Tip: Use hot water to get sticky ingredients cleanly out of measuring cups.
Occasionally I get a craving for something sweet and reach for something with chocolate. Okay, it’s more like daily, but I don’t like to get caught up in the details. One of my favorite quick treats to make is a no-bake cookie, as I have convinced myself that the oatmeal contained in these little pieces of heaven are healthy enough to counteract the cocoa, butter, sugar, milk and peanut butter that I need to consume to make that dry oatmeal taste so delicious.
That these are called no-bakes is deceiving because you still have to cook them, which is followed by a cleanup. My least favorite part of the cleanup is the measuring cup that once held the needed peanut butter. Cleaning peanut butter off, or out, of things is far tougher than removing baked-on gunk from a pan or taking off my workout clothes after 45 minutes on the treadmill. (Seriously, I have contemplated calling 911 a couple of times.)
I discovered a tip that sounded like it might work on my sticky dilemma and decided to give it a try.
Tip specifics
Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill the cup with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don’t dry the cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.
True or bull?
We are going to call this one “Trull,” a combination answer. If you use it immediately, it works great. However, I measure out the peanut butter a few minutes ahead of time so it is ready to pour quickly into the boiling chocolate lava that I need to be stirring constantly. The peanut butter that sat for about 3 minutes in that cup refused to slide out, and I had the same old mess.
Undercover Mother’s revelations
I was really excited when I started the experiment and saw how smoothly the peanut butter slid out of the preheated measuring cup. Actually, it fell out so quickly it landed in my sink and clogged the drain, leaving me to dig the peanut butter out with the skinny end of the spatula. After using a few choice curse words and cleaning it up, I convinced myself that I could easily get over that issue when I was able to avoid the peanut butter aftermath that I am usually left with, BUT I was disappointed.
I hate sounding like a Debbie Downer, so let’s try to end this on a happy note. The sticky substance will actually dive out of the measuring cup and leave it clean if you use it immediately after you fill it. But if you wait, you will have to soak and scrub your measuring cup to get it clean. At least you can look forward to a tasty treat either way!
