Spray your measuring cup with cooking spray before you pour in the honey. That is the whole trick. You can stop reading now if you want.

Still here? I will explain why this works and what else you can do with it.

I bake granola every Sunday. The recipe calls for half a cup of honey and a quarter cup of peanut butter. For the first six months I would scrape and scrape and still lose a tablespoon of honey stuck to the cup. Then I would put the cup in the dishwasher and it would come out still sticky on the sides. Maddening.

The cooking spray method

Lightly coat the inside of your measuring cup with cooking spray — just a one-second spritz and a quick wipe with a paper towel. Then pour in your honey, molasses, maple syrup, corn syrup, or peanut butter. It slides out clean. No scraping. No residue.

This works because the oil in the cooking spray creates a barrier between the sticky ingredient and the measuring surface. The ingredient clings to the oil film, not the glass or plastic.

No cooking spray? No problem

Rub a few drops of neutral oil into the cup with your finger or a paper towel. Canola, vegetable, avocado — whatever you have. You just need a thin film. Too much oil will change your recipe measurements, so wipe out any excess.

For peanut butter and other nut butters, the oil trick works especially well because the butter already contains oil. The thin film just prevents the initial stick.

Other sticky ingredient hacks

For molasses: Warm the jar in hot water for two minutes first. Cold molasses is thick and slow. Warm molasses pours faster and leaves less behind.

For shortening or butter: Line the measuring cup with plastic wrap, press the fat in, then lift it out by the plastic. No greasy cup to wash.

For chopped dates or dried fruit: Toss them in a little flour before measuring. The flour coating keeps them from clumping together.

I timed myself last Sunday. With the cooking spray trick, I saved three minutes of scraping and two minutes of extra scrubbing. That is five minutes I spent eating granola instead.