Tips + Tricks: Cookies 101
If there was ever a time to have a baking blog, this is it. We have people’s undivided attention, and it shows, because I’ve had trouble finding flour! With most people still quarantining, and hopefully everyone continuing to implement physical distancing measures, we all need a way to spice things up in the kitchen.
Instead of a very specific recipe, I’ve decided to drop some knowledge bombs here, so that you can improve your skills and start trying to vary from the recipes you find online or in your cookbooks with confidence! Below are my favorite tips and tricks for the best results with cookies.
THE INGREDIENTS
Flour
All purpose flour is the most neutral flour you can use for cookies, hence its all purposeness. The gluten strands in flour start off short, so the more you mix it, the longer the strand, and the more rubbery the texture. This is why so many recipes remind us not to over-mix our batter once the dry ingredients are added, and why the best pancakes have little flour pockets in the batter! It may seem counter-intuitive, but if your cookies turn out more bread-y, try adding more flour to get that chewier texture. That bread-like texture actually comes from too much liquid!
Sugar
This helps the cookie spread, and gives it that sweet, crispy edge. If your cookies are spreading into a crispy puddle, try increasing the flour and decreasing the sugar quantities! If they’re not spreading at all, try mixing in a little bit of honey or maple syrup, 1-2 Tbsp to the batter should help! Also, brown sugar has more liquid in a cookie than white sugar, so you may want to play with your ratio, or use all of one or the other.
Eggs
These babies are the golden ticket to the perfectly bound cookie. I like to use the flour/egg ratio that for every 2.5 c flour, I add two eggs for chocolate chip cookies and 1 egg for every 2 cups for sugar cookies. Remember, these still add liquid, so you’ll see a fluffier cookie the more eggs you add.
Butter
Fat is maybe the most important component to your cookie. All butter is my favorite way to go. It adds flavor, texture, color and most importantly, the melting point is similar to our body temperatures, so you get a literal melt-in-your-mouth experience with buttery cookies. Yum. If you are dairy-free, I love using Earth Balance (soy free) at a 1:1 ratio to butter in any cookie recipe.
Leavening agents
Aside from the eggs, leavening agents like baking powder or baking soda can be used to give cookies some height. If you see the cookies that have those layered edges that looks like the cross-section of a tree (think carbon-dating rings), that’s the leavening agent hard at work. Too much will make your cookies more bread-like, but 1 teaspoon per 2-3 cups of flour is a good ratio, especially if your cookies are still spreading after reducing the sugar quantity.
Vanilla + Salt
These are the flavor bombs doing all their magic. Every recipe I find, I typically double both ingredients. I prefer coarse Kosher salt, and even use it to sprinkle on top. It’s crunchier and more satisfying to me than flaky salts, which tend to melt into the cookie a little bit. If you’re deciding between Tahitian, Madagascar or Mexican vanilla, I always vote Mexican vanilla. I took a family trip to Mexico once and one lick of vanilla soft-serve ice cream made me a convert. Use dark vanilla for mixing with rich flavors like chocolate and nuts. For a more floral, sweet punch, clear vanilla will give your recipe that instant birthday-cake vibe.
THE PROCESS
The Wet Ingredients
This process should take the longest. I like to cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together for about 5 minutes on medium-high using a stand-mixer with the paddle attachment. I whisk the eggs separately and then add them in, beating again for 5-10 minutes or until batter is very fluffy.
The Dry Ingredients
Add these in three parts. Friendly reminder to just mix until combined. The texture of the cookie should be like wet sand and should bind together easily and not spread.
Refrigeration
I refrigerate my cookie dough overnight, and for no more than 24 hours. This gives the flour enough time to soak up the wet ingredients and will give you a more evenly spread cookie.
Cookie Shaping
I know this takes longer, but I like to weigh out my cookies into 2.5oz balls and freeze them until I’m ready to bake. I weigh and roll them all on a parchment lined cookie sheet and freeze them. Once frozen, you can store them in a gallon zip-lock bag in the freezer until you’re ready to bake. I line them on parchment paper, sprinkle salt on top, and bake from frozen, adding on a minute or two (sometimes more!) in the oven.
Salting
Wait until JUST before you bake them to salt them. The salt will break down the fat in the cookie and they’ll spread too much!
GET CREATIVE
I love to add different ingredients to cookies to see what kind of masterpiece I can create! My favorite thing to do is to look through my pantry for little snippets of extras. Pretty much anything that doesn’t have a lot of water-weight can be added to your cookies: dried fruit, nuts, seeds, herbs, dried edible flowers, chocolates, desiccated coconut, etc.
