Category Archives: Cooking

Peanut butter biscuits or cookies

An Inquisitive Mind. Also, Cookies :)

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I’m a bit of a Pinterest tart (I have 80 boards for art, craft, cooking and home decorating) so you won’t be surprised to find out that I come across a lot pins of great cooking tips. While I like to pin recipes, tips and basic information are my favourite because they give me the information that allows me to play with the recipes to make them just the way I want. (I just realised I approach cooking the same way as I approach my knitting and sewing. No surprise there then).

Yesterday someone pinned “How Ingredients Behave in a Cookie Recipe” from Sugarkissed.net, which is an article about the effects that different ingredients have on the finished cookie. What makes them chewy or crunchy, puffy or flat, cakey or cookie-y.

I couldn’t help thinking how the ingredients in the Magic Peanut Butter Cookies fit in.

Equal parts fat and sugar, check. Although in this case the fat is peanut butter rather than just butter.

Egg for binder, check.

Little flour makes them flat, check. According to one of the sources referenced in Sugarkissed’s post , the ground peanuts in the peanut butter are a replacement for flour. So that’s why the recipe works!

What makes this information so great (and the info in her referenced sources) is that  we can all now go and create our own cookie recipes. Whether from scratch, or by changing an existing recipe that we wish had “just a bit more crunch” or was “just a bit chewier”.

OK, ready, set, GO make cookies!

Weight, Volume, Temperature, and Packet Size Conversion Charts

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I use a lot of different measurements when cooking from vintage recipes. Getting these right is especially important when baking and can mean the different between a light, fluffy cake and a doorstop.
Below are the weights and measurements that I use. Print this page and keep it handy (the ads and extra stuff won’t print) or you can download pretty versions in pdf format by clicking the images above. Choose from the “books” or “pretty gingham” versions.

Volume

1 US gallon = 4/5 UK (imperial) gallon or 3.78 litres

1 UK gallon (imperial) = 1 and 1/5 US gallons or 4.54 litres

1 US pint = 4/5 UK (imperial) pints = 473ml

1 UK (imperial) pint = 1 and 1/5 US pints = 568ml

1 metric pint = 600ml

1 US quart = 4/5 UK (imperial) quart = 946 ml

1 UK (imperial) quart = 1 and 1/5 US quarts = 1137ml

1 US fluid oz = 1 UK (imperial) fluid oz (near enough) = 30ml

1 US tablespoon = 4/5 UK (imperial) tablespoon = 15ml

1 UK (imperial) tablespoon = 1 and 1/5 US tablespoons = 18ml

1 Australian metric tablespoon = 3/5 oz = 20ml

1 US teaspoon = 4/5 UK (imperial) teaspoon = 1 metric teaspoon = 5ml

1 UK (imperial) teaspoon = 1 1/5th US teaspoons = 6ml

1 salt spoon = 1/2 teaspoon

1 dessert spoon = 2 teaspoons

1 US coffee spoon = 1/2 teaspoon = 2.5ml

1 kitchen spoon = 1 teaspoon

a pinch = 1/8 teaspoon

a vintage dash = 12 drops, although use your own judgment

a modern dash = 3 drops

a dram = 1/8 oz = 3.5ml

1 UK (imperial) gill or jill = 1/4 of a UK (imperial) pint or 142ml

1 US gill or jill = 1/4 of a US pint or 118ml

1 cup (tumbler or glassful) US = 1 cup UK (imperial) = 240ml

1 metric cup = 8 1/2oz = 250ml

1 scant cup = 1 US cup minus 2 US tablespoons = (240ml-30ml) 210ml

1 heaping cup = 1 US or UK imperial cup plus 2 teaspoons (approx) = 1 metric cup or 250ml

1 UK teacup = 6 1/2 oz = 190ml

1 UK breakfast cup = 9 1/2 oz = 285ml

1 wineglass = 1/4 US or imperial cup = 60ml

1 jigger = 1.5 oz = 44ml

1 coffee cup = a scant US/imperial cup = 210ml1 peck = 2 gallons (dry). Use the gallon measurement for whichever country in which your recipe was published – US 7.6 litres – UK 9 litres

1 saucer = 1 heaping US/imperial cup = 1 metric cup = 250ml

butter the size of an egg = 1/4 US/imperial cup or 2 ounces = 56gm

butter the size of a walnut = 1 US tablespoon = 3/4 Australian/UK tablespoon or 3 teaspoons = 15ml

butter the size of a hazelnut = 1 teaspoon = 5ml

Weight

1 US oz weight = 1 UK (imperial) oz weight = 28gm

1 lb = 454gm

1 stone = 6.35kg

1 pennyweight = 1/20 oz = 1.5gm

Temperatures

Very slow oven = below 300 degrees F = below 150 degrees C

Slow oven = 300 degrees F = 150 degrees C

Moderately slow oven = 325 degrees F = 160 degrees C

Moderate oven = 350 degrees F = 180 degrees C

Moderately hot oven = 375 degrees F = 190 degrees C

Quick oven = 375 – 400 degrees F = 190 – 205 degrees C

Hot oven = 400 – 425 degrees F = 205 – 220 degrees C

Very hot oven = 450 – 475 degrees F = 230 – 250 degrees C

Extremely hot oven = 500 degrees F or more = 260 degrees C or more

Packet Sizes

Cans (US)

#1 = 1-1/3 US/imperial cups = 320 ml

#1 tall = 2 US/imperial cups = 480 ml

#1 square = 2 US/imperial cups = 480 ml

#2 = 2-1/2 US/imperial cups = 600 ml

#2-1/2 = 3-1/2 US/imperial cups = 840 ml

#2-1/2 square = scant 4 US/imperial cups = 960 ml

#3 = 4 US/imperial cups = 960 ml

#3 squat= 2-3/4 US/imperial cups = 660 ml

#5 = 7-1/3 US/imperial cups = 1776 ml

#10 = 12 US/imperial cups = 2880 ml

#300 = 1-3/4 US/imperial cups = 420 ml

#303 = 2 US/imperial cups = 480 ml

Chocolate

1 square = 1oz US = 28gm

Gelatine

Envelope = 3 teaspoons or 1 US tablespoon

Yeast

Package of dried yeast = 3/5 oz = 17gm

Cake of compressed yeast = 3/5 oz = 17gm