4 Baking Essentials for Christmas
November 24, 2014 | Cooking & Kitchen | No comments
Whilst families may not spend time mixing the Christmas pudding together, Christmas aromas will soon be floating around many homes and to help make sure that your Christmas puddings and mince pies are a success this year, it’s important to make sure that you have the right kitchen accessories to hand and a fully working cooker.
Before you can begin to consider making the various goodies for Christmas, it’s important to make sure that your cooking appliances, particularly your oven, are up to scratch. However, as with all appliances which are put under constant use cookers from time-to-time can experience faults.
Two faults which can hinder the baking of your Christmas treats, particularly mince pies which need to be cooked at a temperature of 200⁰C for 25 to 30 minutes are:
1) The Oven Not Heating Up:
If your oven is not heating up correctly, then the food you’re attempting to cook will either take what seems like an age to be ready, or will not be cooked all the way through.
Should you be faced with this problem, then the first thing you should check is that the oven temperature indicator, which is usually a small lamp, is lit? If it is, then the fault is likely to lie either with the element or thermal cut out.
To check the element, you should first check for signs of damage; if there are no visible signs of damage, check the cooker element for resistance with a multi-meter, and replace if necessary.
The thermal cut out is a fuse, usually located at the back of your cooker near the element.
2) Heat Escaping the Oven:
Heat escaping from your oven can result in the appliance’s efficiency being hindered and the time it takes to cook food being increased.
The most common cause for heat escaping your oven is that the seal has become worn or damaged. Thankfully replacing the seal on your cooker is usually a relatively simple task which should take no more than five or ten minutes.
When the oven is cool, carefully unclip the old seal, and once this has been removed give the frame of the oven a wipe clean to remove any grease or dirt build up, before clipping the new seal into place.
Safe in the knowledge that your oven is in full working condition, you can begin considering the baking of various Christmas goods using those family recipes which have passed down through the generations.
Along with having the recipes to hand, it’s important to make sure that you have the right cooking essentials to hand. Some of the essentials which we recommend to help with your Christmas cooking experience include:
- Baking sheets
- Extendable baking trays
- Hand mixers / table mixer with bowl
Each of these kitchen accessories will make the task of cooking various dishes, not only during Christmas but throughout the year, a lot easier and all of them are available from BuySpares.
Tags: Cooker Spares, Cooking, Kitchen Appliances