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 One of life's simple
pleasures is enjoying the delightful taste of a home-baked cookie
still warm from the oven. Here are a few tips to consider when
baking your favorite cookie, whether it be a sparkling sugar
cookie cut into whimsical figures, a chewy-gooey chocolate chip
cookie, or an oatmeal cookie studded with raisins and nuts.
Vanilla-Chai Icebox Shortbread Cookies
First, always
preheat your oven and position oven racks (normally the top shelves,
unless otherwise instructed) 10 to 15 minutes before you need
to bake. To be sure of your oven's temperature accuracy, try
keeping an oven thermometer in the oven at all times and make
adjustments for the temperature accordingly.
Butter should
always be used at room temperature or slightly. Cold, hard butter
will not cream as easily when you incorporate it with the sugar
resulting in flat, so-so cookies.
Always use large
eggs, ground spices, and all-purpose flour, unless otherwise
indicated.
If a recipe calls
for light or dark brown sugar be sure you firmly pack it into
the measuring cup for an accurate measurement.
When using nuts,
be sure to toast them before adding them to the batter for maximum
flavor. (Also taste them before using to make sure they haven't
gone rancid.)
Don't use imitation
vanilla extract--use the real stuff--it does make a difference.
Use only real
chocolate. Those chocolate-flavored morsels are cheaper, and
that's exactly what they taste like.
When adding dried
fruit like raisins or currants to the dough make sure they are
soft, not hard and shriveled. To reconstitute hard, dried fruit
pour boiling water over them, let sit 4 to 5 minutes then strain.
Proceed as recipe directs.
Keep the cookie
size consistent. Measure the batter out carefully so all the
cookies will be the same size and thus they'll all bake at the
same speed.
Halfway through
baking remember to reverse the top and bottom sheets and also
rotate each cookie sheet from front to back.
If the recipe
specifies, for example baking cookies 10 to 12 minutes, check
them at 10 minutes, but to be on the safe side, take a peak after
8 or 9 minutes of cooking. Prefer soft and chewy cookies? Then
just under bake them a bit and allow to cool several minutes
on baking sheets before transferring to a cooling rack.
Only bake one
or two cookie sheets at a time. And if you're making several
batches of cookies make sure you cool the cookie sheet completely
before using it again or your batter is apt to melt and run off
the pan.
Shiny, light
colored cookie sheets do a better job of evenly browning the
bottoms of cookies than dark sheets do. Shiny silver sheets heat
much more evenly, and if sticking is a concern use parchment
baking paper for the best results. The paper also keeps the bottom
of the cookies from over-browning. Parchment paper can be reused
several times, both front and back.
And last, but
not least, store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container
at room temperature.
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