Have you been struggling to make to make those mouth-watering perfect cookies? Whether you’re a beginner in the kitchen, or a somehow experienced baker, baking a bunch of perfectly-shaped cookies is a challenge.
As in everything, the first step you should follow is to let yourself go of any bad habits. Either because you are in a hurry or just stretching up your budget, the probability is that you will try to take shortcuts in the kitchen. Well don’t!
We’ve compiled a list of what not to do if you want to be a successful baker. So before you continue, make sure you cross out any of these Baking mistakes of your list.
https://www.thespruceeats.com/bad-baking-habits-4582306
Done? Well then let us share some more universal wisdom before you begin.
- Don’t cheat on your recipe
- Preheat the oven before putting your food in
- Don’t open the oven before time
Seems obvious, hun? Well we promise you’d be surprised on how many people would relate. Regardless, let’s move on.
Here are 8 must follow secrets on how to bake those perfect cookies.
1. Don’t grease your pan
Unless you want to avoid your cookie dough rambling around your trey, ultimately merging into one giant cookie, then let go of the grease. If your cookies stick to hard to the pan then you should probably look into cleaning or replacing it. If none of them are really short-term viable options, then just use parchment paper to cover it;
2. Choose light-colored pans
everyone knows that dark colors absorb more heat that light ones, right? The same logic is employed here, so unless you want bottom burned cookies, opt for white pans on your next cooking spree;
3. Don’t improvise with flour measures
No matter how experienced you think you are in the kitchen, measuring flour by volume is severely imprecise. Use grams instead of cups. And if the recipe uses the latest, just consider 1 cup to correspond to 130 grams;
4. Let the butter sit
Remember this number: 15 minutes. This is how long you should let your butter to rest and room temperature. If it’s less, then your butter might not cream properly, leaving cookies to come out too dense. If it’s more, it might not hold enough hair, leaving your cookie dough greasy rather than fluffy;
5. Use high-quality butter
The issue with cheaper butters is that they’ll contain too much water, making it harder to emulsify with the eggs. Choose butters with higher fat percentage;
6. Be gentle with your dough
Remember, the more you role, the tougher your cookies will turn up. To avoid this and get those perfect cookies, try dusting your working surface with powdered sugar instead of flour (or chocolate powder, if you are going for chocolate cookies);
7. Keep your pans still
Ovens have hotspots so rotating your pan will help minimize them, right? That may be, but actually the effect is completely nulled by the fact that you had to open the door;
8. Let them cool off properly
if you leave your cookies to cool directly on hot pans, they will in fact keep cooking. As a result, you might get soggy, brown-bottomed cookies. Transfer your cookies to a cooling rack instead, preferably formed from a tight wire grid.
