You’ve tried them. They’ve disappointed you. You tried them again. What went wrong the last time went right this time, but something new happened.
You are trapped …in the oopsie zone.
A zone of sight… and of mind…. (Rod Serling, get out of my head, you raven-browed and silvery-tongued manx).
Working with egg whites isn’t absolute snogberries and butterflies. There are so many variables that you can think you’ve nailed a process, only to find something else is now awry. Hopefully these tried and true tips from my kitchen will help your experience be a positive one and not one where you feel you’re looking at a pan of stuff that looks worse than Amy Winehouse after a hickey bender. (Bad Amy!)
“My egg whites turned frothy, but they didn’t hold up in the batter.”
When you whip the egg whites, go for it! You want to almost over whip. I tend to go for really stiff peaks. Like Posh Spice’s outie bits! Firm and looking they might cut through glass. With a conventional hand mixer, you are looking at an easy 3-5 minutes. Don’t stop when you see froth. These do turn white and peaky!
“I mixed the whites and the yolks. It all went flat. What happened?”
When you add the yolk to the whites, add half or less at a time. Using a tall iced tea spoon (or something tall and slender), make a lazy sine wave (or series of S’) across the bowl slowly. Turn the bowl 90 degrees. Repeat sine wave. Then, add the rest of the yolk, distributing evenly around the bowl. Make a lazy sine wave. Turn bowl 90 degrees. Make wave again.
“I scraped the batter from the bowl, but it went weird into the pan.”
Scoop batter from bowl. Don’t pour. I think scraping from the outset can cause two problems: 1. it breaks down the batter; and 2) the solid comes out first and it could separate and leave liquid. I use a large-bowl spoon or a measuring cup for this.
“I had liquid left in the pan and ended up with runny oopsies towards the end.”
It’s invariable that there will be some liquid which separates from solid, either occasionally or as a regular event. Start by plopping down 6 piles on your cookie sheet of the solid. Go back to the bowl. What is left? Keep building on the six piles slowly. As you near the end, is there liquid? If so, make a gentle well in each oopsie ‘pile’ and distribute the liquid among the piles. Think of the piles as mashed potato, and the center, liquidy bits as gravy. The solid holds the liquid in place, allowing no spreading.
“I had a pan of crepes!”
You can also use mini Wilton-type cake pans or muffin top pans to make oopsie if you end up with a runny batter. These pans allow the rolls to cook up uniform and at almost any size you wish! If you use 6 individual small pans, place them in a jello roll pan to keep your pans from sliding off. If you use nonstick pans, never use metal utensils! Don’t spray for non-stick, as they are already treated! Let the baked oopsie cool in the pan and shrink away from the edges. Then run a rubber spatula along the edges to loosen and invert onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
Other cake pans also result in different shapes of food items. Lately, I’ve spotlighted angel food cakes and crullers.
“How do I store oopsies?”
Storage. So you’ve made it through the baking, and your babies look beautiful. We’re talking gossamer beauty so great you almost dropped your coffee cup trying to shield your eyes.
Let the oopsies rest on your counter for up to a day on the cooling rack. After this, I place them in a plastic sack or container with the bag open or the lid loose either on the counter or in the fridge. Air circulation helps keep these from becoming sticky. If you are concerned about leaving these on the counter, by all means, you can store them in your refrigerator.
If I plan to keep the oopsies for more than 2 days, I pop them in the refrigerator and then let them sit on the counter for a bit before using.
“Can oopsies be frozen?”
Absolutely. I mean we’re talking surer than than Alison Hanigan will forevermore be known as the girl who says, “This one time… at band camp…” I bag mine two per bag (you can wash bags and reuse them, oh eco-friends and frugal friends, so this isn’t a waste of resources or money) and then place smaller bags into a larger ziplock for extra protection from frost.
When I want to use them, I pull out a bag o twins, place them on the counter and allow them to that. Once they are able to be removed from the bag, remove them. Place them on a cooling rack and let them come to room temperature. Use them as you usually do. I have never noticed a change in texture or in flavor due to freezing, and others have reporting great results as well.
“My oopsies are sticking together in the bag and are spongy.”
This is normal when they’re in a bag touching each other. Go ahead and pull out the number of oopsies you’ll need and let them rest on the counter for 30-60 minutes before use. This should help dry them out. If you need to, pop them in the toaster for no more than 30 seconds.
I usually smuggle my buns into restaurants in a baggie in my purse after having left them on the counter. Before I even order, I pull the buns out and let them rest discretely on the table. If I’m on the road, I pull those supple buns from my purse and let them sun on the dashboard (on the bag). One day my son came from school and he said to me, “Mom?! What are those?” I said, “I’m sunning my buns in your parking lot. I love the look of horror at the thought… ahh, teens!
“When they come out of the oven, they’re too light and airy. Are you sure these are supposed to hold food?”
Let the rolls rest on a cooling rack before use and let them cool/solidify. They do have a different texture when they first come out of the oven. They become more substantial as they sit on the counter. If I need rolls for dinner I usually make them a few hours in advance or they aren’t generally substantial enough for holding food and do tend to be fluffy and airy (and fall apart).
“My oopsies are too dry.”
Place them in a bag and seal. they should re-moisten within a few hours. (Whew! That was easy)
“I don’t have the time.”
Shockingly, from the time I turn the stove to 300 degrees until the oven has preheated, I’ve assembled ingredients, made the oopsies and have them ready to bake. It is really a quick process, especially once you get the hang of it! And with three ingredients to memorize, you’re really booking. You don’t need to refer to a recipe after a few batches. The time involved is really minimal. I
am a busy person, and understand a lack of time, so I’ll even double a recipe just to save time.
I hope these tips will help solve some of those issues which plague the oopsie makers of the world. They can seem daunting, but they’re really worth the little bit of effort. And once you’ve nailed these tried and true techniques, you should find that your oopsies will be oopsies in name only.
I’ve been waiting to make these and finally took the plunge today. They turned out perfect! The pan I used was not nonstick and I lightly greased it with butter and only cooked them 21 minutes. I removed them immediately.
I had 2 oopsies for breakfast with low carb pb and no carb jam. I added a jay robb vanilla shake w/a bit of hood milk. For lunch I devoured 2 more after melting white american cheese on one and placing under the broiler to melt, added a sprinkle of basil and accompanied it with warm V8 “tomato soup”. For dinner I went all out and made an oopsie avocado blt w/mayo and a low carb fuze to drink.
How did I do? 1215 calories, 73g protein, 90g fat, 24g carbs and you can deduct 4g fiber for 20 net grams. Woot!
One more tip, if you don’t mind. Keep them separated from everything else in the freezer. I put a couple of bags of oopsies in my freezer, the kids went in there and moved stuff around and when I went to get one there was only a bag full of oopsie-dust. I kept it to use as breading for something but all that hard work gone! Disappointing.
Hey Cleo-
I’m trying to avoid all the artificial sweeteners. Have you ever tried making oopsies without the splenda? Doesn’t seem to me that a bread substitute would need to be sweet.
I wanted to let you know that I have concocted a wonderful counter-top storage container for my oopsies. I took a picture and would love to email it to you, as I am dying to share it with someone! But…I took a large lasagne pan (disposible kind) inset a small cake rack on the bottom (put one layer of oopsies on it ) put another cake rack (slightly larger on the top)another layer of oopsies and VOILA! I even cut ventelation holes in the plastic lid ! It’s great! Let me know what you think 🙂 And Thanks Again!
Hi Cleo,
I use exactly 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar in my rolls and they always turn out perfectly. People who complain about their whites not taking might be using too little cream of tartar…Just a thought:-)
Parchment paper works very well to keep these from sticking and to ease transition from pan to cooling rack. No, PP isn’t cheap, but if you’re in a hurry it’s a really valuable timesaver. Cut a piece to fit in the baking sheet. Plop the oopsie batter on the PP. Once baked, allow rolls to cool just a minute or two and then you can slide the whole shebang over to the cooling rack. Oopsies peel off the PP (or the PP peels off the oopsies) very easily once they’re completely cool. PP also helps oopsies reach that perfect not-wet-not-dry texture.
loved the rolls but modified them to be more sturdy… added 1/4 C almond meal, 2 T Flax–used a cookie sheet (9×11) and baked for 30 mins–cut into 6 “slices” of bread. LUV THEM.
loved the rolls but modified them to be more sturdy… added 1/4 C almond meal, 2 T Flax–used a cookie sheet (9×11) and baked for 30 mins–cut into 6 “slices” of bread. LUV THEM.
Storage has been my biggest problem. My oopsies are gorgeous, but on the east coast (sticky, hot, humid – it sucks), they get mushy. I’d like to buy an oopsie container from Beth! I tried leaving them on the counter to keep them dry and non-sticky, but the dog got to them. And he doesn’t even need to lose weight!!!
Thanks for this recipe. So nice to eat sandwiches NOT wrapped in lettuce. Gag.
B.
Not sure if you'll let me post a link but I've just got to show you my dessert made with oopsies. They were fab… and I've got them sorted now… always a winner!https://tulipskitchen.blogspot.com/2008/05/look-away-if-your-still-on-phase-1.html
thank you for sharing this fab recipe… I love them.
I was trying to make Oopsies for the very first time. I was a little intimidated by all the snafus and suggestions, BUT, the mixture came out *beautifully* and they baked up so pretty. But THEN…as they were cooling, it was like the underside started melting! I don't have a cooling rack, so I baked them on parchment paper and the moved them, paper and all over to an overturned broiler pan top…you know, with the slits and holes and all, I thought it would be somewhat like a cooling rack. Anyway, they were just melting from underneath so I gently flipped them over onto the baking pan, upside-down. I let them sit there, but then they started melting and dissolving from the "new" underneath. So I stuck them back in the oven for about 5 minutes, but while cooling again, they were still melting away. What's happening? What did I do wrong?
That's so weird, ro! I'm not sure what's up with that. Usually, as they cool they're fine. Is it possible the insides didn't cook through and are oozing out during cooling?
I tried this today, i have to admit that with reading all the posts I was convinced it would be a disaster but they were not, they were great!
I have problems with bread as it just tends to seat like a ball on my stomach, but these were great like a very light buttery roll ( I put butter essence (not butter) on my yolk mix). I ate them with gusto!
Thank you so much for sharing ALL your recipees!
These are super when craving bread, great alternative. Eggs /cream cheese fat/protein. Love how you can sweeten the batter to make into cake
Thankyou. Please do an Ig page