Baking cookies relieves stress, lifts our spirit, and helps us stay in touch with relatives and friends.
The amount of effort we initially put into any project determines the level of success. That is so especially true in baking homemade cookies. What you and I do, after having decided on a recipe, will determine the quality of our end result.
Therefore, it seems logical to follow this process when baking cookies.
Read and understand the entire cookie recipe. Ingredients should be listed in the order that they are used.
Select proper baking pans and prepare them according to recipe directions.
Cookie sheets that have sides are also known as jelly roll pans. True cookie sheets are flat except for a turned-up rim for easy handling.
When I must use rimless sheets for baking cookies, I turn jelly roll pans over and use their back side instead.
Measure or scale dry ingredients accurately. It is well worth investing in a good set of stainless steel cups and plastic spoons for measuring dry ingredients.
For baking cookies, the best way to scale flour is:
Fluff the flour first with a spoon.
Spoon it into an appropriate measuring cup.
Then level the flour by sweeping a straight blade object such as a spatula
across the top of the cup.
If you dip the measuring cup directly into flour, you will compact it and end up with too much flour for your recipe.
With granulated sugar, you can use either this technique or the dipping method. Since confectioners’ sugar tends to be lumpy, I like to strain it before measuring unless my recipe indicates otherwise.
Always use fresh and soft brown sugar for baking cookies. Scaling it by packing into a dry measuring cup.
Do not let brown sugar stand uncovered for a long period of time because an undesirable crust will form on the surface.
4. Measure or scale liquid ingredients using fluid measuring cups.
Do not use fluid measuring cups to scale dry ingredients.
However, it is alright to use dry measuring cups to scale syrups, honey, and molasses. To prevent sticking, slightly grease the cup with vegetable oil.
Make sure that ingredients, particularly eggs and butter, are at room temperature unless otherwise indicated.
If your recipe requires you to combine two mixtures of ingredients that have different temperatures and/or consistencies, you should always do this step by hand.
I first like to add just one-fourth of the lighter mixture to the denser one. This brings them closer in consistencies, and they can easily blend together.
If one mixture is hot and the other is cold, I would first bring the cold mixture closer to room temperature by incorporating a small portion of the hot mixture into it.
A proper folding technique is very helpful for performing this step. It is described in Great Cookies - Secrets to Sensational Sweets by Carole Walter. I repeat it here for your convenience.
First, hold a spatula with curved side facing down and cut through center of the mixture
Scrape bottom of bowl and bring spatula up against the side
Swing spatula over top of mixture and cut through center again.
Rotate the bowl simultaneously for even blending
Follow recipe directions to shape dough before baking cookies.
Bake
Cool
Eat or wrap for storage and gift giving. Mailing homemade cookies is easier than ever with proper packaging technique.
Cookie sheets that have sides are also known as jelly roll pans. True cookie sheets are flat except for a turned-up rim for easy handling.
