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20 The Queens Courier • holiday • december 11, 2014 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com s holiday guide Helpful holiday baking tips Deck the halls. Shop the sales. Clean the house. Who has time for holiday baking? What most don’t realize, however, is that by doctoring up a box of cake mix with a few of your own special ingredients, you can quickly whip up a holiday treat that will fool anyone into believing it is 100 percent homemade. “With all those holiday chores piling up on your to-do list, holiday baking can turn any of us into a grinch. There are many tricks you can use to transform cake mixes into magical cakes that will fool your guests and even yourself,” said Anne Byrn, author of the new book, “The Cake Mix Doctor Returns!” In addition, taking those few extra moments to bake something yourself can be good for your family’s soul. “Now more than ever, with the stresses and demands of the outside world, the home and the kitchen are a refuge. Baking and sharing good food with those we love strengthens and renews us,” she said. Here are some ideas from Byrn’s new book to help you turn ordinary cake mixes into extraordinary res ults: • Top chocolate cakes with crushed peppermints for that candy cane zing. • Turn a plain vanilla or yellow cake mix into a spice cake by adding your own cinnamon (one teaspoon), allspice (half teaspoon) and ground nutmeg (quarter teaspoon). • Add eggnog and fruit preserves to a simple mix to lend any cake a holiday theme. • Chocolate curls are the ultimate edible garnish. To make them, run a sharp vegetable peeler in one long stroke over the top of a bar or square of chocolate. The longer the stroke and the warmer the chocolate, the more elegant the curl. • Top white or angel food cakes with shredded coconut. Tint it a festive color by shaking it in a plastic bag with a few drops of food coloring. • Dust cocoa powder, cinnamon or confectioners sugar over a cake using a fine mesh sieve. Get creative and sprinkle on patterns and designs using stencils. • You can use milk, buttermilk, orange juice or even brewed coffee instead of water in cake mixes. And adding vanilla, almond, lemon and peppermint pure extracts can work wonders. A half teaspoon can transform any cake. “Remember, the less time you spend baking, the more time you can savor with family and friends,” Byrn said. For more tips on how to transform ordinary cake mixes and for 160 year-round recipes, read Bryn’s new book “The Cake Mix Doctor Returns!” or visit www. cakemixdoctor.com. – StatePoint Media


QC12112014
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