In part 6, the last of her cookie series, and the last show of season one, Chef Gail shares all of her best cookie making secrets to ensure that your cookies come out just the way you like them. From preparing your pans properly, to using the correct mixing tools, you can’t help but elevate your cookie baking game.            

Baking Radio: Chef Gail Sokol's Baking Podcast

Secrets to Getting the Best Cookies Ever

In part 5 of her series, Chef Gail wraps up her discussion of the eight types of cookies with the final two types: the piped cookie and finally the wafer cookie. Piped cookie doughs are soft enough to be piped through a pastry bag fitted with a pastry tip to form cookies of various shapes. A recipe for buttery, Vanilla Strip Cookies is given. The last type of cookie is the wafer cookie which has the special quality of being able to be shaped into anything you wish. This type of cookie comes out of the oven quite malleable, and then firm up as it cools, to become the thinnest and crispiest of all the cookie types. Chef Gail gives her special Polka-Dotted Pirouette Cookie recipe.

Learn to Bake Polka-Dotted Pirouette Cookies

In part 4 of her series, Chef Gail delves into sheet cookies and the rolled cookie. Sheet cookies are one of the easiest to prepare in quantity with a simple, looser batter that is poured into a sheet pan. Sheet cookies can even be dressed up with frostings and glazes to elevate them to the next level. They are then cut out into squares or other shapes. Rolled cookie dough is chilled, and then rolled out with a rolling pin, and shaped into whatever you wish using cookie cutters or a knife. Another two yummy recipes are given that include: Chocolate Chip Pecan Blondies and Chocolate Sugar Cookies

How to Bake Sheet Cookies & Rolled Cookies.

In part 3 of her series Chef Gail discusses the molded cookie and the bar cookie. These next two types of cookies are really hands-on, as the dough is rolled and shaped. These are great cookies to make with the kids as well or find your inner child. A Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Cookie recipe, and a nutty Almond Biscotti recipe are given.

How to Bake Molded Cookies & Bar Cookies

In part 2 of her series Chef Gail delves head on into the cookie jar further exploring the first two types of cookies, the drop cookie and the refrigerator cookie! Cookies also follow one of three mixing methods. The mixing methods for cookies are not always clear cut as they are for cakes. Two fabulous cookie recipes are shared.

How To Bake Drop Cookies & Refrigerator Cookies

We all love cookies! There are millions of recipes for cookies of all types. There are so many varieties of cookies, so how do you get a handle on which is which? Cookies are categorized based on how they are placed onto a sheet pan. Chef Gail explores each of the eight categories in detail, giving away her favorite recipes throughout the series.

Opening the Cookie Jar, a Six Part Series

We all love baked goods, and when they are homemade they are that much more special. Homemade implies that someone cared enough to make them for us. There are times when we may wish to lighten up our homemade baked goods. Learn how to substitute key ingredients with healthier options to create a baked good that is just as delicious as the original.    

Baking: How To Lighten Things Up

Mangos are one of the most flavorful and colorful tropical fruits you can find. Learn about the mangos’ origin and its’ healthy nutritional profile. Chef Gail will teach you how to choose the best mango for your needs, and how to cut it up safely. She shares a wonderful, fruity dessert using the mango.

The Magnificent Mango

So many people love brownies. Discover that Chef Gail is a diehard brownie lover as well, and always on the look-out for the perfect brownie recipe. She will give you one of her favorite fudge brownie recipes, and then give you four incredible variations. Learn how to change flavors and dress up the simple little brownie.  

One Brownie Recipe, Four Delicious, Variations

After plating and decorating your beautiful dessert with sauces and/or powdered sugar, learn how to elevate your creation to a multi-dimensional experience using the thinnest of cookies known as wafer cookies or tuiles. Tuile is the French word for “roof tile”. Add texture and crunch to the plate by learning how to make a simple wafer cookie that is most versatile in how it can be shaped, and then placed on top of your dessert.

How to Add Texture and Crunch to a Plated Dessert

A slice of chocolate cake or a fruit tart on a plate looks nice, not very exciting, but nice. Learn some easy ways to elevate your desserts to a new level using powdered sugar, cocoa powder, dessert sauces and toothpicks. Picture the dessert plate as your canvas and you are the artist. Listen to Chef Gail’s tips on how to create gorgeous plates on which to place your beautiful desserts.  

Plating Your Desserts

The last episode of the series explores exactly what occurs when yeast bread goes into the oven to bake. Learn whether or not your bread needs a wash brushed over it before baking, and find out what washes are made of. Discover how yeast bread develops their structure, and what happens to the proteins and starches within the dough to create that structure. Proper cooling is discussed as well as proper storage techniques to prevent staling.  

Twelve Steps to Yeast Bread, Part 3. Baking Bread with Chef Gail Sokol

The series continues with a discussion on steps four through nine of yeast dough production. Learn what de-gassing or punching refer to, and other relevant terms such as, scaling, rounding , resting, and panning. Chef Gail shares her tips and anecdotes on how to create high quality yeast breads.

Twelve Steps to Yeast Bread - Part 2. Baking Bread with Chef Gail Sokol

Learn the twelve basic steps to creating any yeast bread. Whether you are making an Italian bread, pizza dough, coffeecake or Danish most yeast bread recipes follow these twelve simple steps. In this first of a three part series, the first three steps of yeast bread are discussed. Learn how to measure the ingredients most accurately for the highest quality yeast breads. Chef Gail explains just how important mixing is to the texture of your final baked good. The third step is fermentation and once it begins it doesn’t slow down until the dough is baked.  

Twelve Steps to Yeast Bread, Part 1

Baking with kids can certainly be a challenge, but it can, also, be very rewarding and create some wonderful memories between you and your child. Chef Gail has been teaching children to bake for over 18 years. She shares her knowledge and tips on how to know when your child is ready to create some wonderful foods with you in the kitchen.

Baking With Kids!

Award winning author, educator and chef Gail Sokol shares her experience, recipes, tips and tricks in this weekly baking podcast. Chef Sokol specializes in making baking easy and approachable for people of all skill levels.

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Baking Radio: Chef Gail Sokol's Baking Podcast

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