Berrie - Bees Brilliant Biscuits

1. Stay chilled always roll your cookie dough from cold, and rechill before baking for super-sharp clean-edged biscuits and cookies.

2. Get some baking biceps! Engage your abs and arm muscles, dont cheat with a mixer. After all, you are going to have a couple of extra calories to burn off!

3. Dont be scared to get your (clean) hands into the bowl! Often its quicker than mixing with a spoon, and you will get a feel for what makes a good consistency of dough too.

4. Turn your dough as you roll, or roll in different directions, to ensure that you are accounting for any differences in pressure points and you get a nice even dough height.

5. Bake different sized cookies on different trays smaller cookies need less time than big ones, so use your noggin and keep them on different trays so you dont end up with little burnt ones and big soft ones.

6. Dont overwork yourself, or your dough. Too much kneading and rerolling of your dough will result in cracked and misshapen cookies. To avoid this, always cut as many cookies from the first and second roll out of dough as possible, and consider freezing your third roll out before baking.

7. Improvise with your kit so what if you dont have the snazziest new cookie cutter, make your own! Use the rim of a mug, or a clean jam jar to cut out rounds, or a kitchen knife to cut out squares. Who cares if you dont have a collection of posh fabric piping bags? Make your own out of Ziploc bags.

8. Get the tunes on! A baking playlist will keep you going when the bake gets tough.

9. Always taste and test as you go along. When baking a recipe for the first time, try to bake one cookie before you do the whole batch, to sense-check and correct any mistakes.

10. Dont be afraid to tidy up your bakes when they come out the oven cut off any burnt bits, straighten up a wonky edge with a cheese grater or hide any knobbly bits with an icing and make all your bakes look beautiful!

11. Care for the environment avoid using foil at all costs, it takes 100 years to biodegrade and there are alternatives. Use fair-trade EVERYTHING, recycled kitchen paper and biodegradable clingfilm.

12. Get thrifty freeze extra dough or broken biscuits and use them later (see for ideas of what to do with them).

13. If you can, clear a shelf in the fridge/freezer for chilling your dough.

14. Get friendly with your oven understand its hot spots and avoid baking cookies on the corresponding part of your baking tray.

15. Invest in some highbrow pieces of kit if you can get yourself a nice new baking tray and good-quality parchment paper it will make all the difference. Get some attractive plastic containers or tins to keep your bakes fresh and tasty for as long as possible.

16. Get busy! Be creative; make your own cookie cutter templates on cardboard (then cut around them with the tip of a sharp knife), try new flavour combinations and play with colours.

17. Make your bakes into gifts this will make you very popular and stop you getting a bakers bum!

18. Keep frozen balls of dough in an egg box in the freezer so you can bake a treat at short notice.

19. If you dont have a rolling pin, you can use a strong, clean glass bottle instead.

20. Always use free-range eggs. Healthier hens lay better eggs.