How do you convert an Australian recipe? I seem to remember that an Australian cup/British cup is not the same as an American cup...

brooklynsam
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7 Comments

brooklynsam December 3, 2011
Thanks so much for the help, especially the room temp tip! I've got the butter on the counter top.
So do you think I should just use the dry measures as written and hope for the best?
 
boulangere December 3, 2011
Yes. You'll be fine!
 
boulangere December 2, 2011
Ok, let's do some deciphering here. 125 grams of butter, at the exchange of 29.5 grams to the ounce would be about 4 and 1/4 ounces of butter. So call it 4 ounces, or one stick if you're using butter broken down into quarter ounces. I suspect you're spot on with the vanilla essence trade. Icing sugar, yes, use powdered sugar. Cornflower and and cornstarch are interchangeable terms. So, start with room temp butter. This is important. I leave mine out overnight (actually if at home, I set it in the oven so none of the dogs or cats will have a midnight snack). By all means, sift the powdered sugar. It's notoriously lumpy. Add it to the butter, and mix on the paddle until very pale in color, which means you've beaten a lot of air into it. Add the vanilla extract and beat again. Sift in the all-purpose flour and the corn starch. Mix on low speed until just incorporated. 3 cm rosetted are about 1 1/4 inches, so say about a # 5 or 6 star tip. Now for the filling. 30 grams of butter equates to slightly over an ounce of very soft butter. That's about 1/4 of 1 stick of butter. We've covered the icing sugar issue: use powdered sugar. Whip together the butter and powdered sugar until very light and pale, then add milk as needed to make it spreadable. Trust your instincts here and you'll do fine. And please post photos!
 
boulangere December 2, 2011
I'd love an edit function here. The second sentence should read, "So call it 4 ounces, or one stick if you're using butter broken down into quarter POUNDS."
 
boulangere December 2, 2011
Edit function, please! Rosetted should read rosettes.
 
boulangere December 2, 2011
Well for starters, there's everyones' mother's adage of 'a pint a pound the world around." Can you give us some examples of possibly conflicting measurements and recipes?
 
brooklynsam December 2, 2011
Oh, I was hoping you would jump in here, boulangere!

The recipe I want to make is for these Australian cookies called yo-yos. The recipe is: 125g butter, 1 tsp vanilla essence (I'm assuming extract?) 2 tbsp icing sugar (confectioner's sugar?) 3/4 cup flour, 1/4 cup cornflour (cornstarch?). You beat the butter, essence and sifted icing sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy and then stir in sifted flours. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1 cm fluted tube. Pipe 3 cm rosettes, bake in "moderate" oven (350?) about 10 minutes. Cool and fill biscuits with filling. Filling is 30g butter, 1/2 tsp vanilla essence, 1/2 cup icing sugar and 1 tsp milk blended until light and fluffy.

So, the person who provided this recipe suggested that there are difference between "cups" and wasn't sure how to convert. Any thoughts are welcome!
 
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