How to Measure Sticky Baking Ingredients Like Molasses and Peanut Butter

The trouble with measuring sticky baking ingredients is twofold: It can be messy, and it can be inaccurate. If you’ve scraped peanut butter into a bowl for crunchy peanut butter cookies, or tried to get every bit of molasses into the batter of an elegant gingerbread cake, you know that some inevitably clings to the sides of your measuring cup. That can affect the final outcome and also leave a lot of mucky cups and spoons in the kitchen sink. 

Fortunately, with just a few seconds of prep work, you can avoid a sticky situation. Here’s how to measure sticky ingredients like a pro.

3 ways to measure sticky ingredients

The best way to measure sticky ingredients depends on what you’re baking and how particular you are about your baking projects. Here are three methods to try.

Grease the cup

Before you scoop or pour a viscous ingredient like tahini or maple syrup into a measuring cup, coat its interior with a thin layer of neutral cooking oil, such as canola or vegetable oil. This small amount of fat causes the stickier substance to slide right off.

Add a tiny amount of oil to a measuring cup or spoon, then swirl it until the oil coats the interior surface. If parts of the cup are dry, add a bit more oil. Use the prepared cup or spoon to measure the sticky ingredient, then watch with delight as it glides out with ease. 

Alternatively, you can swap the cooking oil for a nonstick spray. “Pam nonstick spray is my eternal go to,” says Amanda Perdomo, executive pastry chef of Kellogg’s Diner in Brooklyn, New York.

Change your order of operations

Depending on the recipe, you might be able to put the above trick into play without swirling or spraying. 

Say you’re baking a pumpkin layer cake that involves canola oil as well as pumpkin purée. Use a clean cup to measure the oil. Then, without washing the cup, use it to portion out your pumpkin purée. Because the inside of the cup is already greased, the stickier ingredient will slide right out. 

Ditch the measuring cups entirely

If this all sounds fussy, or you don’t have any neutral oil, take a cue from the pros: Measure all your ingredients by weight, rather than volume. 

All you need is a kitchen scale, a sturdy spatula, and an easily scraped bowl, says Perdomo. Here’s what to do:

1. Set a clean, wide-mouthed bowl on top of a digital scale. Press the “tare” button so the number zero appears on the display.
2. Scoop or pour the desired amount of the sticky ingredient into the bowl.
3. Use a sturdy spatula to push or scrape all of the sticky ingredient into your batter. 

Pros prefer this approach, in part because it’s easier to get every ounce of something sticky out of a wide-mouthed mixing bowl than a cup. But mostly, it’s because measuring by weight is far more precise. That’s especially important in baking, where the wrong amount of fat or flour can change the texture, appearance, and flavor of a recipe.

“I strongly advise people not to use cups or spoons as measuring tools, as it’s highly inaccurate and pretty subjective,” says Jane Bayle, pastry chef of Hill’s Kitchen in Park City, Utah. You and your baked goods deserve better than that.