I don't know how many of you like to cook/bake but for the subset who may, I'm wondering what your experiences have been like so far dealing with the sugar shortages brought on by the Rogers strike.
In particular:
-Have you successfully used icing sugar (which seems relatively easy to get still but is cut with starch) as a substitute for granulated white sugar or brown sugar? How did that go... did your gingerbread taste the same? What substitution ratio did you use?
-Has anyone switched to making any of the plethora of "wartime" recipes for cookies, chocolate or otherwise? How did those go over?
-Anyone striking out in an unusual direction and making something very different instead, like Pavlova?
When preparing for guests I tend to play it safe and prepare recipes I know really well, and in this case either an old recipe with a key ingredient substituted or a new recipe both feel like going against that general rule.
Well granted this is only anecdotal but the strike is ongoing, both stores I went to today (Shoppers, Safeway) were sold out of everything but icing sugar and have been for a while now, and my relatives in Winnipeg report the same. I don't live near a Walmart so not sure about them.
Stores have intermittent stocks. Sometimes stock is in the smaller bags only. Generally, you can find some sugar. Best time to go is earlier in the day. While I rarely shop at Coop, I have found that you can always find some sugar at that store.
I was at Costco in the NE and they had loads of raw sugar, not sure if it bakes the same. But no shortage there.
It's not really interchangeable in most baking recipes for cake batters and the like as it does not dissolve the same. You can certainly use it but it is advised that you grind it up to a finer consistency prior to substituting.
I use raw sugar mainly as a garnish...in other words I sprinkle a bit on top of certain cookies for extra crunch and the like.
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my wife was in costco (in kelowna) a couple days ago and grabbed a big bag of white sugar
i was in susperstore (again, in kelowna) this past weekend and they had an entire palette of white sugar just sitting in the isle. it was the smaller bags.
so there is white sugar out there... maybe we've just been lucky with our timing?
__________________ "...and there goes Finger up the middle on Luongo!" - Jim Hughson, Av's vs. 'Nucks
Walmart in Airdrie had lots of both last weekend, I grabbed a small bag of each. I don't typically make a ton of stuff but good to have on hand for my Christmas Eve dessert I always do.
Dumb question, but can you use simple syrup (dissolved sugar water) as a sub for regular sugar in ay recipe? Or would that make it too runny?
Simple answer is no. It is not quite as bad for cakes but cookies would spread way too much when baking.
There are ways to compensate and convert. Mr. Google is your best friend when trying those conversions as they are not the same for all cakes, bars, cookies etc.
There are some sugars that are mostly interchangeable, like brown sugar and granulated sugar. You might notice a difference in cookies as brown sugar will result in softer more chewable cookies.
I keep reading this topic as "holiday banking" which admittedly is less fun.
I'm not sure this thread is much better when it comes to fun. :/
Maybe to pivot from the original intent and reorient things towards something more interesting, I'll share that with my abundance of icing sugar and, I guess, continued abysmal luck finding regular sugar, I'm going to try making this cool-looking Norwegian dessert this weekend:
I don't have the molds for it so from another recipe I'm going to make round lengths starting 3 inches long increasing 1 inch at a time until I run out of dough, bend it into rings and bake it that way.
Maybe if people share some favourites / new things they're excited about it'll be more useful. Sort of a Christmas version of the BBQ thread after a fashion.
I'm not sure this thread is much better when it comes to fun. :/
Maybe to pivot from the original intent and reorient things towards something more interesting, I'll share that with my abundance of icing sugar and, I guess, continued abysmal luck finding regular sugar, I'm going to try making this cool-looking Norwegian dessert this weekend:
I don't have the molds for it so from another recipe I'm going to make round lengths starting 3 inches long increasing 1 inch at a time until I run out of dough, bend it into rings and bake it that way.
Maybe if people share some favourites / new things they're excited about it'll be more useful. Sort of a Christmas version of the BBQ thread after a fashion.
We make these. We use almond flour though (which you can get at Costco now for gluten free reasons).
I fortunately bought a big bag of sugar before the shortage, and am pretty sure I'll have enough to last me though Christmas baking.
Somehow I ended up buying coconut twice and now have a ridiculous quantity, so I guess a lot of macaroons are on the docket. (Worth mentioning in these times of shortage, you can make them without sugar, just sweetened condensed milk.)
Anyone got any other coconut-heavy christmas baking recipes they'd recommend?
I took care of my fruitcake a couple weeks ago, this fantastic bourbon-soaked, pistachio laden, marachino-cherry-free version. It's a great fruitcake for people who don't like fruitcake, which includes myself. This weekend I'll be doing swedish-style cinnamon buns.
2023 Holiday Baking
