Cookie Baking Tips
These reminders will help you bake up beautiful cookies!
I don’t know about you but I love a good tip, sometimes it’s the simplest thing that can make all the difference.
You’ll find tips, recipes and information on baking delicious cookies easily and so much more!
Lots of cookie recipes require common requirements…
Let’s Chat:
Butter
Bring butter and eggs to room temperature, what temperature is that exactly?
The butter should be cool to the touch and not so soft that your finger would sink to the counter when gently pressed. There would be resistance and the butter would be firm enough to just allow your finger to make a 1″ mark. The butter would cut easily without squishing. If you use a thermometer it should ready about 63-65°. If you’re kitchen is really warm, pop it back in the fridge until it’s firmed up.
Warm butter in baking when the recipe calls for “room temperature” will have the cookies spread more than what would be expected.
Some recipes may call for melted butter, that means it’s soft and smooth and in a liquid form, but don’t boil it.
Eggs
Make sure you are using Large sized eggs unless otherwise noted. Extra Large or Jumbo eggs will have too much liquid and the cookie batter will be thin and the cookies will spread and not hold their shape.
Eggs should be at room temperature so they will blend into the cookie dough easily and evenly. The protein in the eggs can hold air when mixed and will help create a nice texture in cookies otherwise the cookies may be too dense.
Allow eggs to sit on the counter for 30 minutes, or place them in a glass of lukewarm water for about 10 minutes.
The cookies above and the cookie dough in the first photos are my Italian Cookie Recipe– it’s cut 3/8″ thick and resembles the not overly sweet cookies you’d find in an Italian bakery. And they are iced with Royal Icing.
Oven
Preheat the oven well, for at least 15 minutes. To ensure it will be hold enough to hold the temperature you need even after you open the door and put a tray of cookies into the oven and close it. An additional oven thermometer is a great item to have to make sure the temperature of your oven is accurate.
Baking Sheets
Use thick baking sheets for even baking. Test how the batch of cookies you will be making in your oven. Place two portions of cookie dough into the center of a baking sheet and bake them, allow them to cool completely, then give them a taste, and adjust the temperature, time, or thickness of the cookie if needed. Don’t overbake cookies, firm, brown cookies will be dry and hard once cooled.
Do not overcrowd your cookies, allow 2 inches between each cookie. Otherwise, there will be too much cool cookie dough and and not enough space for the cookie sheet to warm up evenly around each cookie. Don’t overcrowd your oven, only bake 1 baking sheet at a time (unless your oven can evenly bake more than one baking sheet at time- most cannot) Don’t leave cookies unattended in the oven and walk away. Most times by the time you smell cookies, they’re already done.
Rosemary Chocolate Chip Cookies– the perfect decked out chocolate chip cookies that everyone will LOVE!
I do not transfer my cookies to cooling racks, it’s messy and the risk of breaking the cookies is too great. I make sure the cookies are baked, firm on the outer edges, and have an extremely light golden color on the bottom for cut out cookies or a warm golden color for drop cookies, as the cookies cool the centers will firm up as they cool completely. This is why testing 2 cookies ahead of baking a whole tray full is so important, so you’ll know exactly the time to bake and what they will look like, to take them out of the oven and cool them on the baking sheet for the result you want.
Parchment Paper
Line the baking sheet with parchment paper, don’t butter baking sheets, and don’t reuse warm baking sheets.
Bake cookies in the middle of the oven or slightly above (as the heating element is usually below- the closer the baking sheet is to the bottom the more browned the bottoms of the cookies will be)
Bake the same size cookies on each baking sheet, be sure they are the same thickness. So each baking sheet will produce evenly baked cookies.
Baking Powder and Baking Soda
Baking powder most often allow the cookies to rise, and baking soda allows the cookies to get a nice crunch on the outside. But that will also depend on the cookie recipe itself (there are always exceptions)
These tips for baking cookies will help you make beautiful cookies.
Be sure to check out my other posts on baking cookies. You’ll find tips, recipes, and so much more.
- Cookie Baking Must See Posts
- How to Bake the Perfect Cut-Out Cookies
- Cookie Tips
- Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Easy Cut Out Sugar Cookie Recipe– no spread cookies!
- Italian Cut Out Cookies– less sweet than traditional sugar cookies
- Spritz Cookies
You can search my RECIPE INDEX here
Christmas Recipes are located here
Find more cookie recipes here
Royal Icinghttps://createdbydiane.myflodesk.com/createdbydiane
Glaze Icing without a piping bag… and glaze icing with a piping bag
Watch my VIDEO to see more Christmas cookies HERE.
WANT TO MAKE TREATS… but don’t want to bake try these 3 no bake items and HERE is one more.
I’m happy to help with any cookie questions you might have. Leave me a message in the comment section and I’ll message you back!
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