Advanced Cookie Baking

Chocolate can be finicky, we admit, but it’s all about treating it correctly—and having a light touch. You can either melt chocolate on the stovetop or in the microwave, but either way you need to be gentle. On the stovetop you can use a double boiler setup with a heatproof bowl above a pan of simmering water, but make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water, and that the water is barely simmering—it’s the steam that does the melting. And if you're using the microwave always use 50 percent power and nuke it in short intervals. To ensure a shiny finish a technique called tempering is key, and we have a simple approach: once your chocolate is melted, you stir a smaller amount of grated chocolate into the mix to cool it down just a tad. Check out the recipe lessons for Millionaire's Shortbread and Florentine Cookies in this class to learn how.

No piping bag, no problem! To pipe royal icing onto sugar cookies, or drizzle chocolate over baked goods, like we do in the recipe lesson for Florentine Cookies in this class, a zipper-lock bag is all you need. Fold back the top of the bag to prevent a sticky mess, then place it in a sturdy container or glass to hold it upright. Fill the bag with whatever you’re piping, then flip the top back into place and twist to seal. Lastly, use scissors or kitchen shears to snip a tiny hole—we’re talking 1/16 of an inch, you can always make it bigger—in the corner of the bag and you’re ready to decorate.

Arrgh, that's so frustrating! But we’ve got you covered. We’ve tested different packing methods and this is the most successful: stack your bars or cookies with a small piece of parchment between each one, then wrap the stack in plastic wrap. Place a few stacks together in a zipper-lock bag and seal. When boxing up, we’ve found the best packing material is actually a pantry staple: popped popcorn (undressed, of course), so nestle those cookies in a bed of popcorn and send them on their merry way.

Nope! We love almond flour, but it can be hard to find—and pricey when you do— and has limited uses. For the Raspberry Almond Cookies and Florentine Cookies we use the food processor to grind our own almond flour from the more commonplace (and affordable) slivered almonds.