My Top Ten Tips For Making The Perfect Cookie

Shown here is my favorite cookie recipe

My first few cookie baking experiments left me with a dry, crumbly and hard cookie. Homemade from scratch cookies are so yummy I had to figure out how to make them right. Here are a few tips I have picked up along the way for making sure my cookies come out soft and chewy every time!

::Butter, baby

Doesn’t butter make almost anything tastes good? Don’t use margarine, low fat, whipped or shortening in your cookies. A good ol’ stick of butter is the only kind you should use. Oh, and make that unsalted butter too

::Cream the butter and sugar

This is a necessary step! Make sure your butter is softened, not melted, and cream until light and fluffy

::The Flour

Make sure you are using all purpose flour. And make sure you are measuring it right too. Over or under measuring will change your cookie dramatically

::Mix Dry Ingredients

Before adding your dry ingredients to your wet mixture, combine your dry ingredients in a separate bow. This ensures that everything is evenly mixed and you don’t end up with a lump of baking powder in one cookie.

::Don’t over mix

Once you add the dry ingredients, mix until just blended. Over mixing makes one tough cookie!

::Chill the Dough

Don’t know why, but it works! Make sure you keep it chilled in between batches also

::Use a Baking Stone

It makes perfect cookies every time

::Or use a cookie sheet with parchment paper

If you don’t have a baking stone, use parchment paper on your cookie sheet. It makes the bottoms of the cookie nice and smooth and eliminates the need for oiling the pan (which can make the cookies spread too much and over brown on the bottom)

::Use an Ice Cream Scoop

You will get perfectly portioned cookies that cook evenly and look great!

::Take out 5-10 minutes early

I think this is the best way to have soft cookies. Under cooking slightly makes the cookie soft. Remember that they continue to cook a little even after taking them out of the oven. My rule of thumb is as soon as I can smell them, they come out, even if the middle is slightly undone. Let sit in the pan for a few minutes, and then cool on a wire rack .

There you have it, some simple tips for yummy cookies! My last tip: don’t eat them all in one sitting. You’ll get a belly ache. Ask me how I know ! Check out one of my very favorite tried and true cookie recipes : Oatmeal Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesday, Top Ten Tuesday, and Blissfully Domestic, Tasty Tuesday, and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Tagged as: perfect cookie, top ten tips