A DOZEN COOKIE MISTAKES AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
Source: Better Homes & Gardens Special Interest Publications, Christmas Cookies, 1993
1. Using the wrong shortening.
Fat is the single ingredient that most affects your cookies, especially rolled and sliced cookies.
Cookie doughs made with butter, shortening, or regular stick margarine need no special handling. Just follow the recipe directions for handling and chilling.
A stick margarine made from 100% corn oil produces a soft cookie dough. For rolled cookies, chill the dough for at least five hours or freeze for two hours. If you're making shaped or sliced cookies, chill the dough in the freezer.
Do not use diet, liquid, soft, or whipped margarine or a spread. These products are fine for spreading on bread but are not intended for baking. They do not give satisfactory results in any type of cookie, including bar and drop cookies.
2. Measuring incorrectly.
Always use the correct measuring cups. Nested metal or plastic cups are intended to be filled to the top and leveled with the straight edge of a metal spatula; use them for dry ingredients such as flour and sugar.
Glass or plastic cups with a spout are meant only for liquids. If you use a liquid-measuring cup for flour, you're likely to get an extra tablespoon or more of flour per cup, enough to make cookies dry and hard.
When you measure flour, stir it in the canister to lighten it. (Sifting isn't necessary.) Gently spoon flour into a dry measuring cup and level the top with the straight edge of a metal spatula or knife. Don't pack the flour into the cup or tap it with the spatula or on the counter to level.
3. Not chilling dough properly.
The chilling time given in a recipe is the optimum time for easy rolling and cutting or slicing, except for cookie doughs made with 100% corn oil margarine. Chill these doughs as directed in #1 above.
If you need to speed up the chilling, wrap the dough and place it in the freezer instead of the refrigerator. About 20 minutes of chilling in the freezer is equal to one hour in the refrigerator.
Chilling the dough too long, or chilling doughs made with butter in the freezer, makes the dough too firm to work with. Let it stand at room temperature until it softens just enough to be workable.
For rolled cookies, work with a portion of the dough at a time, keeping the rest in the refrigerator. Well-chilled dough absorbs less flour during rolling, so it's less likely to become tough. You may want to chill the scraps again before rerolling.
If drop cookies spread too much during baking, chilling the dough may help. Always try chilling the dough first before adding extra flour, which is likely to make cookies hard or dry and less flavorful.
4. Using too much flour on the work surface when rolling cookies.
It's a fine line: Too little flour on the work surface and the dough sticks; too much and the dough absorbs flour, making cookies hard or tough. Use just enough flour to prevent sticking.
You'll need less flour if you use a pastry cloth and slip the rolling pin into a stockinette cover.
When you're rolling sugar cookies, one way to prevent tough rerolled cookies is to combine equal amounts of powdered sugar and flour to sprinkle on the pastry cloth.
5. Not letting cookie sheets cool between batches.
Putting drop, sliced, or cutout cookie dough on hot cookie sheets may cause the cookies to spread excessively and brown too much around the edges. Just one extra cookie sheet added to the cookie rotation gives a hot cookie sheet time to cool down.
6. Incorrect oven temperature.
You'll quickly notice if your oven is running hotter than the temperature you set because the cookies will brown too fast. A temperature that is too low causes less change in the appearance but makes drop and rolled cookies coarse-textured and dry.
Home economists in the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen keep thermometers in their ovens at all times so they can note and adjust for any temperature deviation. You may not care to do this, but do check your oven occasionally.
You can buy an oven thermometer at a hardware store. Set the oven at 350 degrees F and let it heat for at least 10 minutes. Place the thermometer in the oven. Close the door and let it heat for at least 5 minutes.
If the thermometer reads higher than you set the oven, reduce the setting by the number of degrees difference when you bake. If the thermometer reads lower than you set your oven, increase the setting by the number of degrees difference. If your oven is more than 50 degrees off in either direction, have the thermostat adjusted by an appliance service person.
7. Incorrect placement in oven.
Location in the oven also affects baking. Bake just one sheet of cookies at a time, placing the cookie sheet so it is centered in the oven from top to bottom and side to side. For even distribution of heat, there should be 1 to 2 inches of space all around the cookie sheet.
8. Overgreasing cookie sheets.
Using too much fat on cookie sheets or greasing when the recipe doesn't call for it causes cookies to spread excessively and brown too quickly around the edges.
Greasing the cookie sheet makes it easier to remove the cookies and to wash the cookie sheet after baking. A light greasing with shortening or a quick spray with nonstick spray coating is adequate for most recipes.
9. Using the wrong cookie sheets.
Use shiny, heavy-gauge cookie sheets with very low sides or no sides at all. Avoid dark cookie sheets, which absorb heat and may cause cookie bottoms to over-brown.
Jelly-roll pans (15x10x1-inch baking pans) are not the same as cookie sheets and should be used only for bar cookies. Drop, rolled, or sliced cookies will not bake evenly in a baking pan with an edge. If you must use such a pan, turn it over and bake your cookies on the bottom.
10. Overbeating brownies.
Overbeating brownies and similar bar cookies makes them rise too much. As they cool, they fall, making a cracked surface and a ridge around the outside edge. Beat just enough to mix the ingredients well.
11. Using the wrong size pan for bar cookies.
If you don't have the size pan called for in the recipe and use a bigger pan, your cookies will take less time to bake. Besides changing the baking time, changing pan sizes may also change the texture of the cookies.
If you don't have a 15x10x1-inch pan, use two 9x9x2-inch pans. If you don't have a 13x9-inch pan, substitute two 8x8x2-inch pans. Use the same oven temperature and check for doneness at 5 minutes less than the minimum time given in the recipe.
12. Altering cookie recipes for health.
It may sound like a good idea to reduce or make substitutions for the sugar and fat in a recipe to make cookies more healthful, but any change in ingredient proportions also changes the cookies.
Besides adding flavor, sugar and fat make cookies crisp and tender. Reducing the sugar and fat makes cookies less crisp and more cake-like. Substituting an artificial sweetener or a lower-fat product will not yield an acceptable cookie.
Here are things you CAN do to make cookies more healthful:
- Substitute rolled oats or whole wheat flour for 1/4 of the all-purpose flour to make cookies higher in fiber.
- Or, add fruits or vegetables such as raisins or dried fruit bits, shredded or chopped apple, or shredded carrot to add fiber.
- Use refrigerated or frozen egg product instead of a whole egg, or use two egg whites in place of one whole egg.
- Reduce the amount of nuts and sprinkle them atop bar cookies where they show rather than stirring them into the batter.
- Substitute mini semisweet chocolate pieces for the regular-size pieces and use just half as many. You'll still get chocolate in every bite.
