This page is meant to be an ever evolving list of general tips and ideas that I hope are helpful in building your skills in the kitchen and making the time you spend in your kitchen more enjoyable and efficient.

General thoughts…

• If you take only one thing from everything I’ve written, please let it be that you will always (always!!!) read through a recipe before you get to work in the kitchen.

• I believe very strongly that the best way (outside of reading your recipe) to improve your abilities in the kitchen is to understand why you’re doing something the way you’re being asked to do. Why do you need to cream your butter and sugar or use room temp eggs or use cold butter in pie dough or be careful to not over mix a batter? My goal in all of my recipes is to not assume you know something that may seem obvious to me. If you already know it, great! Skip on ahead! But if you’re interested in knowing why I am asking you to do something specific, I want that information to be there for you. Once you understand those basics, you can apply that knowledge to any recipe you come across and ultimately become a more intuitive baker and cook.

Ingredients…

• Salt - my standard for all my baking and cooking is Diamond Crystal kosher salt. I prefer it for the small, uniform size of the salt crystals, which dissolve really well. If you prefer a different salt, such as Morton’s, I would suggest using the weight measurements rather than the volumetric measurements (or at least reducing the volume by about 1/3). For example, is a recipe calls for 1 1/2 teaspoons diamond crystal, reduce to 1 teaspoon Morton’s. Not all salts are created equally in the their crystal size and general saltiness and cannot necessarily be swapped out for an easy 1:1 teaspoon measurement. If I’m not using kosher salt, my go to for “finishing",’ i.e. sprinkling on a chocolate chip cookie, is Maldon salt. This is a flaky sea salt that not only looks beautiful but adds a delicious burst of saltiness.

• Butter - I pretty much always use unsalted butter in all of my recipes. While I love some good quality European salted butter on good bread as much as the next person, I much prefer to be in total control of the amount of salt I add to recipes. There is no standard for the amount of salt added into salted butter, so it can vary from brand to brand, which is an added variable I don’t really want to mess with!

Utensils & equipment…

• The world of kitchen utensils and equipment can be overwhelming. And when it comes to baking, it can feel like you need to many things (which usually aren’t cheap) to truly jump in. But that simply is not true! With just a handful of items, which can be used for a variety of tasks, you can delve so deeply into the world of baking. Here are the items I use time and time again, without fail, and believe are worth the investment -

  • Kitchen scale - if you truly want to up your baking game, a scale is an absolute must. While I do include both volume and weight measurements in my recipes, I will always strongly suggest you use the weight measurements. Baking is science and requires exactness to get you the absolute best results. Volume measurements can easily vary from person to person, which can potentially lead to issues. If you must measure by volume, the standard procedure for dry ingredients is to use a spoon or scoop to pour the flour into your measuring cup until it is full, then use the flat side of a butter knife or other flat utensil and scrape the excess so you have a level scoop. Please, I beg of you, never scoop your measuring cup directly into the bag of flour! It will pack it in and always end in too much.

  • Mini offset spatula - a pastry chef’s best friend and easily my most used kitchen utensil. Perfectly designed for spreading anything and everything.

  • Bench knife - great for cubing butter, lifting chopped ingredients, scraping work surfaces, shaping doughs, shaping and cutting biscuits and so much more.

  • Bowl scraper - similar uses to a bench knife but with the added malleability for scraping the inside of bowls when making sticky doughs or getting every last bit of batter from your mixing bowl.

  • 3 tablespoon cookie scoop - this one seems like it might a one trick pony, and although it is my standard size for scooping cookies, I find myself reaching for it more and more often. I use it for scooping muffin or cupcake batter into tins, portioning fillings and buttercream when filling and finishing layer cakes, and portioning perfectly even meatballs.

  • Electric mixer - while you absolutely do not need a large, clunky, expensive stand mixer to bake, I do think that having some type of electric mixer is crucial. Up until 2 years ago, all I had was a cheap handheld mixer from Bed Bath & Beyond. And guess what? It worked great and I was able to make just about anything. Creaming butter, whipping meringue, beating buttercream, and so much and just made so much easier and more efficient with an electric mixer.