Cooking Hints and Tips   

Garnishing

Candy To make gumdrop flowers, flatten gumdrops with rolling pin on surface or sheet of waxed paper sprinkled with sugar. Roll until very thin (about 1/16-inch thick), turning frequently to coat with sugar. Hold flattened gumdrop at center; overlap edges slightly to give petal effect, pressing piece together at base to resemble a flower. For open blossom, bend gumdrop petals outward from center. Insert small piece of gumdrop in centers with wooden pick, if desired. To make a gumdrop ribbon, line up gumdrops in a row on surface or sheet of waxed paper sprinkled with sugar. Flatten into long strips with rolling pin, turning frequently to coat with sugar. Cut flattened gumdrops with sharp knife into 1-inch strips. To make a gumdrop bow, line up gumdrops in a row on surface or sheet of waxed paper sprinkled with sugar. Flatten into long strips with rolling pin, turning frequently to coat with sugar. Cut flattened gumdrops with sharp knife into 1-inch strips. Fold over four strips to form loops of the bow; place on dessert. Then place a small loop in center to cover center of bow. Cut V-shapes at one end of remaining two strips, if desired; place under loops to resemble ends of ribbon. Chocolate To make chocolate curls for garnishing, carefully draw a vegetable peeler across the broad surface of a bar of chocolate. To make chocolate curls, place one wrapped square of chocolate in microwave. Microwave on DEFROST for approximately 1 minute to warm slightly. Or leave wrapped chocolate for several hours in a warm place such as on top of refrigerator or under a strong light. Carefully pull a vegetable peeler over the smooth surfaces of the chocolate square. Scrape along the bottom for long curls or the sides for short curls. Use a toothpick to lift the curls without breaking them. Refrigerate. Store in covered container in refrigerator or freezer. To make chocolate leaves for garnishing, brush tempered chocolate on the underside of nontoxic leaves such as mint, rose, lemon, and strawberry. Let cool and carefully peel leaf away. To make chocolate shavings for garnishing, use a vegetable peeler and make short, quick strokes across the surface of a solid piece of chocolate. To make chocolate lace for garnishing, pipe tempered chocolate from a pastry bag onto a chilled, wax-paper-lined baking sheet; let dry. To make chocolate gratings for garnishing, rub a solid piece of chocolate across the grating section of a handheld grater. To make grated chocolate, place one wrapped square of chocolate in microwave. Microwave on DEFROST for approximately 1 minute to warm slightly. Or, leave wrapped square for several hours in a warm place. Grate chocolate onto waxed paper. Chill. Store in refrigerator. To make chocolate drizzle, partially melt chocolate with 1 teaspoon butter over hot water. Remove from heat and continue stirring until completely melted. Using a small spoon, drizzle chocolate back and forth over dessert. Refrigerate. Store in refrigerator. To easily achieve a professional look for chocolate-dipped strawberries, insert toothpicks into the stem ends of the berries. Dip into melted chocolate, shaking off any excess. Turn the berries upside down and stick the toothpicks into a block of craft foam until set. No flat spots! When you wish to use chocolate to coat an item or to mold it, chocolate needs to be correctly melted and tempered. Tempering chocolate gives its particles an even distribution throughout the final chocolate product and will look bright, crisp, and shiny. Fruit To make frosted fruit, use a pastry brush to brush strawberries, grapes or other fruit with light corn syrup. Roll the fruit in granulated sugar to coat. Place sugar-coated fruit on wax paper-lined cookie sheet and keep in refrigerator until ready to use as a garnish. To make citrus curls, use a vegetable peeler or citrus zester to remove long thin strip of peel from around orange, lemon or lime. Cut to desired length. Roll strip into curl; use as garnish. To make citrus fans, use a sharp knife to cut an orange, lemon or lime into thin slices. Stack 3 slices. Cut slit through slices to center. Twist slices from slits in opposite directions; twist 3 slices together to give fan effect. To make citrus twists, use a sharp knife to cut an orange, lemon or lime into thin slices. Cut slit through slices to centers. Twist slices from slits in opposite directions to form twists. Miscellaneous To make green spaghetti, pour 1 pkg. (4 -serving size) Lime Flavor Gelatin Dessert into 4 cups boiling water. Add 4 oz. spaghetti to boiling water. Boil on medium-high heat 11 to 13 minutes or until tender. Drain. Rinse lightly with cold water. Cool. Store in zipper-style plastic bag until ready to use as garnish. To make sauce swirls on a plate, spoon some vanilla sauce onto individual dessert plates. Drop small amounts of another dessert sauce, melted chocolate or strawberry or raspberry jelly from spoon at intervals over vanilla sauce near rim of plate. Draw wooden pick through sauce, swirling through vanilla sauce to create design. An empty salt shaker makes a great container to dust a little powdered sugar over baked goods. Vegetables To make carrot curls, use a vegetable peeler and cut cleaned carrot into strips the length of the carrot. Twirl strips into curls; fasten with wooden picks. Let stand in ice water until ready to use. Remove wooden picks. To make green onion brushes, remove roots and trim green tops from green onions. With sharp knife cut white bulb ends and green tops lengthwise into thin slices, keeping center portions intact. Drop sliced green onions into ice water. Let stand until ends curl. To make red pepper bundles, remove stem from red, yellow or orange bell pepper. Cut in half lengthwise. Pare away pepper membrane and seeds; discard. Cut each half lengthwise into strips about 1/8-inch wide. Cut tops from a green onion. Place in boiling water to soften; rinse with cold water. Cut in half lengthwise to make bundle tie. Gather pepper slices into a bundle and tie with green onion strip. To make bacon curls, while bacon is still very warm right after draining on paper towel, wrap cooked slice around the tines of a metal fork. Let cool. Use to garnish salads, potato and pasta dishes, and meat entrees. To make fruit fans, use a sharp knife to cut pear halves into thin slices, cutting up to, but not through, stem ends. Hold stem end in place and gently fan out slices from stem. Use this same method to make strawberry fans.

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