The Office Supply You Might Need For Accident-Free Bakes

Where would we be without the invention of parchment paper? This non-stick, heat-resistant parchment, also known as baking paper or bakery paper, is an essential tool for bakers everywhere. It helps give cakes, brownies, and other bakes tidy, perfectly-cooked edges, all while keeping the tins that they're baked in nice and clean. The only problem is that it's not always the easiest material to work with. As anyone who has used parchment paper will know, trying to get this grease-proof paper to sit snugly in the tin, or sit in the tin at all, is a task easier said than done (especially when you throw a batter or crust that needs to be spread evenly into the mix). 

It's precisely why you should enlist the help of an unlikely ally: the humble binder clip. This may seem like an odd addition to your baking arsenal, but trust us when we say that this everyday piece of office equipment, which is typically used to hold together pieces of paper, is just the thing you need to hold your parchment paper perfectly in place.

Using binder clips sure beats some of the traditional methods for keeping parchment paper in place. Greasing the tin beforehand, for example, is counterproductive because you'll be left with a tin that needs a thorough cleaning, rather than a quick rinse. There's also the origami-like method of snipping the corners of the paper on a diagonal, before folding the edges across one another — yes, this is as fussy and time-consuming as it sounds. Binder clips, on the other hand, can be simply attached to the edges of the baking tin, over a sheet of baking paper that has been cut roughly to size. Quick and easy is an understatement.

And that's not all. This method also prevents the edges of the baking paper from falling into the mixture, which can be tricky to prise out once the bake is complete. It will give you smooth sides, rather than those with unsightly gouges. It also removes the risk of any excess or overhanging paper catching fire, which can, of course, happen if the paper gets too close to the elements inside the oven — especially if you are using a convection oven. On that note, you should only ever use binder clips that are made entirely from metal. They are oven-safe and won't melt, unlike plastic. Smaller binder clips are also best, as the ends are small enough that they won't get caught on the oven racks or the heating elements.

Because of their shape, binder clips are only suitable to use on straight-edged baking tins. So while that rules out circular cakes and pies, you'll still have brownies, blondies, slices, breads, and, of course, square or oblong-shaped cakes and pies to work with. You could also adopt this method for savory bakes like quiches, or even use the clips to hold parchment paper in place for mess-free trays of cookies, roasted vegetables, pastries, and sheet pan meals; pretty much anything that needs to go on a lined oven tray will benefit from this handy hack.

And the good news doesn't stop there — because binder clips have more than one trick up their collective sleeve when it comes to helping out in the kitchen. Use one in place of a rubber band to secure the top of a piping bag (perhaps when decorating something baked in a binder clip-assisted tin?), or embrace some of their more widespread applications, like keeping opened bags of food closed, organizing sachets of soups and other ingredients, and hanging up equipment like dishwashing gloves. Keep a fully-stocked jar of them on the countertop for such purposes, and be sure to wash them before the first use. All of this to say that for such a small and inexpensive item, binder clips could well be the key to keeping it together in the kitchen — and not just for baking.