Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1. Chill the Cookie Dough
If there’s one thing you learn from this post, it’s this: chill your cookie dough if a recipe calls for it. Chilling cookie dough in the refrigerator firms it up, which decreases the possibility of over-spreading. It not only ensures a thicker, more solid cookie but an enhanced flavor as well. In these soft chocolate chip cookies, for example, it helps develop a heightened buttery, caramel-y flavor. Cold cookie dough is also easier to handle and shape. After chilling, let your cookie dough sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes (or more, depending how long the dough has chilled) before rolling into balls and baking. Sometimes after refrigeration, cookie dough can be too hard to roll/handle.If a recipe calls for chilling the cookie dough, don’t skip that step.
If a recipe yields super sticky cookie dough, chill it before rolling and baking.
You can also chill the cookie dough after you roll it into individual balls. However, some cookie doughs are too sticky right after you mix the ingredients together. So it’s helpful to chill it first (perhaps for just 1 hour), roll into balls, then continue chilling for the amount of time the recipe requires.
2. Prevent Excess Spreading
Did your cookie dough turn into greasy puddles? I’ve been there too. Here are a few ways to prevent that from happening again:
Chill your cookie dough. See tip #1 above.
Use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Coating your baking sheet with nonstick spray or butter creates an overly greasy foundation which leads to excess spread. Instead, I recommend lining your baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. I prefer to use the mats—they grip onto the bottom of your cookie dough, preventing the cookies from spreading too much. These mats also promote even browning. They can get greasy overtime, so make sure you wash the mats and wipe them clean between cookie batches. (By the way, here’s how I clean silicone baking mats.)
Never place cookie dough balls onto a hot baking sheet. When baking in batches, let the baking sheets cool to room temperature first.
Butter may have been too warm. See tip #3 next.
Under-measuring the flour. Less flour means there’s less to absorb all the wet ingredients in your cookie dough. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour.
Don’t over-mix the cookie dough. Cream the butter and sugar for only as long as you need to—a recipe usually specifies the amount of time. Don’t begin beating then leave the room with the mixer running. Whipping too much air into the dough will cause your cookies to collapse as they bake. I guarantee that.
3. Temperature is King
This mainly refers to oven temperature, butter temperature, and egg temperature. Cold cookie dough helps too! See tip #1.
Oven temperature: Unless you have a regularly calibrated oven, your oven’s temperature could be inaccurate. When you set your oven to 350°F, it might not really be 350°F inside. It could be 325°F or 375°F. While this might not seem like a big deal, it poses a huge problem for your cookies such as over-browning, excess spread, underbaking in the centers, and/or uneven baking. Purchase an oven thermometer and place it in the center of your oven. While inexpensive, they’re irreplaceable in a baker’s kitchen. Place it in your oven so you always know the actual temperature.
Butter and egg temperature: If a cookie recipe calls for room temperature eggs, butter, or any dairy ingredients, make sure you take the time to bring these ingredients to room temperature. Recipes don’t just do that for fun—room temperature ingredients emulsify much easier into batter, which creates a uniform texture. Think of cold, hard butter. It’s impossible to cream cold butter into a soft consistency necessary for cookie dough. Same goes for eggs—they add more volume to the dough when they’re at room temperature. Something to note: room temperature butter is actually cool to the touch, not warm. When you press it, your finger will make a slight indent. To get that perfect consistency and temperature, remove butter from the refrigerator 1 hour prior to beginning.
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Directions: |
Directions:4. Specified Baking Time? Who Cares.
I’m admitting something to you—I never look at recipe times when I bake cookies. Instead, I look at the cookies themselves. This is primarily because all ovens are different and maybe your oven is a convection oven, while the recipe writer’s is a conventional oven. (I bake with conventional. General rule: If you use a convection oven, reduce the oven temperature by 25°F.)
Always go with your instincts. Cookies are done when the edges are set and lightly browned. The top centers can look slightly underbaked if you want a softer cookie. For a crispier cookie, bake the batch a little longer until the centers appear “set.” But always keep in mind that cookies continue to cook for a couple minutes as they cool on the baking sheet.
5. One Batch at a Time
If you’re able and time allows it, I recommend baking 1 batch of cookies at a time on the center rack. Why? You get the best possible results when the oven only concentrates on 1 single batch. If you absolutely need to bake more than one batch at a time for an event, holiday baking, etc., rotate the baking sheets from the top rack to bottom rack once halfway through the baking process. Ovens have hot spots! |
This recipe for 5 Cookie Baking Tips is from