Introduction

MasterChef Junior is a unique cooking show that puts kids in the spotlight, inviting them to stretch their culinary muscles as well as their imaginations as they compete with—and cheer on—an amazing group of their peers. Savory cooking is certainly the main focus of the show, but because so many kids first fall in love with the kitchen by baking cookies, muffins, and cakes, no season would be complete without a chance for them to whip up something sweet, whether it’s a showdown about homestyle cream pies or Parisian macarons. Baking’s focus on precision is also a great way for the kids to discipline their kitchen habits and hone their techniques, just like the pros. Mentored by an esteemed group of judges—all masters in their fields—the incredible young MasterChef Junior contestants dream up an array of cakes, pies, cookies, and other delights that are every bit as polished as anything you’ll find in a professional bakery or fancy restaurant—and have loads of fun doing it! The challenges they face are fast—and so are the friendships they make. When the kids are whipping up towering spiced ganache layer cakes (this page), tender, chocolate-filled cream puffs (this page), or pâtisserie-style green tea macarons (this page), it’s easy to forget that no one in the kitchen is more than thirteen years old. Talk about impressive!

Even though these young chefs are serious about baking, they still find plenty of ways to get creative—and crack each other up. Like the time in Season 3, when Jimmy won the lemon meringue pie challenge and got to throw his foamy pie right into judge Graham Elliot’s face—and then the rest of the contestants grabbed pies and clobbered judges Gordon Ramsay and Joe Bastianich, too! Or in Season 6, after the three-legged doughnut-decorating challenge, when judge Christina Tosi, Joe, and Gordon all got soaked with a waterfall of frosting—followed by buckets of rainbow sprinkles!

Now, with this book to guide you, we hope you’ll join in the fun, too. Whether you’ve been baking with your parents and grandparents since you were just big enough to hold a spoon or you’re just starting out, the techniques and recipes in these pages offer a practical guide that will open up the wide world of baking and have you feeling like the master of your kitchen in no time. Packed with tips and recipes inspired by seven seasons of awesome MasterChef Junior contestants and challenges, you’ll have all the tools you need to head to the oven with creativity and confidence. From new spins on all your family’s favorite recipes, like gooey chocolate chip cookies, flaky buttermilk biscuits, and sticky banana bread, to towering sprinkle-strewn birthday cakes, tempting Sunday-morning doughnuts, fancy fruit tarts, buttery soft pretzels, and decadent cheese-filled quiches. You’ll also hear from your favorite contestants as they share ideas and helpful skills they’ve learned along the way.

And that’s not all. With dozens of pages devoted to important equipment and ingredients, detailed step-by-step photos, in-depth MasterChef Lessons that dive into the essential techniques, and ambitious Home Challenges that will push you to new limits, this book is a fun but practical primer designed to serve young bakers of all levels and ambitions. Get ready to learn the hows and whys of baking fundamentals, like how to measure ingredients (this page), make meringue, decorate with spun sugar (this page), frost towering layer cakes (this page), melt chocolate, pipe pastries (this page), and lots more cool techniques. For those of you who are ready to really to jump into the role of a MasterChef Junior baker, you’ll find Home Challenges throughout the book—these are recipes that are especially challenging or involved. You’ll also find tons of other practical hints about must-have ingredients, neat kitchen gear, and the science of baking. While some of the recipes in the collection are more complex than others, almost all of them can be broken down into easy pieces that are made to be mixed and matched any way you please. For instance, maybe you think the Butterscotch Budino with Salted Caramel and Crème Fraîche Whipped Cream (this page) sounds amazing—but probably a little complicated for an after-school project? Save the caramel sauce and the whipped cream for another day and just make the pudding. It’s delicious all on its own, takes less than 25 minutes to put together, and is guaranteed to wow everyone when you pull it out after family dinner!

Finally, beyond new recipes and techniques, we hope this cookbook encourages you to embrace the can-do spirit shared by so many of the fantastic young chefs who have been a part of MasterChef Junior. So, jump in and get your hands dirty! Don’t be afraid to try new ingredients and new flavors. Find inspiration in your family traditions and in exploring unfamiliar tastes and new corners of the world. Take a risk on a recipe you’ve never seen before. Trust yourself and all your abilities. Baking is a delicious adventure—and you’re about to dive in!

Getting Prepared

Following a recipe is a great way to discover how to bake something you’ve never tried before and learn lots of cool new skills along the way. For the most delicious results, it’s helpful to keep these few rules of thumb in mind as you prepare for any project.

1. Read the whole recipe before you begin. That way you’ll know when you need to preheat the oven, if there are any unusual ingredients, or if any of the components need to rest overnight—because sometimes a recipe that looks like it will be done in 1 hour actually takes 2 days!

2. Cook clean. Real chefs are serious about cleanliness, and you should be, too. Always wash your hands before cooking and any time you get messy in the process. Keep your work surface clean and have a clean kitchen towel by your side. Keeping a metal bowl on your work surface can help, too—use it for trimmings, eggshells, or even dirty teaspoons and cup measures. Clean up little by little as you work through a recipe. That way, at the end, all that’s left to do is taste test!

3. Assemble your tools and ingredients. After reading the recipe, make sure you have all the materials to start cooking. Find the tools, measure out your ingredients, let them come to the proper temperature, and set them out neatly on your workstation. The professional term for this is mise en place, which in French means “set in place.”

4. Use all your senses. The best way to learn your way around the kitchen is to involve all your senses. Pay attention to scents and visual changes, like how fast a crust is browning or if something smells like it’s burning. Every oven runs differently; stoves can cook faster or slower depending on whether they are gas or induction—even the material your skillets or cake pans are made from can impact how quickly or slowly something cooks or bakes. Using your senses will help you know when something is done, even if the recipe says you need 5 more minutes.

5. When in doubt, ask for help. Everyone is a beginner at some point, so don’t be frustrated if you get confused by a direction or nervous about a new technique. Just ask a trusted adult to help you out—especially if it involves something tricky or a little dangerous, like making caramel or deep-frying.

6. Remember, it’s all practice. Professional chefs never stop learning—and they know that even their biggest mistakes are just opportunities to improve. MasterChef Junior may be all about friendly competition, but at the end of the day, it isn’t a test—it’s a chance to try new things and have fun!

ESSENTIAL TOOLS

MEASURING CUPS AND SPOONS

Because baking recipes require precision, having a large liquid measuring cup and a variety of dry measuring cups and spoons is a must. Liquid measuring cups are usually clear and have a spout, which makes them perfect for measuring milk, orange juice, oil, and other pourables.

Dry measuring cups and spoons are ideal for measuring dry ingredients, like flour, sugar, or semisolid ingredients, like cream cheese, peanut butter, or jam. (For more on technique, see Measuring Ingredients, this page.)

BOWLS

For prepping ingredients and mixing doughs, you’ll want a set of bowls in a variety of sizes. Light, indestructible stainless steel bowls are a great option, and because they nest together, they won’t take up too much room in your kitchen cabinets. Just make sure you have at least one that’s really big—so you can whisk and knead with ease.

SPATULAS

These flat, handled kitchen tools come in a range of shapes, sizes, and materials. Thin metal spatulas are great for lifting brownies or pie squares from a baking dish; flexible silicone spatulas are perfect for mixing and folding delicate ingredients and smoothing batters into pans (and because they are heatproof, you can use them to stir sauces, too); and small offset spatulas are ideal for neatly frosting cupcakes and layer cakes.

WHISKS

The best whisks are stainless steel. Balloon whisks have large round wire heads and are perfect for whipping egg whites and whipped cream. Long, narrow whisks with rounded heads are also known as “French whisks” and are a great all-purpose option if you are going to buy just one. Flat whisks are useful for getting into the corners and sides of pans when making sauces.

WOODEN SPOONS

Sturdy wooden spoons are perfect for mixing thick batter and just get better with age. In fact, it’s worth asking your grandma if she has any you can use!

KEY TO RECIPE LEVELS

Getting Prepared Beginner: Simple ingredients and basic methods

Getting Prepared Intermediate: Some multitasking and more involved techniques

Getting Prepared Advanced: Elaborate instructions and challenging techniques

KEY TO BADGES

Recipes from or inspired by the show.

Classic recipes and contestant favorites.

PEELERS

A good peeler will help you prep a pie’s worth of fruit in no time. Look for Y-shaped models with sharp blades and wide, comfy handles.

MICROPLANE ZESTER/GRATER

These tools have tiny sharp teeth, kind of like sandpaper, that are good for zesting citrus without getting any of the bitter white pith. You can also use them for grating whole spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, or for grating fresh ginger, garlic, or chocolate.

REAMER OR CITRUS PRESS

No need to get anything fancy—a simple reamer or handheld citrus press is great for when you need to get fresh juice from lemons, limes, or oranges.

PASTRY BRUSH

These small, flat brushes look kind of like mini paintbrushes and are used for brushing excess flour from pans, dabbing egg wash onto raw pie dough, or spreading melted butter over pastry. Silicone pastry brushes with flexible bristles, though not suited for delicate tasks like glazing fragile pastry, are much easier to clean and more durable than those with natural bristles—so it’s always nice to have one of each kind on hand.

PASTRY BLENDER

This handled tool with curved metal blades helps cut cold butter into flour (this page) quickly and easily. It’s especially useful when making biscuits, scones, and pie and tart doughs.

BENCH SCRAPER

Also known as a dough scraper or a bench knife, this simple tool—essentially a flat rectangle (usually metal) with one curved, handled side—is surprisingly handy for a wide variety of kitchen tasks. Use it to scrape sticky bits of dough off your counter after rolling out pastry or cookie dough, to slice biscuits or scones, to trim the ends of logs of dough, or to scoop up and transfer loose ingredients from a work surface to a bowl.

ROLLING PINS

The best rolling pins are long and weighty enough to evenly roll out cookies, pie crusts, and other doughs. Though handles can be cute, most pastry chefs prefer tapered rolling pins (called French pins) because they’re easier to control and don’t have any little crevices for dough to get trapped in.

COOKIE CUTTER

Nowadays cookie cutters come in millions upon millions of different shapes and sizes. It’s fun to build a collection, but if you’re just starting out, simple shapes like stars, hearts, and graduated rounds (for cutting rolled cookies, biscuits, and doughnuts) are a good place to begin.

ICE CREAM SCOOPS

These utensils do much more than sling sundaes. Spring-loaded ice cream scoops are great for evenly portioning out cookie dough and cupcake and muffin batters.

PASTRY BAG

These cone-shaped bags can be made out of canvas, plastic, or nylon and have an opening at the narrow end to which you can attach decorative tips. Use them to pipe frostings, fillings, and light doughs like pâte à choux (this page). If you don’t have a pastry bag, you can improvise one by snipping off a small corner of a large zip-top storage bag.

To neatly fill a pastry bag, just place the bag inside a measuring cup for support, fold over the opening of the bag to create a collar, and spoon your frosting, filling, or dough into the opening. Unfold the top of the bag and twist it closed while pressing on the top where the filling meets the plastic to release any air bubbles. Then, if necessary, use scissors to snip off the tip or a small corner of the bag and pipe away.

PARCHMENT PAPER

This heat-resistant, nonstick, disposable paper is the ultimate baker’s helper. A sheet added to baking pans helps keep goodies, cookies, cake, and caramelized sugar from sticking. You can also roll pie dough between parchment layers to avoid using too much flour and to prevent sticking. Some bakers even lay a few sheets on their work surface to collect flour, spills, or frosting. It makes for much easier cleanup!

DIGITAL SCALE

The recipes in this book all use volume measurements, like cups and teaspoons, because they are the measurements most familiar to home bakers. But did you know that professional pastry chefs almost always measure their ingredients by weight, not volume? This is because weight measurements are the most accurate and because toggling between weight and volume measures can quickly get confusing. For example, 1 cup of sifted flour and 1 cup of milk weigh very different amounts! So, if you want to be really exact about your measurements, using a digital scale is the way to go. If you’re just starting out, you’ll be fine without one—but if you get serious about baking, you might want to put it on your wish list!

THERMOMETERS

Whether you’re baking or cooking, the most accurate way to gauge the internal temperature of a sauce or syrup is with a thermometer. It comes in especially handy if you’re making caramel (this page), Swiss or Italian meringue (this page), pastry cream (this page), or crème anglaise (this page). A glass-and-metal thermometer called a candy thermometer is used to measure the temperature of sugars, syrups, caramels, jams, and jellies. It is designed to clip onto the side of a saucepan and can also be used for deep-frying. It usually covers a range between 100° and 400°F. A digital instant-read thermometer has a long, thin probe that you can insert into whatever you are testing and a digital display that shows the temperature reading. Because instant-read thermometers are useful for taking the temperature of everything from a custard to a loaf of bread, they’re the best all-purpose thermometer to have on hand in the kitchen—and higher-end models, whose temperature range reaches to 400°F and above, can even be used in candy making.

TIMER

Your oven or microwave may have a timer built right in; if it does, use it. If it doesn’t, get yourself a simple kitchen timer to keep nearby while you bake, because no one wants to burn a batch of cupcakes just because they got a little distracted. That said, even though timers are great reminders, you should never rely on them completely. Always set your timer for 5 minutes less than the recipe recommends and check for doneness then, just in case!

IMPORTANT EQUIPMENT

BAKING SHEETS

Also called sheet pans, these rectangular rimmed pans are so handy, you can never have too many. Use them for baking cookies, scones, biscuits, sheet cakes, and small pastries. The most commonly used size is the half sheet (13 × 18 inches), but smaller quarter sheets (13 × 9 inches) are also great for toasting nuts, roasting or drying fruit, and organizing ingredients. Note that baking sheets with dark-colored surfaces tend to brown items more quickly, so your cookies or biscuits may brown on the bottom and be done before the recipe indicates.

BAKING PANS/DISHES

These deep pans can be made out of ceramic, glass, or metal and come in all kinds of shapes, from square to oval to rectangular. They’re used for brownies, bars, crumbles, and lots of other baked goods. Two of the most common sizes are 8-inch square and 9 × 13 inches.

CAKE PANS

Usually round and made of metal, these pans come in a variety of sizes and are used for making cake layers as well as some yeasted pastries like sticky buns and cinnamon rolls. The most common sizes are 8- and 9-inch rounds.

BUNDT PANS

Bundts are a decorative type of cake pan with a hollow, tubular center and tall fluted sides. They’re often used for pound cakes and other tea breads. Bundts come in lots of styles and sizes, but the most common has a 10- to 12-cup capacity.

LOAF PANS

These long, deep, narrow pans are most often used for making quick breads (like banana bread) and yeast breads. They can be made out of metal, glass, or ceramic. The most common size is 8½ × 4½ inches.

MUFFIN TINS

Most often used for muffins and cupcakes, these metal baking pans have small cups built in to hold individual portions of batter. Mini-muffin tins are great for making bite-size treats. Paper liners help prevent the batter from sticking to the pan and make cleanup easier.

PIE PANS AND TART PANS

Pie pans are deep rimmed dishes used for making all kinds of sweet and savory pies and quiches. They can be made out of metal, glass, or ceramic. The standard size is 9 inches; deep-dish pans are often 9½ inches (both sizes are used in these recipes). Tart pans are ideal for making delicate tarts and shortbread. They are made from metal and have shallow fluted edges and, usually, a removable bottom.

RAMEKINS

Perfect for puddings, custards, soufflés, and other delicate desserts, these are small, cuplike baking dishes, usually made from porcelain or glass. In this book, the most commonly used size is a 6-ounce straight-sided round.

WIRE RACKS

These raised wire stands are also known as bakers’ racks or cooling racks. They’re incredibly useful because they allow air to circulate around baked goods, cooling them quickly and preventing condensation from forming, which can cause sogginess.

USEFUL APPLIANCES

MIXER (HAND AND STAND)

Though you can cream butter, mix batters, and whip heavy cream by hand, it’s quite a workout! Having an electric mixer to help makes the task a whole lot easier. Handheld mixers often come with both beater and whisk attachments and are good enough for most basic jobs, like whipping egg whites to stiff peaks. If you really get into baking, especially bread making, a big stand mixer with a dough hook, whisk, and paddle is definitely a worthwhile investment.

BLENDER

Like a tall pitcher with blades at the bottom and settings for pureeing, chopping, and mixing, a blender is great for quickly mixing batters and pureeing sauces. High-powered models, whose motors top 1,000 watts of power, can also be used to chop nuts or grind grains into flour.

FOOD PROCESSOR

With interchangeable blades that can slice, shred, chop, and mix, a food processor is handy for making pastry dough, chopping nuts or chocolate, and grinding bread, cookies, or crackers into crumbs. If you’re making the investment, it’s nice to look for one that has a small bowl insert to handle small quantities of ingredients (like combining sugar and citrus zest for scented sugar).

Basic Techniques

MEASURING INGREDIENTS

Great bakers know the importance of being consistent. That’s because consistency allows you to get the same (hopefully great!) results from a recipe again and again. One of the easiest ways to be consistent when you’re baking is by measuring your ingredients carefully, so you can follow a recipe correctly every time.

Determining how to measure something depends on whether the ingredient is wet or dry, solid or sticky. Here are some examples:

FLOUR (ALL VARIETIES, AND LARGER AMOUNTS OF DRY INGREDIENTS IN GENERAL)

Dry ingredients, like flour, cocoa powder, and cornmeal, are usually measured with dry measuring cups that come in graduated sizes from ¼ cup to 1 cup. (Advanced bakers and professionals may choose to use a digital scale to weigh their ingredients instead; see Digital Scale, this page). But if you’re using volume measures like cups, the most accurate way to measure flour (and the one used in this book) is what’s known as the “spoon and level” method. This means spooning the flour into a measuring cup and leveling off the top with the straight edge of a spatula or knife. Doing it this way makes sure that the flour doesn’t get too tightly packed into the measuring cup, which can cause you to add too much flour to a recipe, leading to dry and heavy results.

SUGAR

For granulated sugar, use a dry measuring cup to scoop up the ingredient. Level the top flat with the edge of a spatula or knife. For brown sugar, spoon the sugar into the cup and then press it firmly into the cup (this is called packing) until it is level with the edges (you may need to add more sugar after packing the first time). Because it is powdery, confectioners’ sugar should be measured using the spoon-and-level method, just as you do for flour.

BUTTER

Butter usually comes in 4-ounce sticks that have a wrapper printed with measurement marks for tablespoons, ¼ cup, ⅓ cup, and ½ cup. Use a knife to slice the butter into the amount you need. If a recipe calls for “⅓ cup butter, melted” you should measure out the quantity of butter first and then melt it.

LIQUIDS

You can measure small amounts of liquid—like a teaspoon or 2 tablespoons—using measuring spoons. If you need more than ¼ cup liquid, it’s best to use a clear liquid measuring cup with a pouring spout. Make sure the cup is on a level surface when you fill it and check your measurements by bending down to look straight on at the volume markings on the side of the cup.

SEMISOLIDS AND THICK, STICKY STUFF

For semisolid and sticky ingredients, like honey, molasses, and peanut butter, use the same dry measuring cups you’d use for flour and sugar. Having trouble getting something completely out of the cup? Coat the measuring cup lightly with nonstick pan spray before measuring, and even the stickiest ingredient will slide right out.

STIRRING VS. BEATING VS. WHISKING VS. FOLDING

When making doughs, pastries, and batters, recipes often use the terms stir, beat, whisk, and fold to describe the way ingredients are combined. It may seem confusing, but it’s important to understand the distinctions between them, because each method has a different effect.

KNIFE SKILLS

Sharp knives can be intimidating, but a basic set will make all your work in the kitchen easier—and safer, too, since you don’t put as much pressure on a sharp knife to cut through something as you do on a dull one. Have an adult teach you how to hold them safely and then start practicing. The grip that will give you the most control over your knife is called the “blade grip.” This is done by wrapping your bottom three fingers around the knife’s handle while using your index finger and thumb to pinch the blade where it flares out and meets the handle. (This can feel awkward at first, but will start to seem natural in no time.) When you’re cutting food, for the most stability, always position the ingredient with a flat side down against your cutting board. Protect the fingertips on the hand holding the food in place by curling them under as you cut (this is called the “claw grip”), then use your free hand to guide your knife. Using the claw grip ensures that even if your knife accidentally slips, it will only hit your knuckles or your fingernails, and not slice off a fingertip! You don’t need to rush out and spend your whole allowance on a fancy knife. Here are the knives you’ll reach for most often when baking:

Ever wonder what the difference is between chop, mince, slice, and dice? It’s simple:

PREPARING YOUR PAN

There’s nothing sadder than baking a beautiful cake, only to watch it crumble because it got stuck in the pan! Your best insurance against such tragedy is to properly prepare your bakeware. Recipes usually tell you the best approach—either greasing the pan with butter, oil, or nonstick spray; sprinkling with flour or cocoa; lining with parchment paper; or some combination of these methods—but here are some rules to keep in mind:

The MasterChef Junior pantry is the stuff of legend—but you don’t need a kitchen full of exotic ingredients to begin your baking adventures. Most recipes start with the same few staples, so the most important things are to get the basics and to know how to use them. With these ingredients on hand, you’ll always be able to whip up a little something sweet!

FLOUR

In baking, flour is used to hold batters and doughs together and give baked goods structure. That structure is a result of activating gluten—a protein that’s found in all wheat, rye, and barley flours that gets stretchy when kneaded.

Though all-purpose flour is the most common type, these days lots of interesting whole-grain and alternative flours like whole wheat flour and buckwheat flour are available in grocery stores. Almond flour, which is made from almonds that have been ground to a fine, flour-like consistency, is another type that you may encounter often. It can be fun to experiment with them (and we include some ideas in this book). But just remember that because they all behave a little differently, they can’t all be substituted for one another—for example, almond flour may be fine-textured and flour-like, but it doesn’t have any gluten, so it won’t work in a recipe as a clean swap for wheat flour. Cake flour is a fine-grained wheat flour that has less protein (gluten) in it—which makes it bake up a little lighter and tenderer than all-purpose flour. Bread flour is the opposite: a protein-rich wheat flour that’s especially designed to increase the elasticity of a dough, making it strong enough to be kneaded and shaped. Self-rising flour is just all-purpose flour to which a small amount of salt and baking powder has already been added.

Flour has a long shelf life, but there are still a few things you can do to keep it as fresh as possible. All-purpose flour should be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place and used within 12 to 18 months of purchase. Because whole-grain and nut flours contain more oil—and oil goes rancid fast—it’s best to store them in an airtight container in the freezer and use them within 1 year.

BAKING POWDER AND BAKING SODA

Both baking powder and baking soda are leaveners—which means they make baked goods rise. Although they do similar jobs, they can’t be used interchangeably. Baking powder’s rising powers start working when it is combined with a liquid, and it gets a second boost when it is exposed to the oven’s heat (which is why it’s called “double-acting”). Baking soda’s rising powers need an acidic ingredient—like buttermilk, yogurt, sour cream, molasses, or lemon juice—in order to be activated. Both baking powder and baking soda do lose their strength after 6 to 12 months, so it’s important make sure yours is fresh (see Tip, this page), or else you’re liable to end up with cakes and cookies that are short and squat!

BUTTER

Butter is a fat used to bind batters, create browning, and add tenderness and flavor. It comes in two varieties—salted and unsalted. Most baking recipes (including the ones in this book) call for unsalted butter, so that you can add salt separately according to your own taste. Butter usually comes packaged in 1-pound boxes made up of four 4-ounce (8-tablespoon) sticks.

Besides salted or unsalted, the other factor to keep in mind when using butter is its temperature. Recipes usually indicate whether the butter should be ice cold, room temperature, or melted—and it’s really important to pay attention to those descriptions, because butter temperature can have a huge effect on how a recipe works (or doesn’t!). For instance, when you make biscuits, pie crusts, or any other baked goods that have a “short” flaky texture, you’ll want to use ice-cold butter that can be combined with the dry ingredients in coarse, pebbly chunks. (This is called “cutting in” butter; see the MasterChef Lesson, this page, for more on that technique.) On the other hand, for cakes and cookies with a light texture and a fine crumb, you’ll want to use room-temperature butter, which is easily “creamed” together with sugar to make a light, fluffy batter or dough. (For more on this technique, see the MasterChef Lesson, this page.) Room-temperature butter should be slightly soft and almost plastic-y in texture, not melty or greasy; to get the right texture, take the butter out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you plan to use it.

EGGS

Eggs do so many things that they seem kind of magical. In baking, they’re used to add structure to cakes and cookies, richness to custards and ice cream, and strength and color to pastries. When you’re standing in front of the egg case at the grocery store, the options may seem overwhelming. Should you get organic or free-range eggs? Large or jumbo? White or brown?! It’s simple, really: Most recipes (including the ones in this book) are written for large eggs, so that’s the size you should buy unless a recipe says otherwise. The color of an egg doesn’t matter—it just has to do with the kind of chicken it comes from, and won’t change the way the egg performs or how it tastes. Similarly, whether or not you buy conventional, free-range, or organic eggs is a personal choice that won’t affect how the recipe works.

Some recipes call for separating the egg yolks from the egg whites so both of them can be used in different ways. That’s because egg whites and egg yolks have very different properties and behave dramatically differently during baking. Egg yolks are a fat, so they’re mostly used to add richness, creaminess, and smoothness to doughs, batters, and custards. Because the proteins in egg yolks gel when heated, they’re also sometimes used as a thickener or binder in puddings and sauces. Egg whites are a combination of protein and water. Whipping egg whites, as you do when making a meringue (see the MasterChef Lesson, this page), sponge cake, or soufflé (this page), turns them into a foam filled with millions of tiny air bubbles—and those bubbles expand when they are exposed to oven heat, causing whatever batter they’ve been folded into to rise and lift.

To crack an egg without tears, you don’t have to be too forceful, just tap the side of the egg gently against a flat surface, then open it with both hands and let the egg fall into a bowl (cracking an egg against the edge of a bowl can cause shells to get into the egg). The more you do it, the more natural it will feel—after a while you might even be able to do it with just one hand!

If a bit of shell gets in the bowl, don’t try to scoop it out with your fingers—eggs are super slippery and hard to grasp! Instead, use some of the broken eggshell as a scoop to pull the shard out—it’s a neat little trick that works perfectly every time.

Egg whites and yolks are easiest to separate when they’re cold, so when separating is called for in a recipe, pull them right out of the refrigerator and give it a try. Crack the egg over a bowl, using your hands to slowly open it. As you do, let the yolk fall into one half of the shell like a little cup, while the whites drip over the side of the shell into the bowl. Pass the yolk back and forth between the two sides of the shell until all the whites have fallen into the bowl—then pour the yolk into a separate bowl.

When they’re kept refrigerated, eggs stay fresh for 3 to 5 weeks; if you’re not sure how long your eggs have been lying around, you can check their freshness by placing one in a container of cold water. If the egg gently falls to the bottom, it’s fresh enough to eat; if it floats at the top, it’s not.

SUGAR

Baking simply wouldn’t be as sweet without sugar! The most common sweetener used in the kitchen, sugar tenderizes baked goods and helps develop golden, caramelized crusts. There are lots of different varieties, and these days you can even find many alternative sugars, like maple sugar, coconut sugar, and date sugar, at grocery stores. But the three types that are most often used in baking are granulated sugar, brown sugar, and confectioners’ (or powdered) sugar.

Granulated (or white) sugar is a refined sugar that is pure white because the natural molasses has been removed. Unrefined sugar can generally be used in place of refined granulated sugar, but it still has a tinge of brownness from the molasses. It is usually coarser as well, so substituting it for refined sugar in a recipe may slightly change the texture. Brown sugar is refined sugar that has some of the molasses left in. There are two types of brown sugar—light and dark. If a recipe calls for brown sugar, you can use either one, but dark brown sugar will give whatever you are baking a deeper caramel/molasses flavor and a denser consistency. Confectioners’ sugar is just refined sugar that has been ground until light and powdery and mixed with a tiny amount of cornstarch to keep it from clumping together. Some recipes in this book also call for turbinado, or raw, sugar as a finishing sugar. With its light molasses flavor and coarse crystals, a sprinkle of turbinado is a nice way to add a lovely crunch and sparkle to the tops of muffins, quick breads, cookies, pies, and pastries.

To keep brown sugar soft and fresh, it should be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. If you go to make a batch of cookies and discover your brown sugar has dried out into a hard brick, you can soften it by placing it in a microwave-safe bowl, covering it with a damp paper towel, and microwaving it for 20 to 30 seconds.

SALT

Because not all salts are interchangeable, using the wrong type can spell disaster for a recipe. Unless otherwise noted, all the recipes in this book call for Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which dissolves quickly and has a nice neutral flavor, making it a great all-purpose salt for everything from baking to grilling.

If you want to substitute table salt for kosher salt, make sure to halve the amount you’re using, because table salt is much finer and more densely packed than kosher salt. So if you don’t adjust the amount, the finished dish will be much too salty! Flaky sea salts, such as Maldon, are often used as finishing salts to add a pop of salinity and crunch to a dish. Try flaky salt in a compound butter or as a finishing touch on chocolate chip cookies.

CHOCOLATE

You can bake without chocolate—but why would you want to? From brownies to soufflés, chocolate is one of the most essential flavors in the world of baking. Most recipes call for chocolate in one of three forms: cocoa powder, chocolate bars (or baking bars), or chocolate chips. Sweetened cocoa is fine for hot chocolate, but for baking, the cocoa powder you buy should always be unsweetened. Most of the cocoa powder you find in stores falls into two categories: natural or Dutch process. Dutch-process cocoa powder tends have a darker color and a slightly more intense flavor than natural. Because it has been treated to reduce its acidity, Dutch-process cocoa powder won’t react properly with alkaline leaveners like baking soda; that’s why recipes that include Dutch-process cocoa powder usually use baking powder instead.

If a recipe calls for “dark” chocolate, that generally means chips or bars that have more than 70% cacao and an intense flavor verging on bitter. “Semisweet” or “bittersweet” chocolate is slightly milder, falling in the 60 to 70% cacao range. White chocolate, on the other hand, is just cocoa butter, sugar, and (usually) milk solids. Unsweetened baking chocolate, which doesn’t contain sugar or other additives, is the purest chocolate you can bake with and can be useful when you want to add flavor without increasing the sweetness. But beware: because of its bitter taste, it’s definitely not for nibbling! Store chocolate in an airtight container in a cool, dry place (65° to 70°F is ideal). Older chocolate sometimes takes on a powdery white film, called a “bloom,” as a result of a change in temperature or humidity. It may not look pretty, but don’t worry, it’s still fine for eating and baking. (For more on melting chocolate and making ganache, see the MasterChef Lesson, this page.)

MILK, HEAVY CREAM, AND OTHER DAIRY PRODUCTS

In general, using dairy—like heavy cream, milk, buttermilk, yogurt, or sour cream—is a way to add moistness and tenderness to cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. Milk is sold in a variety of fat contents, with whole milk being the highest in fat percentage and fat-free milk being the lowest. Most baking recipes (including the ones in this book) are written using whole milk. If you don’t have whole milk, you can use low-fat milk in some cases—but be prepared to lose some tenderness. Traditionally, buttermilk was the liquid left over after churning cream into butter—but these days, most buttermilk is commercially fermented by warming low-fat milk and adding live bacterial cultures (like those that live in yogurt). Like milk, yogurt comes in a variety of fat contents; Greek yogurt is just plain yogurt that has been drained to remove whey, which makes it thicker. Sour cream is cream that has been fermented by adding live bacterial cultures—which are also what gives it its signature tang. Crème fraîche is similar to sour cream but has an even higher fat content, which makes it extra decadent. Of course, a dollop of freshly whipped cream makes just about everything you bake taste better—good thing it’s so simple to make! All you need is a cold, clean bowl, a whisk, and a cupful of heavy cream (see this page for more on whipping cream).

VANILLA

Most bakers use vanilla in one of two forms: vanilla beans or vanilla extract. Of the two, vanilla beans have the more potent flavor, but they are also very expensive, so they are usually saved for special recipes when you want to see flecks of vanilla seeds. Depending on where they are grown, vanilla beans may have subtly different characteristics. Madagascar Bourbon beans tend to have the most classically sweet, mild vanilla flavor. Tahitian vanilla beans are often a little bit fruitier. And Mexican beans usually have a little extra warmth and spice. To get the vanilla seeds out of a vanilla bean pod, use the tip of a paring knife to split the pod in half lengthwise from tip to tip. Use the tip of the knife to open the pod (like a book) and then hold the knife against the sticky insides (those are the seeds) and scrape from top to bottom on both sides of the pod to get the seeds out. But don’t throw that empty pod away! Stash it in a glass jar along with some granulated sugar, and in 2 weeks you’ll have a batch of vanilla sugar that’s lovely for sprinkling on cookies or oatmeal or stirring into tea.

Vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol. The effect of extract is less powerful, but still adds lovely flavor and fragrance to cookies, cakes, custards, and much more. Just make sure you read the label on the bottle when you’re shopping and always buy “pure” vanilla extract, not “imitation,” which is made from synthetic ingredients and can have a funny fake flavor.

SPICES

If baking is an art, spices are like the colors on your palette—a delicious way to bring color and complexity to even the simplest recipes. The spices used most frequently in American baking are cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. These are the spices that you probably associate with the holidays, because their combined scent is so reminiscent of pumpkin pie and apple pie (not to mention pumpkin spice doughnuts, gingerbread, and dozens of other fall treats!). There are a lot of other spices that are great for baking, too, like cardamom, lavender, coriander, and saffron. Exploring new spices can be a wonderful way to liven up your baking routine and explore unfamiliar tastes.

Spices can be bought in either whole or ground form. Most recipes (including the ones in this book) are written for ground spices—but keep in mind that after they are ground, spices quickly begin to lose strength. For that reason, it’s best to purchase them in small quantities, replace them after about 6 months, and always store them in airtight containers in a cool, dry place. Or buy them whole and use a spice mill (or coffee grinder) to grind them yourself for the freshest, most fragrant flavor.

YEAST

It may not look like much, but inside tiny yeast granules there are billions of living organisms! Yeast is a living thing and is used to help doughs rise and to create tall, airy breads and pastries. There are three kinds of yeast: active dry yeast and instant (Rapid Rise) yeast, both of which are usually sold in packets; and fresh or “cake” yeast, which is sold in small squares. Active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in a lukewarm liquid before it is added to a dough, whereas instant (Rapid Rise) yeast can be mixed directly into the dry ingredients. Cake yeast is much more fragile than active dry or instant yeast—it needs to be stored in the refrigerator and only stays fresh for a couple of weeks.

To work, yeast needs to be “activated” by a warm liquid and “fed” by a sugar or another sweetener—which is why at least a small quantity of those things usually appear in most yeast dough recipes. When the yeast eats the sugar, it converts it into alcohol and carbon dioxide, which creates air bubbles in the dough and makes it rise. Fresh yeast activates more quickly and stays active longer than dry yeast, so it can be good for projects that call for a slow, extended rising time, like sourdough breads. And some bakers believe fresh yeast lends baked goods a slightly more complex taste. But all the recipes in this book work perfectly well with dry yeast.

Many recipes call for letting dough rise once, then “punching it down” to remove some of the gas before letting it rise a second time (either as the whole dough or as small pieces shaped into rolls, twists, or knots). This second rise is also known as “proofing.”

Most yeast doughs also involve kneading to strengthen, smooth, and help develop gluten. This is easily done with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, but you can also do it by hand. (For a how-to, see the MasterChef Lesson, this page.)

FOOD COLORING, SPRINKLES, SANDING SUGAR, AND OTHER DECORATIONS

These colorful accents may not be essentials, but they are a big part of what makes baking so fun! The most common varieties of food coloring are the traditional liquid—which is what you’ll find in most grocery stores—and gel liquid, which is thicker, produces more vivid colors, and can be bought online or in craft and baking supply stores. There are all sorts of decorative sugars, including nonpareils (tiny sugar balls), sprinkles (thin, cylindrical sugar bits), confetti (flat colorful sugar rounds), and sanding sugars (bright, crystal-like sugar sparkles).