Julie Van Rosendaal gives her holiday baking tips

December is baking season,which means even those who might not break out the baking pans during the rest of the year might dig up some treasured family recipes and give it a go.

• Have any holiday baking tips of your own? Share them in the comment section below.

Whether youre just a beginner or have mastered the art of pastry and shortbread years ago, here are some tips that might help you hone your holiday craft.

Get to know your ingredients

Most baked goods begin with butter. Many recipes call for unsaltedand the reason for this, according tomost recipe writers, is so that you can control the amount of salt in your recipe.

Bottom line isyou need some salt in your baked goods anyway to keep them from tasting flat, so use salted butter if you wantrather than make a special trip to the grocery store but decrease the amount of salt you add to your recipe.If you need to soften some quickly, dice it and pop it in the microwaveor grate it with the coarse side of a box grater and leave at room temperature for a few minutes.

Brown sugar is often dried out when you go to use it butit can be kept soft with a scrap of bread or a marshmallow. In case of baking emergenciesyou can make your own by blending onetablespoon ofmolasses into onecup of white sugar. The more molasses you use, the darker the brown sugar.

All-purpose flour is fine for most baking,I generally dont use cake and pastry flourbecause its not what most people have in their kitchens.Cake and pastry flour is lower in gluten, which can make for a more tender crumb. Bread flour is higher in gluten, which contributesmore elasticity and structure as you knead your dough.Whatever kind of flour you use, make sure you measure it properly stir it around a bit in its bin or bag to aerate it if you scoop it out,then level it off with a knife or your finger. Adding too much flour can make your dough tough and dry.

Measuring ingredients by weight is the most accurate way to bake. If you have recipes that call for weight measures, a baking scale is inexpensive and well worth the investment.

Mix it, roll it, beat it

Many batters and doughs begin by beating butter and sugar together, whichincorporates air into the mixturemaking it pale and fluffy as the shards of sugar cut through the fat. If youre adding citrus zest to what youre baking, adding it now will release more of the flavourful oils and distribute it more efficiently through the batter.

Once flour comes into contact with the liquid in a recipe, it begins to develop gluten those long, stretchy strands you get when you knead yeast doughs. In order to keep cakes, pastries and cookies tender, be gentle when combining the two.This is why muffins and quickbreads often have you mix the wet and dry ingredients separately andthen stir the two together. Unless a recipe says otherwise, use as few strokes as possible.

Let your dough rest before you roll it out,even yeast doughs will be easier to knead if you let it rest for half an hour as soon as it comes together. If you like, dust your work surface with a combination of flour and sugar to prevent your dough from absorbing too much flour, or use flour and cocoa to prevent dark gingerbread from turning dusty white. Roll it out between two sheets of parchment, then cut cookies out right on the parchment and transfer it to a baking sheet when youre ready to bake.

Know when its done

Oven temperatures can vary.If youre not confident yours is accurate, pick up an oven thermometer for a few dollars at most department stores.

The toothpick test is popularbut not always effective when so many baked goods should have moist crumbs in the middle.The easiest way to tell if muffins, cakes and loaves are done is to touch the domed top with your finger if its springy to the touch, its done. If it leaves a dent, it needs to go back in the oven for a few minutes.

In general rolled cookies and shortbreads should come out when theyre pale golden around the edges the darker they become, the crisper and snappier theyll be. If youre going for chewy cookies, they should be golden around the edges but still soft in the middle. Keep in mind that theyll firm up as they cool, so if you want soft and chewy it'sbest that they not be over-baked.

Dark molasses and chocolate cookies can be tough to gauge if theyre too soft too remove from the pan, theyre likely underdone, but better to err on the side of under-baking if you want chewy, over-baking if you want crisp.

Store cookies properly

When storing baked cookies, keep crisp and cakey-chewy cookies separate, otherwise the dry cookies will absorb moisture from the soft onesand vice versa. Theyll also take on each others' flavours while sharing a tin, so avoid stashing your gingerbread with your lemon crinkles. Most cookies and squares freeze well, wrapped tightly, for about fourmonths.