When you are using melted chocolate for drizzling, to prevent it from seizing up and hardening on you, add a teaspoon of Crisco shortening in with the chips as you melt them.

Can also use this with caramel - but use butter instead of shortening.

When you use bench flour to keep your cookie or pastry dough from sticking to the counter top, sometimes your dough will absorb too much of the extra flour which will over-dry the dough and toughen the cookies. Not good.

To avoid dry cookies, try rolling out your cookie dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper or wax paper. No flour needed!!

You can also do several of these sheets at once, pile them up on a cookie sheet and slip the entire stack into the fridge to chill until you are ready for them. When you are ready to bake, just pull out one parchment section at a time and cut out desired shapes. Carefully transfer cut outs to a cookie sheet and place the cookie sheet into the refrigerator to chill for another 5 minutes before baking. This will help the cookies to retain their shapes.

Gather any leftover scraps, ball them up and roll them back out again between the same sheet of parchment and return to the stack of rolled dough in the refrigerator until you are ready for them.

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To prevent your aluminum cookie cutters from rusting, wash them as soon as you remove the last of your cookies from the oven. Place the cookie cutters on a clean cookie sheet and set inside the turned off oven until fully dried.

I really love old cookbooks. But, sometimes it can be hard to decipher the ingredients list. Like when it states that you need two No. 300 cans! What exactly does that mean??

No. 300 = 14 to 16 ounces (1-3/4 cups)
No. 303 = 16 to 17 ounces (2 cups)
No. 2 = 1 pound 4 ounces (2-1/2 cups)
No. 2-1/2 = 1 pound 13 ounces (3-1/2 cup)
No. 3 = 3 pound, 3 ounces (5-3/4 cup)
No. 10 = 6-1/2 pound to 7 pounds 5 ounces (12 to 13 cups)

To achieve more level layers when making a layered cake, divide your cake batter among the pans using a measurement cup to split the batter up evenly and -- this is going to sound funny and it's a little noisy, but -- level the batter by lifting the pans several inches off of the counter top and then dropping them. Do this several times. This will spread the batter out and bring air bubbles to the surface, which help to make your cake layers bake more level. When you see the bubbles dissipate, you're ready to put the pans in the oven. I swear this works! I have even seen Miss Paula Deen herself using this! Give it a try next time you bake a layer cake.

Did your cake collapse in the center, especially in a 9 x 13 inch pan? This happens to me and it's usually due to un-even oven temperatures, resulting in under-cooking in the center, thanks to my old oven, which will not hold a temperature correctly. Besides using an oven thermometer, try not to peek at your cake until it is almost done. This will cause a drop in temperature and could lead to a collapse once you remove it, so wait to check on it about 5 minutes before the earliest cook time.

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When a recipe calls for sifted flour, just what exactly does that mean? Well, it depends on how it is worded. And, if you're using an old, vintage cookbook, well, that can be a whole 'nother thing.

1 cup of sifted flour means that you first sift the flour, then measure. So place a one cup measure on top of a piece of foil or waxed paper, grab your sifter, put that on top of your measuring cup and sift the flour directly into the cup until it fills the cup. Level that off and put it into a separate bowl, and repeat until you have measured out all of the flour for your recipe. Be sure to pick up the spillover excess flour on the foil and use that too because that has been sifted! Pour that excess into your measuring cup or if you've sifted all the flour you needed, simply return it to the flour canister.

1 cup of flour, sifted, is measured totally different. This means that you scoop flour from your canister using a separate spoon or scoop and placing that flour into your one cup measure, level it off and then place that one cup of flour into your sifter and sift it into a bowl underneath.

It really makes a difference in baking so be sure to carefully check the directions and when passing on a recipe of your own, be sure to indicate which method you used!

When using older, vintage cookbooks, you will often have to make a judgment call, because very often when they say 1 cup of sifted flour, what they actually mean is for you to measure out first, then sift. 

Method to Quick Soften Butter or How to Soften Butter Fast!

Want to bake something that requires room temperature softened butter, but your's is still in the fridge, hard and ice cold? Don't fret!  But don't microwave it either!!

Break out that grater from your kitchen drawer and grate your sticks of butter on the larger holes. It's fast and it works great! Give it a try next time you find yourself short on room temperature butter.

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Always add eggs one at a time so they emulsify before adding the next, and I almost always use large eggs, even when the recipe doesn’t specify. Size does matter in the dryness of a cake.

For more even cake layers, use a measuring cup to evenly distribute the batter among the pans, especially when use three or more cake pans. Lift and drop the pans on the counter several times to encourage air bubbles to surface from the batter.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven and just a bit past the midway point, rearrange them pans, exchanging the ones in the front for the ones in the back.

Use a layer of parchment paper inside the cake pans. Invert the pan on top of a square of parchment, drawing a circle around the pan, and using a pair of scissors to cut out the circle. Butter or spray the bottom and insides of the cake pans and insert the parchment paper, pressing down evenly all around. Spray or butter the paper.

If you do not have parchment paper, generously butter or spray the pans well with non-stick cooking spray. Sprinkle some flour in each pan and work it evenly around and tapping it out evenly, discarding the extra flour. This method may not completely release the cake, but generally there will only be a slight tearing. Parchment rounds are much more reliable. If you are making a chocolate cake, you can coat with cocoa powder instead of the flour.

After the cake has cooled briefly in the pan, run a knife around the outside of the pan, place a cooling rack on top of the cake pans and lay a towel across the top of both and carefully flip over turning cakes out of the pan onto the cooling rack, peel away the parchment and discard. Allow cake to fully cool on the racks before frosting.

Size out the length of a couple of wooden skewers, cut them to size and place several around the center of the cake to help support the cake. These skewers will help keep the cake from sliding and will stay in the cake.

To protect your cake plate or stand during frosting, lay strips of waxed paper or parchment paper around the outside edges of the cake plate. This will catch any drips and misses and help to keep your cake plate clean. Once you have frosted the cake, you will carefully pull those strips out and discard them.

When frosting, if you have the time, do a crumb coat. If you aren’t too concerned about being perfect with your frosting you can skip this step but a crumb coat will help to contain the crumbs and will keep your top layer of frosting smooth and crumb free.

To do a crumb coat, spread a very thin layer of the frosting all over the top and sides of the cake, and smooth it out with your spatula, taking care not to let the spatula touch the cake itself, but instead use it to push the frosting across the cake. Then do the same with the sides of the cake. Don't worry about being perfect or if it doesn't completely cover, because you'll be doing a second layer of frosting. Place the cake into the refrigerator for about an hour, or more if you have time. This will set the under-layer of frosting and make a much easier job of finishing your cake, keeping the crumbs and filling out of your frosting. When ready, spread the rest of the frosting over the crumb coat.

If you end up with a crumbly cake that is dry, it is often a sign of over-baking, often due to an incorrect oven temperature. I always use an oven thermometer in my oven and have often found the oven thermostat to be widely inaccurate - either too cool or too hot, but I do have an older oven. If you love to bake, and even if your oven is newer, an oven thermometer is so inexpensive that I highly recommend using one as a backup anyway. Always check and test cakes with a toothpick at the center at the earliest time in a stated recipe or even 5 minutes earlier, then continue checking at 5 minute increments. Be sure you are not using old flour, especially when using cake flour.

If you end up with a moist cake that is crumbly, it is often a sign of over-beating. Cake batters do benefit from a hand mixer I’ve learned – a bit too easy to over-mix with a powerful stand mixer, less risk of that with a hand mixer.

Some tips shared by a reader, chubbybunny:

"I'm a professional Pastry Chef and teach classes in Cake Decorating. I would like to offer a few suggestions -

Recently, in WalMart, I noticed a new product they have that is a spray, and "supposedly" secures the crumbs, preventing the need for a crumb coating. Don't know if it works, and I haven't tried it. After about 45 years of cake baking, I can frost a cake without any crumbs coming to the surface.

I read that your pineapple filling was seeping into your layer of frosting. When I have a soft filling, like a raspberry, or a strawberry, I pipe a dam of frosting around the outer edge of the cake, right on the top edge. I use the same pastry bag of frosting that I will use to decorate the cake, without the tip - just using the coupler. This will prevent your filling from oozing out into the frosting.

A couple of other tips I teach in my classes:

1. Never bake a cake any hotter than 300 degrees. This gives the sides more time to bake upwards, making the center to not bake as high, and crowning in the middle. You will end up with a flatter cake. Wilton also makes cake wraps which further slow down how fast the edges bake.

2. If time permits, bake your cakes a day ahead of time, and most importantly wrap them tightly in saran wrap, BEFORE they are completely cooled. Place the saran wrap on top of the cake pan, flip over, and pull off the cake pan. Pull the saran wrap up and over the sides, to the middle, rather tightly - but not so tightly that you flatten the sides of the cake. The cakes will "season up" (not sure where I got that term from), and seem even moister the next day.

When I became the Pastry Chef at the Thousand Islands Club and Golf Course, on Wellesley Island, in the Thousand Islands, I wanted to use a timer. Everyone laughed at me, and I haven't used a timer since.

3. When I can smell a cake baking, it's almost done. I test it, and then keep an eye on it, so it doesn't over bake.

4. If your cake is overbaked, and dry, make a simple syrup. I use a small squirt bottle to squirt the syrup around the top of the cake. It will soak in and re-moisten the cake.

Happy Baking!"

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When it's time to shape or roll out dough, best way to manage this is to shape the dough right on the same piece of parchment that you're gonna bake on, but sometimes I turn it right out onto the counter top and the clean-up used to be a mess. Then I figured out that I could drag my kitchen wastebasket right to the edge of the counter and use my bench scraper to scrape the loose flour and sticky pieces of leftover dough straight into the trash can. Depending on your counter top surface you may need to be a bit more gentle so not to scratch it, or maybe find some other softer straight-edge surface. Mine is cheap-o laminate and this works great on getting all that flour and dough up, and no more goopy sponges or scrubbing required either! Less work? I'm all for that!

I buy yeast by the jar and store it in the freezer. When I'm ready to make rolls or bread, I remove whatever amount of yeast that I need and let it come to room temperature. Success with any kind of bread or yeast rolls is dependent on the yeast and the freezer keeps it fresh for a long time. Hasn't failed me yet! The jar I use is labeled bread machine rapid rise.

Use the appropriate sized loaf pan. Many times recipes do not specify a size though, so if it doesn't, assume a smaller loaf pan size.

Always proof the yeast by adding some of the warm (110 degree F) liquid to the yeast with at least a pinch of sugar. Let it rest for 5 minutes. If it doesn't puff up and double, the yeast is dead and you must discard it and start over with fresh yeast.

Oxo Storage Containers are great for keeping your cookies soft!

I love my Old Fashioned Sugar Cookie recipe because they are soft and tender and chewy just the way I like them. But, if you don't store them properly, they will lose some of their moisture and get dry - still good, but crisp and losing that softness we love about them. Here are a few cookie storage tips that might be helpful.

First things first.  Crisp cookies should always be stored covered loosely with plastic wrap or in a cookie jar with a loose fitting lid in order to retain their crispiness.  Airtight storage containers will make your crisp cookies soften.

Soft cookies, on the other hand, such as those old fashioned sugar cookies, must be stored in a very airtight container so that they retain their moisture. An Oxo POP container shown above is ideal because of it's easy one button sealer, but a Tupperware or Rubbermaid type of container that can be burped of the air will also work.

Store soft cookies in an airtight container in the refrigerator if you're going to store them for a week.  If you're going to have them out longer than that - such as for a seasonal holiday tray - the ideal thing to do is to flash-freeze them individually on a baking sheet. Once frozen, stack them into a freezer bag or storage container, and take out only as many as you want or need for each day.

Try this trick. Add a slice or two of fresh bread in the container, either under the cookies or on top. The bread will not affect the flavor of the cookies, but the theory here is that the cookies will draw moisture from the bread. When the bread dries up, discard and replace with a fresh piece.  Add a piece of waxed paper to the cookie storage container, with enough hangover on the sides to fold over on top of the cookies. Add slices of fresh bread in the container, then stack the cookies on top. Fold the excess waxed paper over the top of the container, seal and burp.


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