For the best results, follow the recipe as written. Use the ingredients, techniques, and bakeware included in the recipe. Any changes may affect the quality of the final product.

Unless specified, the standards used by this website are as follows:

Ingredient standards

• Brown sugar: light
• Butter: unsalted
• Cocoa powder: unsweetened; either natural or Dutch process
• Eggs: large (organic, if possible)
• Milk, yogurt, sour cream: full-fat 
• Oats: gluten-free, rolled
• Salt: (standard grain) table salt
• Sugar: white, granulated

Mixing and other standards

• Mix, stir or combine: By hand, using a spoon.
• Whisk: By hand, using a whisk. 
• Beat: With a handheld or stand mixer with a flat beater attachment.
• Whip: With a handheld or stand mixer with whisk attachment.
• Fold:  Using a rubber spatula, light and heavy ingredients are combined by running the spatula along the bottom of the bowl and then up and over the mixtures to maintain as much volume as possible. 
• Cream: Mix butter and sugar together, usually with an electric mixer, until well blended, fluffy and pale yellow. 
• Bain-maire:  A technique in which a bowl with ingredients is placed over a large pot of hot or warm water so that the ingredients are encased with gentle heat to melt, cook or warm them. 
• Pulse: Using the pulse button on a food processor to breakdown an ingredient(s) until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
• Sift: Passing a dry ingredient such as confectioners' sugar through a mesh bottom sieve to get rid of lumps and make it more uniform in texture, which improves the baking process.

Oven standards

• Place the rack in the middle of the oven.
• Rotate baked goods midway, reversing the pan from front to back. This eliminates uneven baking from oven hot spots.
• Use an oven thermometer to measure the exact internal temperature of the oven to ensure a more exact bake time and result.