Measuring Techniques – Making Sure You Measure Your Ingredients the Right Way

I know there are those people out ther who can pour ingredients into their hand or into a bowl and know exactly how much they just added to the recipe…I’m not one of those people, and most likely never will be.  So I needed some measuring guidelines…

• Liquids – make sure you use a glass or clear plastic measuring cup when measuring liquids.  Place the measuring cup on the countertop or on something flat. You want to be able to get the measuring cup at eye level so that you can see where your liquid is in the cup.  Do NOT lift the cup off the counter until you know you have the correct amount.  When using measuring spoons, fill the spoon to the top with the liquid, but don’t make it overflow.  Do NOT fill your measuring spoon up while holding it over the mixing bowl.  If it spills over, you will have too much liquid in your mix.
• Flour – First, you want to stir your flour in whatever container you are storing it in.  This helps lighten it up so that it isn’t as compact which can cause you to have too much flour in your recipe.  Spoon the mixed up flour into your measuring cup, while holding it over your flour container.  Make sure you have a little mound of flour in your cup. Take the flat end of a knife and drag it over the measuring cup to level off.
• Granulated Sugar – scoop the sugar up using the measuring cup.  Take the flat end of a knife and level off.
• Brown Sugar – Spoon brown sugar into your measuring cup and press down after each spoonful with your fingers.  Continue until cup is filled and top is level.
• Solid Shortening (Crisco) – Using a  small rubber spatula and scoop out the shortening from its container.  Put it into the measuring cup and flatten with spatula. Continue until full and then level off with the flat end of a knife.
• Stick Margarine or Butter – if you look at the stick wrapping, you will see that it is divided by lines into 8 Tablespoons.  Depending on how much you need, you will cut on these lines.  Half a stick equals 1/4 cup and the whole stick equals 1/2 cup.
• Dried Herbs – Most herbs are going to be measured with measuring spoons.  If your herb container is wide enough, take your measuring spoon and dip it into the container and scoop out your herb.  Shake slightly to level.  Dump the herbs into the palm of your hand and use your fingers, from your other hand, to crush the leaves. This will release the herbs flavors.  Some dried herbs, such as rosemary and thyme need to be crushed with a mortar and pestle.
• Seasonings (chili powder, cinnamon, etc) – spoon the seasoning out of the container (if the opening is large enough) and then shake slightly to level off.  If the opening is not big enough, then pour your seasoning into your measuring spoon and shake lightly to level.  I do this over a small bowl, so if I spill any, I can dump it back into the container for future use.

So there you go…I hope these measuring techiniques help you make your recipes the best they can be.