For cookie recipe ingredients, got to keep ’em separated

Q Whenever I bake cookies, the recipe says to mix all dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet ingredients. Why can’t I just add all the ingredients together in one bowl? Also, how can I make my cookies all the same size so that they look good enough to sell at a bake sale?

A Dry ingredients such as salt, baking soda and flour are mixed separately to avoid clumps. Imagine eating a cookie and suddenly ‘POW’ — a mouth full of baking soda. Yuck! Stirring

(or whisking) the baking soda in with the flour breaks up the pieces and ensures evenness.

As for consistently shaped cookies, purchase a retractable ice cream scoop (they come in different sizes). Not only will each cookie end up the same size, but you will notice that your cookies don’t flatten as much because the dough is rounded. Another option is to bake cookies inside silicone muffin pans; they will all turn out the same shape.

Q I often make cupcakes for my kid’s lunches. I am wondering if you have any advice about how to pack one single cupcake so the frosting is not ruined.

A Purchase a plastic cup with a lid and a straw. Next time you need to carry a single cupcake somewhere, place the cupcake onto the lid of the cup. Put the cup upside down over the cupcake and close. This is a good way to transport one single cupcake. Or better yet, save plastic sundae cups and lids from your favourite ice cream restaurant for transporting cupcakes. But for lunch bags, save the plastic containers that muffin liners come in and use that container and lid to transport cupcakes for lunches. If you know you will be transporting cupcakes, make decorator’s icing because it isn’t as smushy as regular buttercream.

You can also top cupcakes with candies (i.e. chocolate chips or candy corn), doing this prevents the lid from attacking your cupcake.

FABULOUS TIP OF THE WEEK

Night crawlers are as important ■ to our environment as earthworms and ladybugs. But sometimes like many other bug friends, they have the capacity to take over the yard. Begin by power-raking the lawn. While there are chemical pesticides on the market, you will help yourself by watering your lawn deeply but not often.

To catch night crawlers, in an empty ice cream bucket, make a solution of one gallon (4.5 litres) water combined with 1/3 cup (80 mL) mustard powder. Stir and pour over soil. Pick the worms up and sell them to a fish bait store.