How to Bake the Perfect Cookie

Everybody has their own tastes. That is why the perfect cookie is not a recipe, but a how to on how to create the type of cookie you love. Do you like fat cookies? Chewy? Crispy? Then this is where you will learn what causes cookies to turn out differently.

Instructions

1. Pick out your cookie recipe and figure out what kind of cookie you like.

2. Use fresh ingredients and make sure they are at room temperature unless stated otherwise in the recipe. Leave butter and eggs out for 30 minutes to bring to room temperature. Old baking powder or baking soda can cause your cookies to be flat.

3. Once you have combined the wet and dry ingredients, mix them until just combined.

4. Know how each ingredient affects the outcome of your cookies:
   Fats: More fats cause more flat and crispy and less fats cause fluffier cake like cookies. Using shortening as your fat makes the cookie to keep its shape whereas using butter makes the cookie spread out and flatten but will give it a nice flavor.

   Flour: bread and cake flour produce cookies that spread less. High flour content produces crumbly cookies.

   Baking powder and Baking Soda: These are leaveners. Baking soda reduces acidity in dough which allows cookie to brown in the oven whereas baking powder creates fluffier and lighter cookies.

   Sugar: Brown sugar or honey creates chewier cookies than white sugar. Lowering sugar amount will make the cookies puffier.

   Eggs and liquids: Eggs create puffy cake like cookies. Using a couple tablespoons of other liquids will cause cookies to flatten and become crispier. Yolks allow crisper texture whereas egg whites cause dryness. To reduce the dryness of egg whites, add extra sugar.

5. Know how other items affect your cookies:

   Set your oven and make sure it is at the set temperature before putting your cookies in the oven. If you do not, this can cause your cookies to cook unevenly and mess up the cooking times.
   Chilled dough will hold its shape better. Dough should be chilled if using shape cutters.
   Different baking sheets offer different results. Those that are thin can cause the bottoms to brown faster and you end up with burnt bottoms. Insulated pans or semi-thick rimmed baking sheets (jellyroll pans) are the best for evenly cooking cookies.
   Use solid sticks of butter, not tub butter (whipped butter).

6. Lastly, know how to create your desired effect by doing one or all of the following:

   Flat: use all butter, use all purpose flour or bread flour, increase the sugar, add liquid, or bring dough to room temperature.

   Puffy: Use shortening, reduce the fat used, add egg, decrease sugar, use cake or pastry flour, use baking powder, or refrigerate dough.

   Chewy: melt butter before adding to sugars, remove from oven a few minutes early, use brown sugar as a sweetener, or let cookies cool on pan before moving to cooling rack.

   Crispy: use all butter, use white sugar, use egg yolks instead of whole egg, bake completely, or move to cooling rack.