The Basics of Baking Cookies

My interest in baking started early on. Around 2^nd or 3^rd grade we were taken to the Library once a week and had to select a book, well I really didn't enjoy reading then so I always selected a cookbook. It counted, no one ever bothered me, and it was my way of beating the system at age eight! Cookies are my favorite treat.

I was mostly self-taught with the cookbooks I inherited from my Grandmother and the guidance of my mother. I have been baking now over 35 years now. Here are a few basic things that I learned along the way that should help you get started.

Be sure to measure everything carefully. Cooking and baking are two completely different things, baking is base on chemistry and the ingredients interaction. We all want to cook like Emeril Lagassee or Rachael Ray tossing this or that in and adding a little more, but that doesn't always work in baking. My advice is to make the recipe at least once exactly as written, and then if you find it necessary modify your future attempts.

Check you oven thermostat. Don't count on you oven temperature to being accurate. You will need to purchase an oven thermometer. Several different types are available; I personally prefer the type that hangs in your oven. You can find these at a grocery store, or cake decorating supply shop.

Use Fresh Ingredients: This sounds like a No-Brainer but it is easy to make a mistake here. Here are some products that you will need to be careful with, nuts, peanut butter, oatmeal, eggs and any dairy product. Taste and smell nuts, peanut butter and oatmeal, because these items have oils in them they can turn rancid. They can sometimes look fine but if it is bad there will be no hiding it after baking.

Butter: Always use fresh unsalted/sweet butter. Butter has a premium price, but if you watch for sale papers especially leading up to any holiday you will see that baking products are always included. Buy it on sale and freeze it, butter freezes well but make sure you watch the expiration dates when it is on sale it should be good for at least 3 more months. You don't want to use salted butter because it can affect the salt ratio in the recipe.

Another reason that you do not want to bake with salted butter is that if the butter has turns rancid (anything with oils can turn). The salt in the butter can mask this to you initially and you may not know that it is bad until your baking effort have failed. Soften Butter, you don't want the butter to actually get soft, you need to soften chilled butter. You can do this by using butter that has been out of the fridge about a half an hour and breaking it apart with a fork.

Eggs: Always use fresh large grade A Eggs in your recipes unless otherwise noted. Eggs are considered a liquid in the recipe and (most) recipes have been written to use large eggs. Never crack open eggs into your mixing bowl, use a separate small bowl, just in case the eggs are bad you haven't ruined all of the other ingredients. Separating eggs is easier to do if the eggs are cold.

Oatmeal: Use Old Fashioned Oaks unless otherwise indicated. Quick Oats absorb the moisture of the mixture quicker because the oats are flaked this can make the cookies dry or hard.

Peanut Butter: For the best flavor, nutrition and consistent baking use Natural Peanut Butter, the kind that you need to stir up. I find the easiest way to do this is to empty the jar into a mixing bowl using a hand mixer blend until evenly mixed. Then scoop the contents back into the jar and refrigerate.

Use equal amounts of dough: This can make a big difference. Although you can make cookies any size or thickness the cookies on each tray should be the same size. Use a cookie scoop or measuring spoon; I prefer a stainless steel coffee scoop that has 1 tablespoon on one end and 2 tablespoons on the other. For a heaping or rounded teaspoon I use a level tablespoon.

The cookies don't need to look identical; they just need to have approximately the same volume of dough. For rolled cookies some people like them thicker, I prefer them thin and crispy. Either way, you should try to keep cookies of similar size and thickness on the same cookie sheet, otherwise the thin ones will burn by the time the think ones are done.

Greased Cookie Sheets: Always used unsalted butter to prepare your cookie sheets. I use the wrappers from the butter that I used in the recipe, as you only need a very small amount. Just smear the wrapper all over the cookie sheet then try to wipe it all off with a peace of paper towel. You only need a very thin layer of butter, just enough to make the cookie sheet glisten.

Baking Cookies: I only bake one tray at a time as the cookies bake better if the oven is not overloaded. Also, if you get distracted and forget that your cookies are in the oven and you have two trays in at once, you just burnt twice as much! Use the 2^nd rack from the bottom unless otherwise indicated. Cookies baked on the top wracks brown more an look done from the heat rising, but may be undercooked on the bottom or in the middle.

A few extra tips:

Most areas have a Cake Decorating Supply Shop here is where you will find the largest selection of decorating supplies, cookie cutters and cake racks for cooling. I use the cake racks instead of the little ones that they sell for cookies they will hold a few dozen cookies each.

Store flour, baking soda in an airtight container, especially if you have a smoker or pet in the house. Both will easily absorb Household orders and you don't want your cookies to taste like an ashtray.

Washing Cookie Cutters, I use a net lingerie bag with a zipper on the top shelf of the dishwasher.

If you're going to take the time to bake from scratch use quality ingredients, otherwise you might as well buy packaged cookies.

Get a Kitchen Witch they really work! I printed a photo of myself on paper and drew a witch hat on it and taped it over my oven.

Happy Baking!