The holiday season is a special time for family and friends to gather, and home-baked desserts have always had a place at the table. According to a Baker’s Joy Homemade Holiday survey, more than 75 percent of Americans are planning to bake more this year compared to years past.

But before you break out the sugar and cookie sheets, take a look at these baking and storage tips to make sure your homemade holiday treats will leave family members smiling all season long:

Chicago Metallic’s Commercial bakeware line is manufactured to meet the exacting standards of commercial bakers and those who want traditional uncoated pans. Strong and durable, it is backed by a 25 year warranty and can be easily cleaned in the dishwasher. Picking up this pan you will immediately note its substantial weight and thick rolled edges which will not warp as ligther weight bakeware is prone to do.

* Cookies are less likely to burn if they are baked on a light-colored metal cookie sheet versus a dark metal sheet.

* For soft-baked cookies that have started to dry out, re-soften by adding a slice of apple or a piece of bread to the container where they are kept.

* When rolling out cookies, use powdered sugar instead of flour. The sugar will add sweetness and you won’t have to worry about adding too much flour.

* Experiment beyond the usual holiday gingerbread. Surprise your family this year with a premium dessert; and nothing says gourmet like premium chocolate. With more than 50 percent of American adults preferring chocolate to other flavors, these delectable surprises are sure to become a new holiday tradition.

Chocolate cookies will bring joy to not only your family, but this season they can also bring hope, strength and joy to children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. The Ghirardelli Chocolate Company is helping the Make-A-Wish Foundation grant wishes through a $100,000 contribution. Consumers can show their support for the Ghirardelli Make-A-Wish program by baking with Ghirardelli chocolate and visiting www.Ghirardelli.com.

Want to bake delicious chocolate cookies and give back to the community? Try this easy recipe, created by 2004 James Beard Foundation Pastry Chef of the year, Emily Luchetti.

Ghirardelli’s Wish Star Chocolate Cookie

Shortbread:
2 cups flour
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 bar (4 ounces) Ghirardelli 60 percent Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt

Dipping:
1 bag (11.5 ounces) Ghirardelli 60 percent Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1 tablespoon butter

Melt baking bar on double boiler and set aside. Mix flour and salt together and set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add melted chocolate and vanilla. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture and mix just until blended. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.

Heat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured board, roll dough to 3/8-inch thick and cut with cookie cutters. If the dough is very soft, chill again for at least 30 minutes. Bake for seven to nine minutes. Cool completely in pan.

Melt chocolate chips with one tablespoon of butter in a double boiler. Dip cooled cookie in melted chocolate mixture and let chocolate set. Makes about one dozen cookies.

I’ve seen a lot of gift baskets popping up everywhere I look. There is even a store in my town that makes gift baskets, and that is all they do. It’s a great idea, as most people love to get them. I have always preferred to get gift baskets for people because you can make them with anything you want, and they are a fast and easy choice. In recent years, food baskets have really become popular, and the muffin baskets are the type I tend to see most often. You can buy muffin baskets, or you can make one yourself.

When shopping for food baskets, you want something that is fresh. I don’t mean full of preservatives fresh, I mean fresh out of the oven. When it comes to finding muffin baskets, this might be hard. You can ask when the muffins were made, but you may not get an answer because they may not know what to tell you. Preservatives keep food edible for long periods of time, but I don’t think they make a good tasting item. If you want fresh muffin baskets, you may want to do it yourself.

The great thing about homemade muffin baskets is that you can make them anytime. You don’t have to wait for the last moment to throw in fresh muffins, though you can if you want to. One year my friend and I made cookies and muffins and froze them. We took everything out of the freezer and make up our cookie and muffin baskets. I was really surprised to find that if you don’t leave them in the freezer for any longer than a month, they come out fresh. I was amazed that they tasted like they were just make, and I didn’t have to use any preservatives.

You can make up many batches of different types of muffins and store them in your freezer a few weeks before you plan to construct your muffin baskets. You can get them out the day before and put them in your basket. Just make sure they are protected by plastic wrap. They will thaw by the time they get to the recipients of your muffin baskets, and they will taste like they were just baked as long as you had them sealed in the freezer. I didn’t give out many, but those who got cookie and muffin baskets from me had nothing but good things to say. In fact, they wanted to know where I bought my muffins.

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The best baking tools, for most of us anyway, are baking cookbooks. Sherry Yard’s new book, The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts, is described as the best book on baking ever because it breaks down into baking technique categories and thoroughly explains the hows and whys of each. Excellence can come only from mastering the fundamentals.

The bakeware store has all the cookie sheets, baking pans, bread pans, and baking tools you will ever need. You can cut parchment paper to fit, but people who use silicone baking mats swear by them.

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