Are You A Cookie Rookie?

When I think of my favorite cookie it’s the texture that comes to mind before anything else. Think about it. Say, “chocolate chip” and you may want it to be “crispy” while a friend will crave “chewy.”

Back in the day, the conventional wisdom went like this: if you want soft and chewy cookies, use margarine, if you want light and flaky ones, use butter, and if you desired your cookies to be moist and cake-like, use solid shortening. Personally, I use butter in most of my cookie recipes because I’m a crispy cookie monster, but there are times when the use of other types of fat is called for to achieve a desired effect.

Knowing the effects of all the ingredients in cookie making is the secret to the success of your favorite recipe. A batch of cookies that turns out to be tough, dry or doughy is bound for the garbage disposal.  Yes, there are times when things go wrong with our recipes. They baffle us despite our best efforts to do the right thing. But when you reach for those old cookie recipes hanging out in the dark recesses of that 3x5 index card file, are you absolutely sure your favorite confection will be perfect every time? If not,  then it’s time for a little cookie coaching.

The Beauty of Butter

All cookie recipes deserve this glorious fat. Nothing else will do, in my opinion. Butter made from pasteurized cream is called sweet cream and is distinguished from butter made from soured cream. Sweet cream butter is the type we see and use in this country. Unsalted sweet cream butter is the preferred choice for baking.

Always have on hand a pound or two of unsalted butter. Buy it on sale and freeze it without worry so that when the “cookie monster” awakes, you won’t be tempted to use the salted butter you spread on your toast in your recipe. I have often thawed frozen unsalted butter for a batch of cookies or piecrusts with complete success.

Do not ever be tempted to use whipped butter. It has nitrogen gas whipped into it to keep it soft at cold temperatures. Don’t use it for cooking and never use it for baking.

You can’t beat the flavor and richness that butter gives to cookies. If you die for light and crispy, this is what you use. If you want soft and chewy and want to use margarine, select the sticks, not the tubs, and make sure that it contains 80 percent vegetable oil. Do not use low-fat margarine as this product is not recommended for baking.

If that heirloom cookie recipe calls for solid shortening, use it with the knowledge that other ingredients, like spices, should be used to contribute to the flavor of the cookie because the role of shortening, in this case, is to make the cookie soft and cake-like. The take-home lesson is that all fats are not equal nor are they interchangeable. Know the desired texture and choose the corresponding ingredient.

Take Stock of the Flour

While there are some cookie recipes that do not require flour, most do and this important ingredient deserves your undivided attention from time to time. Flour, or the mishandling of flour, is one of the major causes of inconsistent cookie batches.

Most recipes call for flour to be measured by cup or half-cup—a volumetric measure. For consistent results, weigh the flour. Some recipes will provide equivalent weight measure along with volumetric measure, e.g. a recipe may say: 1 cup=4.5 ounces. Most recipes do not.

Here are some techniques to insure consistent handling of flour every time you bake:

• First, sift the flour. This will aerate the flour, remove the lump and bumps and give you a uniform texture.
• Second, select a spoon that you swear on a stack of your favorite cookies that you will use every time you measure the flour. Use this utensil for this purpose only.
• Next, designate a measuring cup to receive the flour. Weigh this measuring cup on your kitchen scale. Write down this number.
• From the sifted flour, spoon out one cup, and put this into your measuring cup. Level the flour with a spatula. Weigh the measuring cup and the flour inside. Write this number down.
• Now you have a standard based on your tools. For consistent results in all future cookie recipes, use this standard.

Do you know how long the flour has been in the back of the pantry? Flour that has been kept in airtight containers, in a dark 60 degree environment can remain fresh for about a year. If you are like me, you don’t have flour hanging around that long anyway. If you are not sure of the age or the condition of storage of your flour, then purchasing smaller quantities when needed will help to insure consistent results.

Light Brown vs. Dark Brown Sugar

It’s sugar, right? Yes, but substituting dark brown sugar when the recipe calls for light brown sugar can cause your cookies to misbehave or give you results you had not counted on.

Here’s why. Recipes require specific types of sugar for particular reasons. Granulated sugar is most frequently designated in recipes because its crystalline structure has the most fabulous ability to aerate the butter or shortening. Commercial brown sugar is no more than granulated sugar with varying amounts of molasses. Dark brown sugar contains more moisture than light brown sugar and has more of a pronounced flavor. If you substituted a darker brown sugar in your recipe and were disappointed with the results, it is probably because the higher moisture content in the darker sugar caused the cookie dough to spread out more and produce a more soft and chewy cookie.

The Basic and Necessary Equipment

One of the most overlooked elements of successful cookie baking is the oven, or the oven temperature to be precise. Older ovens are notoriously off the mark. Even newer ovens put out temperatures different from their digital indicators.

There is only one sure way to find out your oven’s temperature and that is to purchase and hang a thermometer on the middle rack of your oven, set the oven at 350º F and wait for 20-30 minutes. Make sure that you keep the door closed but leave the light on so you can see the thermometer. If you discover that the true temperature is off, make a note of it and adjust your oven temperature to read 350ºF by the hanging thermometer. Every time you prepare a batch of your favorite cookies, make sure you double-check your oven’s temperature. This will go a long way toward preventing under or over baked cookies.

Not all cookie sheets are alike. There are ones with rims, often called jellyroll pans, and rimless ones, called cookie sheets. Invest in high quality, heavy gauge cookie sheets because the cheaper ones buckle and warp and ruin your hard work.

The reasons for the differences are significant. Rimless cookie sheets are designed to provide airflow and even browning. Jellyroll pans are to be used for bar cookies only, like lemon bars. Even when using good quality cookie sheets, watch over your favorite cookies in the oven like a mother hen because no entire sheet of cookies will ever be baked evenly. Be prepared to remove those that are done and leave others to be finished with a little more time in the oven. That’s just the way it is sometimes. Perfection is not always convenient. Finally, always let your cookie sheets cool down to room temperature between batches for consistent and perfect results.

 Most cookie recipes are very forgiving, but calling to mind the purpose of the basic ingredients, and equipment along with the desired texture of your cookie will prove to be invaluable in baking perfect cookies time after time.

Enjoy!