How to Bake the Perfect Batch of Cookies

We all love the aroma that fills our home when we have a fresh batch of cookies baking in the oven. Here is how to bake the perfect batch of cookies every time.

During my 4 years working in a bakery where cookies were baked everyday, I always asked myself why all of the made from scratch cookies that were made in this bakery tasted so much more better than mine I baked at home, so one day while at work, I asked one of the bakers. This baker who was from Russia, had been in this field of work for over 30 years and had been working in the US for 20 of those years and so I asked him why the cookies in the bakery tasted better than mine I bake at home and he told me that the secret to baking the perfect cookie is all about the butter that you add in and how you add the butter. He went on to explain the basics of butter to me: Butter consists of oil & water along with dairy solids which can be 39% milk and less than 29% fats and this is what helps butter hold its shape before baking.

He also told me that when we bake cookies at home, the one main mistake we make is how we handle the butter before adding it to the mix. The perfect cookie is all about the way the butter is creamed, how cold the dough is kept in between baking the batches of cookies and only using fresh good-tasting butter.

When you need to mix or cream butter, the butter performs best if it is at 65 degrees, which the butter is still cold when touched but it spreads easily. Butter is at the melting point at 68 degrees. To give cookies that even baking all around and smooth edges, before you start baking any cookies, just put the bowl of cookie dough in the freezer after you have mixed it and keep it in the freezer until the dough is freezing cold and in between baking each batch of cookies, place the bowl of the cookie dough back in the freezer. To incorporate butter into recipes that call for creaming, just cut the butter into chunks. This will mix the butter up better and create that perfect cookie and will give that cookie its buttery taste. Keeping the mixer on medium speed prevents the butter from heating up which breaks down emulsions of water & oil.

Here is one of my favorite recipes for a simple butter cookie:

Buttery Lemon & Fudge Thumbprint Cookies

1/2 Cup Organic Sugar

½ Teaspoon Kosher Salt

1 Cup All Purpose Organic White Flour

8 Tablespoons Cold Land O Lakes Unsalted Butter cut into ½ inch chunks

½ Teaspoon Fresh Lemon Zest

1 Tub Duncan Hines Milk Chocolate Fudge Icing

Preheat oven to 325. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium mixing bowl and using a hand held mixer on low speed, beat the flour and the butter together, adding one chunk of butter in at a time. Sprinkle in the salt and the lemon zest and mix well. Turn the mixer on to medium speed and add the sugar. Keep mixing the dough just until the dough holds together and forms small lumps.

Make dough balls with 1 teaspoon of the dough and place them one inch apart onto the parchment paper. Press down each cookie with your thumb. Bake 10-15 minutes and remove them from oven before they turn brown. Once the cookies are cooled completely, pipe in some fudge filling in to the center of each cookie. These stay fresh for up to 2 weeks when stored in an air tight plastic container. Sit down with an ice cold glass of milk and enjoy!