Food & Cooking Baking 21 Essential Baking Recipes Every 20-Something Should Learn By Kelly Vaughan Kelly Vaughan Kelly is a former associate digital food editor for MarthaStewart.com. Editorial Guidelines Published on April 20, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Bryan Gardner Baking is a science. It's crucial to follow a recipe closely when whipping meringue, forming chocolate chip cookies, or building a layer cake. If you're a new baker or just want to get back to basics, these essential recipes are the ones you want to spend some time perfecting. Let's start with the ultimate in basic baking recipes: the Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies pictured here. Some recipes promise a thin and crispy texture or extra-cakey chocolate chip cookie, but this version offers the perfect balance of both. When prepping your ingredients, make sure to use room temperature butter and eggs, which will help them to incorporate more evenly into the cookie dough. Another classic cookie recipe is Snickerdoodles, the cinnamon-sugar duo that's a guaranteed winner in this sweet, spiced, and everything nice treat. Of course, there are a couple of classic pie recipes that everyone should master. Our Old-Fashioned Apple Pie is standard, but absolutely spectacular. A combination of spices and the zest and juice of a lemon build all the flavors of fall in the filling. Another autumnal classic is our Perfect Pumpkin Pie, which has the creamy texture everyone at your Thanksgiving table will love. Achieve the perfect crimped edge, crispy bottom, and golden brown crust with our versatile pâte brisée recipe. From perfect sugar cookies to all-star chewy brownies to Classic New York-Style Cheesecake, become a master baker with these essential baked good recipes. 01 of 20 Pound Cake Early iterations of pound cake were made with exactly what the name suggests—one pound each of sugar, flour, butter, and eggs. Nowadays, recipes like this one are a bit more sophisticated, but just as simple and pleasing as ever. View Recipe 02 of 20 Caramel-Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies Armando Rafael If you're a fan of soft, chewy, and completely decadent chocolate chip cookies, you need to commit this recipe to memory. These buttery cookies, which use a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar for moistness, have a sweet surprise hiding on the inside—each cookie is stuffed with an individual caramel. View Recipe 03 of 20 Test Kitchen's Favorite Banana-Chocolate Chip Bread Marcus Nilsson The secret to perfect banana bread? Freezing chopped bananas, then thawing and mashing before mixing them into the batter. This technique adds extra moistness and sweet banana flavor to an all-time favorite quick bread. View Recipe 04 of 20 Vanilla Sheet Cake with Chocolate-Ganache Buttercream Alpha Smoot This is one of the easiest and most crowd-pleasing desserts that you can bake. The yellow cake batter gets a double dose of vanilla from both the bean and extract. Plus, spreading the easy chocolate frosting on a sheet cake is much easier than frosting a layer cake. View Recipe 05 of 20 Classic New York-Style Cheesecake Bryan Gardner Learn how to master rich and silky cheesecake with this all-time favorite recipe. From the simple graham cracker crust to the luscious cream cheese-and-sour-cream filling, it's a dessert that's sure to impress. View Recipe 06 of 20 Old-Fashioned Apple Pie Keep this apple pie recipe in your back pocket for days spent at the orchard or fall holidays. This recipe calls for using exclusively tart Granny Smith apples, but feel free to mix it up with whatever kind you've picked. View Recipe 07 of 20 Vegan Chocolate Cake Bryan Gardner We've said it before and we'll say it again—dairy-free is so delicious. In this vegan version of classic chocolate layer cake, neutral vegetable oil helps to keep the cake super moist and instant espresso powder enhances the chocolate flavor. View Recipe 08 of 20 Perfect Citrus Bars Make sweet and tangy lemon bars every time with our readers' go-to recipe. The crust is made with a combination of all-purpose flour, wheat germ, confectioners' sugar, and butter, which work together to create a crispy, textured crisp. View Recipe 09 of 20 Milk-Chocolate Pudding Pie Kate Mathis This chocolate pie is a particularly easy recipe for beginners because the press-in crust is made with just three ingredients—vanilla wafer cookies, granulated sugar, and butter. That's right: No rolling required! View Recipe 10 of 20 Chewy Brownies Our favorite brownie recipe is easy and tastes so much better than the boxed mix. A few tablespoons of coconut oil in the batter gives these treats a shiny, crackled top and super fudgy interior. View Recipe 11 of 20 Angel Food Cake This light and airy cake gets its heavenly texture from 12 egg whites and cake flour. Serve each slice with a dollop of whipped cream, powdered sugar, and macerated berries. View Recipe 12 of 20 Perfect Sugar Cookies Lennart Weinbull Use our all-star recipe to make these classic cookies. They're the perfect combination of crispy, chewy, soft, and sweet. Best of all, they're made with just a handful of basic ingredients, so you can whip up a few dozen whenever a craving strikes. View Recipe 13 of 20 Better-Than-Basic Muffins Can't decide between baking blueberry or chocolate chip muffins? With this all-purpose muffin recipe, you don't have to. Divide the batter into separate bowls and mix in chocolate chips, cherry and pecans, raisins, blueberries, or whatever your heart desires. View Recipe 14 of 20 Carrot Cake Kenji Toma The ultimate springtime dessert, this moist, spiced cake is made with an entire pound of shredded carrots, which add subtle orange color, plenty of moistness, and a bit of texture. And what would carrot cake be without cream cheese frosting? We have a recipe for that, too. View Recipe 15 of 20 Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake Start your morning off on a sweet note with this beloved breakfast treat. Sour cream gives the cake its signature rich, moist flavor and a double dose of streusel—swirled into the cake and sprinkled on top—guarantee a good morning. View Recipe 16 of 20 Snickerdoodles Soft and chewy with the perfect coating of cinnamon sugar, these cookies are an absolute classic. A combination of vegetable shortening and butter creates the signature texture without compromising on flavor. View Recipe 17 of 20 Lemon Cake Julia Hartbeck Everyone should have a light, bright, and zesty lemon cake recipe on hand for easy entertaining. There's fabulous lemon flavor in this delightful cake, thanks to more than a quarter cup of fresh lemon juice and a tablespoon of lemon zest. View Recipe 18 of 20 Pear Crisp Bryan Gardner A crisp can be filled with nearly any fruit that is in season, but we particularly love using sweet, firm pears. The topping, which distinguishes this dessert from cobblers or buckles, is made with rolled oats, light brown sugar, sliced almonds, flour, and butter. View Recipe 19 of 20 Perfect Pumpkin Pie We're teaching you how to make Thanksgiving's MVP—pumpkin pie—using pure pumpkin purée (no mix here!). The creamy, spiced filling is poured into our best pâte brisée crust, which can be made in advance to cut down on prep work on Thanksgiving day. View Recipe 20 of 20 Flourless Chocolate Cake William Meppem Who doesn't love a decadent chocolate dessert that also happens to be gluten-free? Made with four-ingredient, flourless chocolate cake is rich, romantic, and super easy to prepare. Be sure to use very good quality chocolate, such as Valrhona, for ultra-luxurious flavor. View Recipe Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit