i just warm up the grease or lard enough along with the peanut butter in the micro wave to be able to mix in the other ingredients in a glass bowl. by the time i get it mixed up it's already cooled off some and i spoon it in the lid or tray and mash it flat.I leave it on the counter for a little while so it's not runny and then put it outside. I usually make up extra ahead of time and usally freeze the ectra trays till i am ready to use them

OK, I am going to make some strawberry tarts for a dinner dessert tomorrow evening, and I'm going to use the those little phyllo cups for the base. As per usual for me, I want them to be "lite" so not super rich ingredients, hence starting with the phyllo cups. I have made these tarts before, and my usual method is to buy some canned lowfat pudding or use tofu pudding for the base and then add my homeade preserves and fresh fruit as the topping. They are good. But this time I'd like to go homeade filling for somthing slightly more upscale. I've looked online and I see two schools of thought--cream cheese with sugar, or custard. The cream cheese with sugar sounds easy, (I'd use lower fat neufatchel) but pedestrian. The custard sounds fattening. Does it have to be? I can make lower fat homeade pudding. Come to think of it I could make parfaits with pudding layered with strawberries flavored with my strawberry rhubarb sauce. I dunno. Strawberries and rhubarb are so good on their own. I'm thinking phyllo tart only because it is closer to pie, which is more traditional. I could even use real store bought pie crust as the bottom layer, I've done that too. That's somewhat of a calorie savings since with fruit pie the bigtime calories are in the crust. But then a rich filling counters any calorie saving benefits of leaving off the top crust. Any experiences, idea or opinions? I'm not going to go the full fat route, that just doesn't fit my moderate lifestyle.

Posted by lbpod "WOW, kinda like a 'lathe' for cakes. If Dcarach is listening/watching, I'm sure he can come up with a motorized version. VERY KEWL !!! " As a matter of fact, I was reluctant to post an idea which I have used for the same thing. Now just for you, I will disclose my idea for those who are as crazy as I am to have fun with: If you still have an old record (LP) player, set the speed to play at 33 rpm, put an old useless LP on it so that you don't get the machine dirty, you can get the cake done in no time. dcarch

Never refrigerate baked cakes or breads unless absolutely necessary. The temperature of a refrigerator is the optimum temp for making baked goods go stale as quickly as possible. They actually go stale faster in the fridge than at room temp--that's a scientific fact. Of course, with a cake with custard filling or whipped cream frosting, you have to store in the fridge for safety's sake. Keeping batter: Today's baking powder is formulated to be double acting. That means that it starts to bubble when you add the liquid, then completes the leavening process when exposed to heat. So if your recipe calls for only baking powder, you would get some rise from stored batter, but nowhere near what you would get from fresh batter. If your leavening agent is beaten egg whites or a baking soda/egg white combo, then it will be played out if you keep the batter. But you won't be happy with the results if you make the batter an hold it. Your best bet? Make and bake your cakes now, wrap (without frosting, preferably) and freeze. Then, when you defrost them, leave them wrapped until they're room temp. That way any condensation that forms as they defrost will be on the outside of the wrapping and won't make the cakes soggy. They'll be fine if you do that, and you'll save yourself a lot of work.