cooking with American shortcuts

[tielan]

The down side of a lot of American recipes is that they have 'shortcuts' that aren't available in other countries.

Graham cracker crumbs? Nope.

Sugar cookie mix? Nope.

Cherry pie filling? Nope.

And then once you add up all these NOPE items, the calculation begins: can you substitute with something else?

TBH Graham cracker crumbs is the easiest thing for me to substitute. The Arnott's NICE (pronounced like the Italian city) biscuits are our preferred cheesecake crumb crust. But Sugar cookie mix? Those may be available, but not easily and I wouldn't know where to start. Same with cherry pie filling - would blended, pitted cherries do? How liquid would it need to be?

Pumpkin pie filling? Don't make me laugh. You're not even talking about blended up pumpkin flesh, you're talking about pumpkin-flavoured custard which is an entirely different kettle of fish!

A stick of butter? Welp, that's unhelpful in other countries. As it turns out a 'stick of butter' is about 100g. Probably closer to 110g.

*sigh*

Comments

[wpadmirer]

Sugar cookie recipe:

Cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. In another bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda; gradually beat into creamed mixture.

Hope this helps. I'd forgotten vanilla.

[tielan]

It's a bit short of measurements, but I guess I could improvise.

[wpadmirer]

D'OH!

Ingredients

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

[tielan]

:)