bakers who like using multiple colors of frosting for decorating cookies and cupcakes.

No pastry bag? No problem. In the
Bon Appétit
test kitchen, we often use a heavy-duty
resealable plastic bag
with a corner snipped off.

Made for mixing pastry, biscuit, or scone dough by hand, a pastry blender is used to cut cold pieces of butter into dry ingredients instead of using your fingertips (the heat from your hands can melt the butter and result in a less flaky pastry). This simple hand tool consists of five or six closely spaced semicircular blades or wires on one end and a handle on the other. If you don’t have a pastry blender, two table knives or a large fork would work, too, although it is not as convenient.

Coating a pie crust with an egg glaze, brushing melted butter onto phyllo dough, buttering a Bundt pan, or brushing down the sides of a saucepan when making caramel—all of these jobs are most neatly done with a pastry brush. Brushes are available with natural or silicone bristles; both are effective for evenly applying egg washes and glazes. Silicone brushes are easier to clean, but some cooks prefer natural bristles when especially gentle brushing is required—such as when applying an egg wash to a yeast-raised dough that shouldn’t be compressed or spreading fruit glaze on top of a carefully arranged fruit tart.

Pie dishes come in diameters ranging from 8 to 10 inches, in glass, metal, and ceramic. In the
Bon Appétit
test kitchen, recipes are tested with glass pie dishes, so you’ll have the best results if you use the same. Avoid dark metal pans—they tend to brown what’s inside too quickly.

When blind baking (baking a tart or pie crust before filling it), metal or ceramic pie weights prevent the dough from buckling and shrinking during baking. Dried beans can also serve as pie weights—and the beans are reusable.

Look for thick pads or gloves made of moisture-resistant fabric or silicone. To protect your forearms when reaching into the oven, choose extra-long gloves.

A large, heavy-duty roasting pan that measures about 16×13×3 inches can hold a water bath for baking cheesecakes, molten chocolate cakes, custards, and puddings, or an ice bath to use for cooling dessert sauces like hot fudge, custard, and butterscotch sauce. A roasting pan is deeper than a simple baking dish, and has sturdy handles that make moving a water-filled pan in and out of the oven much easier.

Rolling pins come in a few different shapes and are available at well-stocked cookware stores and restaurant supply stores.

A
straight rolling pin
is the simplest and most versatile. This wood dowel is about 20 inches long and 1¾ inches in diameter. Because you push the pin with your hands directly on the dowel, monitoring the texture and thickness of the dough as you roll is easy. Silicone-coated nonstick versions of a straight rolling pin are also available.

A
tapered rolling pin
is more slender than a straight pin. Thanks to its curved profile, a tapered pin permits rolling a round of dough with minimum effort. Silicone versions are available.

A
traditional rolling pin
with handles and ball bearings can be helpful for rolling out very stiff doughs because of its heft. Traditional pins come in wood, metal, and silicone-coated versions. However, these rolling pins with handles generally aren’t as long as straight or tapered pins. Also, many bakers believe that using a rolling pin with handles on the sides puts distance between your hands and the dough, offering less opportunity to monitor the feel of the dough as you roll it out.

Keep an 18-inch ruler in the kitchen along with other hand tools. It’s handy for measuring the diameter of rolled-out pie crusts and puff pastry, and for checking the measurements of cake, tart, and pie pans in case the dimensions are not visibly marked on the pan.

A
silicone pastry
or
baking mat
with markings for various diameters of pie crust makes easy work of rolling out pastry dough. Some pastry mats are also marked with a numbered grid, which helps ensure precision when rolling out square and rectangular pieces of dough. Pastry mats are available from specialty cookware stores and online.

Saucepans come in small (1 to 1½ quarts), medium (2 to 3 quarts), and large (3 to 4 quarts). In the dessert kitchen, they’re indispensable for making fruit compote, fudge sauce, and custard. When paired with a metal bowl, a saucepan makes a serviceable double boiler. A saucepan should feel heavy in your hand, with a snug lid and a handle that stays cool and is easy to grip. The best pans are made of a mix of materials. Effective heat-conducting metals like copper and aluminum are sandwiched between metals like anodized aluminum or stainless steel, which are hardy and don’t react with acidic ingredients like fruit. A saucepan with a stainless interior has the added advantage of being shiny enough to make color change easily visible—especially important when making caramel syrup and other preparations in which color change is an indicator of doneness.

We don’t use a sifter in the test kitchen. When dry goods need sifting, we use a strainer instead. In general, however, combining ingredients with a whisk aerates them sufficiently.

Skillets come in small (7 to 8 inches in diameter), medium (around 10 inches), and large (12 to 14 inches). Their shallow, sloping sides allow the most moisture to evaporate in the shortest amount of time. In the dessert kitchen, skillets come in handy for making small batches of preserves, for browning nuts, and for sautéing fresh fruit. A skillet should feel heavy in your hand, with a handle that stays cool and is easy to hold. Some large skillets have a loop handle on the opposite side from the long handle to ensure a good grip. The best skillets are made of a mix of materials. Effective heat-conducting metals like copper and aluminum are sandwiched between metals like anodized aluminum or stainless steel, which don’t react with acidic ingredients. Nonstick skillets are handy for sautéing fruit, but their dark interior can make it hard to see color change. Cast-iron skillets are the best choice for dishes that go from stovetop to oven.

Spatulas come in solid or slotted versions and a variety of heat-resistant materials, including silicone and metal. The pancake-flipper style is especially useful for transferring cookies from a baking sheet to a cooling rack.

Icing spatulas
in flat and offset (bent at a 90-degree angle) styles offer ease of maneuverability for icing cakes and cupcakes. They come in 1- to 2-inch widths.

Silicone spatulas
come in many shapes and sizes. They’re great for stirring, folding, flipping crepes, and scraping doughs and batters off the bottom and sides of mixing bowls. In addition, silicone spatulas are flexible and easy to clean. Unlike the rubber variety, they’re heat resistant up to 800°F and come in a wide range of colors. Buy several silicone spatulas in different thicknesses, shapes, and sizes. Silicone spatulas with a scooped head are effective for spooning batter. Those that are curved on one side and flat on the other, with thin sides, are especially effective for folding mousses and angel food cake batters, as well as for scraping mixtures from the sides of a mixing bowl. A silicone spatula with a long, thin head is effective for scraping the last bits of puree from the bottom of a blender or jar.