BAKING 101: COOKIE BAKING BASICS

Cookies (or biscuits as we Australian’s say!) have to be my all time favourite thing to bake. I love everything about the process; rolling out the dough, cutting out cute little shapes, cookie dough sampling and that amazing aroma. Baking cookies in my opinion has to be one of the simplest baking skills to learn and with these few tips and tricks you will be well on your way to baking a batch of cookies that could rival Betty Crocker!

Preparation: 

Preheat your oven. When you are ready to place your cookies in the oven you want it to be at the correct temperature. This will ultimately allow your cookies to cook evenly and stop any soggy centres and burnt edges. Prior to cooking be sure to give your oven sufficient time to heat to your desired temperature. As I have said before pre-heating my oven is always the first thing I do when baking.

Be organised. I find my most successful cookies are those I took the time to prepare properly. If you are unfamiliar with a recipe I suggest measuring out all the ingredients required and retrieving all your utensils prior to starting anything. This will not only stop any frantic trolling through the cupboard mid-mixing, but will limit your chances of accidently omiting an ingredient (or two!) or  doubling up on something. Baking, like most things is always more successful when there is some form of organisation or strategy involved.

Prepare your trays. When baking cookies I have found that baking paper is almost essential in creating an evenly cooked cookie that doesn’t stick. Sure, generously greasing your tray using butter or cooking spray works most of the time, but if you want to be sure your cookies won’t stick I suggest a layer of baking paper followed by a light spray of oil. This always works for me.

Making your Dough & Cooking

Use ingredients that are at room temperature. Combining ingredients that are at room temperature will make it easier to mix them into a homogenous dough without any lumps.

Pay close attention to your butter’s texture. If your recipe requires butter (most cookie recipes do) it’s very important to use a butter that is of the right consisitency. Butter used in cookie dough should be slightly softened, but no where near melted. If your butter is too soft your dough can become greasy and over-expand when cooking, leaving your with a flattened mess. Butter that is too hard is difficult to beat and can leave you with a lumpy dough.

Cream your butter and sugar; don’t just mix it. Most cookie recipes require you to use butter and sugar. When using these 2 ingredients don’t simply stir or mix them together, cream them! Creaming your butter and sugar will stop that gritty texture some cookies have and creates more flavour.

Don’t over knead your dough especially when using your hands. The warmth from your hands can melt the butter which can cause the cookies to expand too much when baking causing them to become flat. Over doing the kneading can also result in a tougher dough, resulting in cookies which are too hard.

Lightly flour your utensils to stop sticking. To stop your dough from sticking to your rolling pin, board, bench, hands, cookie cutters etc lightly dust them with flour. But don’t go overboard (see next tip).

Don’t overdo the flour when rolling. A lot of people make the mistake of using too much flour when rolling out their dough. Too much flour will result in flavour loss as well as dough that is too dry and crumbles. So it is very important to flour sparingly when rolling.

Chill dough before baking. Once your have made your dough its best to wrap it in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes. Chilling your dough will allow it to maintain its integrity longer. This stops crumbling when both rolling out dough and baking your cookies.

Allow for expanding when placing cookies on your tray. This will stop your cookies from sticking together. I like to leave at least 2 thumbs between each.

Ensure cookies are the same size and height when rolling. If all your cookies are of the same time they will cook more evenly.

Never place raw dough on a hot tray. This will cause the dough to melt without the necessary heat to activate your raising agents, resulting in a hot mess.

Be aware that cookies harden when cooling. If you are after a chewy cookie take this into account with cooking times.

Spin your trays. If your oven maintains heat unevenly be sure to spin your tray around once half the cooking time has passed. This will ensure your cookies cook evenly.

Place cookies onto cooling rack once cooked. This will stop further cooking from the hot baking tray and any excessive hardening.

Once cool, store your cookies in an airtight container away from direct sunlight. This will give you the longest shelf life and stop your cookies from sweating.

If you intend to ice your cookies be sure they have cooled entirely.  You don’t want the icing to melt!

So there you have it it some tips and tricks for creating the perfect cookie. If you have any of your own feel free to share by commenting below. Happy Baking! Becky xo

To few my other 101 posts click here.

Tags: 101, 101 Series, Baking 101, Cookie Baking Tips