In what feels like another lifetime (2016), I was working as a pastry cook in a French restaurant in New York City. Baking in a professional setting, I picked up many tricks to work efficiently and ensure better results. Many of these tips have stuck with me long since leaving the restaurant world (measure your ingredients ahead of time, read the recipe more than once), while some have never crossed my mind again (how to scoop ice cream into a perfect sphere—no one has time for that!). But despite my training, I’m a sucker for a shortcut. And there’s one baking “rule” I almost neverfollow, even though I probably should.
I’ll set the scene: I’m making a batch of chocolate chip cookies. The recipe calls for me to mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, and then mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl before combining the two. And I just…don’t.
Separate bowls? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I don’t have a dishwasher—I am the dishwasher. So, nine times out of ten, I simply mix the wets together, then mix the dries immediately after in the same bowl (or vice versa, depending on what I’m baking).
![quotation mark](https://www.purewow.com/static-gmg/purewow/icons/quote+mark.webp)
Lazy—yes, I’ll admit it. I love to break a rule out of laziness, especially if no one will notice. That’s kind of my baking M.O.