Baking And Plastics: A Match Made In Heaven

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10, 2012  /PRNewswire/ -- Looking to earn cuddles from your sweetheart this Valentine's Day? The recipe is simple: a sprinkle of sugar, a dash of love, and plastics! Plastics Make it Possible®, an initiative sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council, is offering a prize package of plastic baking equipment worth $250 to encourage the young-at-heart to express their love this Feb. 14 with home-baked goodies. Whether you're a culinary master or a novice cook, innovative plastic products help make creating, storing, and transporting homemade desserts easy and convenient.

Plastic bakeware, kitchen tools, and gadgets are essential to any kitchen and help make baking projects easy and fun. Bakeware such as silicone bundt cake pans make for beautiful desserts, and because of their easy-release, non-stick surface, there is no need for additional fats to coat the pan.  Plastic decorating tools, such as frosting guns, pens, and squeeze bottles, can help just about anyone to create professional-looking decorations. And today, many kitchen products, such as mixing bowls and cutting boards, can be made with recycled plastics from yogurt cups, butter tubs and other containers.

"Plastics are being used in many innovative ways to help make preparing, serving, and storing food easier and safer," said Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council. "From silicone products that can withstand high oven temperatures to plastic cutting board, to plastic storage containers, plastics are widely used in the kitchen because they're durable, easy to clean, and help keep food fresher longer. And, some kitchen products today are made with recycled plastics, so it's important to recycle all the plastics you can after use in the kitchen, bottles and containers – and even the caps."

Plastics Make it Possible® joined with top food and lifestyle experts to create Valentine's Day-themed recipes and desserts using plastic products. For example, Sheryl Aronow, the blogger behind Mama's Gotta Bake, created Orange Cardamom Shortbread Sweet-Hearts, a cookie recipe found exclusively on www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com/V-Day.

"I love baking because it's an art that allows me to create from the heart," Aronow said. "I love to see the surprised looks on people's faces when I present them with homemade breads, pastries, cakes, and cookies, and what better day to do this than Valentine's Day? Using plastic products makes it easy!"

Tickle your taste buds with Aronow's recipe for heart-shaped cookies on a stick, delicately flavored with fresh orange zest and the exotic cardamom spice. Plastics Make it Possible® also asked bloggers Liz Cerezo, Nicole Presley and Aracely Worley, to share their favorite dessert ideas, including a chocolate flan hybrid cake, raspberry cheesecake bites, and German chocolate cupcakes.  Visit www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com/V-Day for each recipe; print and enjoy.

Through February  29, Plastics Make it Possible® is sponsoring a sweepstakes on its website where consumers can leave a comment on how plastics have helped them in the kitchen for a chance to win a prize package valued at $250. One winner will be randomly selected from all entries and will receive plastics baking products such as plastic cookie cutters, a Silpat® baking mat, a silicone muffin pan and oven mitt.  For complete contest rules and other baking tips, please visit www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com.

About Plastics Make it Possible®

Plastics Make it Possible® highlights the many ways plastics inspire innovations that improve our lives, solve big problems and help us design a safer, more promising future. This initiative is sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council. For more information, visit www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com, check out our Facebook page and follow us @plasticpossible on twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticpossible.

http://www.americanchemistry.com

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC members apply the science of chemistry to make innovative products and services that make people's lives better, healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care®, common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $720 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is one of the nation's largest exporters, accounting for ten cents out of every dollar in U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development. Safety and security have always been primary concerns of ACC members, and they have intensified their efforts, working closely with government agencies to improve security and to defend against any threat to the nation's critical infrastructure.

Contact: Jennifer Killinger [phone] Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE Plastics Make it Possible

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