how do you cut bars?
Posted by pineappleprincess on Apr 15, 2008 · Member since Aug 2006 · 885 posts
Any ideas for getting those picture-perfect ruler straight cuts in a pan of bars?
I've decided this week is Random acts of Baking week, so Monday I made orange cake, today chocolate chip cookies, and for tomorrow, I've got some sort of pineapple struesal shortbread bars I concocted.
I know to let them cool completely, but I wonder how you all get them so perfectly cut in the pictures?
A sharp, serrated knife? And maybe use a gentle sawing motion instead of bluntly pressing down.
can you take the thing out of the pan? that is why it is good to cook w/ a lining of parchment, then you can just lift the (uncut) bars out...
then use a sharp knife to cut them outside the pan. most of the time a flat chefs knife works best.... so that you can just lay the blade across the entire span of the bar and press straight down, one hand on the handle, the other hand/fingers pressing down the blade end...so that it goes thru the bar at the same time. you might have to rock the knife back and forth (front to back) to get it through everything. (i hope i explained that well enough. :-\)
Oh yeah, that's a good point, LA. Instead of dragging the knife across the bars and mushing things together, do the whole cut in one motion. So, don't use a teeny little paring knife or a butter knife. ;)b
I use a pizza cutter and get pretty even, straight lines for my cookie bars.
I use a pizza cutter and get pretty even, straight lines for my cookie bars.
Oooh, that sounds like a good idea too! They have a nice thin blade.
Coincidentally, I just read an advice column this morning on household items. A reader wrote that she cut brownies with a plastic knife because it "makes a neat, straight cut, and the brownies don't stick to the plastic knife."
I've never tried cause I'm happy with my pizza cutter, but it sounded like a good tip. (Credit to Everyday Cheapskate column by Mary Hunt)
OK, I'm an idiot, we'll concede that, 8-) but my first thought when I read the title of this thread was, "With a hacksaw!" Then I realised this is the cooking section, not the "get out of jail free" section! ;)