13 Hard Cooking and Baking Skills You Can Use This Time at Home to Finally Master

If you’ve ever taken a bite of crème brûlée, then you know caramelized sugar can transcend a dish to a new level of deliciousness. It’s not as hard to make as you may think either. The process takes about 10 minutes and only requires water, sugar, and lemon. No more excuses – get to caramelizing!

How To: caramelize sugar

Imagine all of the dishes you could cook from scratch if you mastered this skill . . . pizza, dinner rolls, donuts, garlic knots, pot pies, buffalo chicken bites; the list is truly endless. Kneading dough is also a great arm workout, we’re just sayin’.

How To: make dough

Did you know there are over 10 ways to cook an egg? From sunny side up to poached to hard boiled to soft scrambled, you’ll have your work cut out for you in the kitchen. But you won’t regret it the next time you’re making breakfast – we can promise you that!

How To: poach an egg

Although making fresh, homemade jam is one of the simplest recipes to learn, grabbing a jar off the shelf is always the go-to move. Well, not anymore. The hardest part of the job is deciding whether or not to use pectin, a type of starch that will add thickness. Or make a jar of both so you have options!

How To: make jam

Any recipe that requires a type of cream (whipped cream, clotted cream, etc.) will taste better homemade than store bought. When made fresh, whipped cream will last about four days refrigerated max, allowing plenty of baking time. By the time the next potluck or bake sale rolls around, your desserts will be the talk of town.

How To: make whipped cream

Tempering chocolate is essentially the process of heating, and then cooling, chocolate to be used on candies and confections (think things like chocolate-covered fruit or nuts). Afterwards, the chocolate will have a beautifully smooth and glossy finish.

How To: temper chocolate

Learning how to bake puff pastries from scratch will only make them taste a million times better. Common puff pastries include cinnamon rolls, croissants, tarts, and palmiers to name a few. Is your mouth watering yet?

How To: make puff pastry

If you’re feeling extra confident with your baking skills, try taking it to the next level by mastering a mirror glaze. This intense but colorful glaze is made from sweetened condensed milk, water, gelatin, chocolate, and flavorings and colors of your choosing.

How To: make a mirror glaze

There’s such an overwhelming abundance of fondue appetizers out there, so once you’ve got this down, that’s when the real fun begins. The trick is boiling the cheese, chocolate, or whatever you like into a melted state that can be used as a dip, but that isn’t too thick or burned.

How To: make fondue

There are so many variations of pastas dishes out there, it’s pretty much impossible to ever get tired of noodles. A basic pasta and sauce combo can be prepared within 15 minutes if you don’t cook from scratch. Challenge yourself this month by making homemade pasta. Have Italian music playing in the background, pour a glass of wine, and have some fun!

How To: make pasta

Many recipes take advantage of the acidity from fruits like lemons, limes, or oranges for extra flavor or even to use as a garnish. But there’s a difference between juicing and zesting a fruit. And there’s different types of zest-wide strips (use a y-peeler), curly strips (use a zester), and shavings (use a microplane) that’ll add their own taste and texture.

How To: zest a fruit

Fondant is a way of preparing sugar which is commonly used as icing for cakes. Unlike tradition icing, fondant can be shaped into decorations like flowers and rolled out to be used as a thick sheet or layer of icing.

How To: make fondant

Taking care of your knives is just as important as mastering any of these other harder cooking skills. Be sure to proceed with caution and to check that no one is within close proximity to you while you’re sharpening.

How To: sharpen knives