Perfect Cookie Recipe Tips - Mixing and Baking
Cookie Recipe Tip 1 - Properly Mix Your Cookie Dough
We know that this pandemic has changed our lives in a matter of days. For now, the most important thing for all of us to do is to stay home, practice social distancing, and stay healthy.
Now is a good time to pick up some old hobbies or start a new one, since we are stuck indoors all the time. This is the perfect time to try some new baking, juicing recipes. Baking is one of the most healthy stress-relieving activities indoor, who wouldn’t want to watch Netflix with gourmet cookie scented floating around in your living room?
We will be sharing with you a serious of baking techniques to help you be the best #stayhome cook during this harsh time. And most importantly have fun!
There are a few mixing or creaming techniques that may achieve the perfect mix.
Creaming Using Stand Mixer
Adding softened butter and sugar to your stand mixer, using medium speed, mix until ingredients are creamy, pale and fluffy.
Then you add in eggs to the mixture (always add egg one at a time), followed by dry ingredients. Toppings are always added into the mixture last.
Creaming method accomplishes two things:
(1) makes the butter malleable, this allows the other ingredients to blend in more easily.
(2)Sugar crystals act as an extra beater, incorporate air into butter, these air pockets will expand during the baking process.
Reverse Creaming
When you want tender but sturdy cookies (like the ones sold in your local bakery), you also want a minimal rise and flat top. This is also what you want for your holiday cookies, or any cookie you intend to decorate and glaze.
Start by combining all the dry ingredients, butter coats the flour particles, minimizing gluten development for a tender, crumbly texture. Since the butter is not mixed with sugar, it creates fewer air pockets, which leads to less rise and sturdier cookie.
Creaming By Hand
Melted butter helps to create chewy cookies. Once butter is melted, the water in it can freely interact with the flour to develop gluten (this gives the cookie a better chewy taste).
Stir together melted butter with dry ingredients, use your hands to vigorously mix the ingredients in a bowl.
Cookie Recipe Tip 2 - Shape and Form
A great dough is just the first step to a perfectly shaped cookie. Here we will introduce some tips and techniques to help you form your cookies exactly the way you imagine it should be like (or on recipe blogs).
Drop Cookies
Always portion off a measurement of dough anywhere from 1 tablespoon to 1/4 cup.
Roll it between your hands to form a ball.
Always space them evenly on parchment paper!
Utilize Your Fridge
For recipes that require slice-and-bake recipes, they typically yield a large number of cookies.
Always keep a portion in the fridge while forming cookies from another portion.
Do not leave the entire portion out, they will become too soft and sticky. Making it hard to work with and likely to turn out into misshapen cookies.
Cookie Recipe Tip 3 - Baking Process
During the process of baking, starches gelatinize to set the cookies’ crumb and sugars caramelize to brown the cookies.
Here are a few important tips for you to try, and they should also answer many of your baking questions.
The Right Pan
There are two different kinds of pans to use when making your cookies.
1. Rimeless
“Cookie sheets” works better for sturdy textured cookies. However, rimless cookie sheet bake cookies faster, so you have to stand by and watch your cookies carefully to reach the perfect browning.
2. Rimmed
Baking sheets’ raise edges divert hot-air currents from the cookies to the top of the oven.
Be aware, flimsy sheets of either type will result in overbaked cookies
What Rack to Bake On
Choosing which rack to back on will ultimately have an effect on your cookies. There are two choices to pick from depending on how many cookies you are baking.
1. Always use the middle rack to bake, when you have just one sheet of cookies at a time.
2. Use the upper-middle rack and the lower-middle rack positions if you are baking two sheets of cookies.
Closer the rack is to the bottom of your oven, the browner the bottoms of your cookies will be.
Avoid Uneven Baking
If you are making cookies in batches we have two very helpful tips for you to avoid uneven baking.
1. When baking two sheets of cookies at the same time, always switch their positions halfway through the baking process.
2. Cookies with finicky textures, baking them one sheet at a time so heat circulates around the sheet evenly for the entire baing time.
The best ovens all have hot and cold spots, rotating the sheet is essential. Make sure the cookies in front will now be in the back of the oven.
