From cookie swaps to satiating Santa’s appetite for sweets, chances are you’ll be baking a batch or two of cookies this holiday season.
But unless you’re sticking to a tried-and-true recipe, homebaking can yield mixed results. Zachary Miller, assistant processor of baking and pastry arts at the Culinary Institute of America, shares his cookie baking tips and tricks, discussing how to make a cookie more chewy or crispy, how to modify a recipe to make it gluten- or dairy-free, and sharing a freezer hack for freshly baked cookies.
Does size matter?
Giant cookies are all the rage recently, with mega-sized treats coming from popular bakeries such as Crumbl and Levain. If you’re looking to recreate these extra-large cookies at home, Miller recommends flattening the dough before baking it in the oven.
“Size won’t affect the taste directly,” he said. “The size will definitely affect the way the cookie will bake in the oven.”
A final cookie size of 3-4 inches is standard for most American drop cookies, which Miller says can be achieved with about ½-cup-size amount of dough.
Soft, chewy or crispy?
Cookies come in all sorts of textures, with some people preferring soft, cake-like cookies, others partial to chewy cookies, and still others favoring crispy cookies.
To make a soft, cake-like cookie, use cake flour instead of all-purpose, use shortening instead of butter, and replace the baking soda with half that amount in baking powder, according to Miller.
For a chewy cookie, use melted butter or cooled brown butter; substitute half the eggs with egg yolks, and add 1 tablespoon of milk per egg yolk. Miller also suggests using brown sugar for at least ¾ of the total sugar, and bread flour instead of all-purpose. You’ll also want to age the unbaked cookies overnight in the refrigerator and then freeze them.
“Baking from frozen keeps the center from baking as quickly, resulting in a gooier center,” he said.
For those who like their cookies crispy, modify the sugar ratio to one part light brown sugar to two parts white sugar, replace half of the eggs with milk, and reduce the amount of flour by 10%.
Allergen-friendly baking?
Making cookies gluten-free is a breeze, said Miller. Simply substitute gluten-free flour for wheat flour and age the dough overnight in the fridge to hydrate the flour and firm up the dough.
For dairy-free baking, use vegan butter instead of regular butter, and if the recipe calls for milk, use nondairy.
“There are also fantastic dairy-free milk chocolates on the market now if you don’t want to use dark chocolate for your chocolate chip cookies,” Miller said.
Do you need an electric mixer?
Most cookie recipes require creaming together butter and sugar. Miller recommends a stand mixer, but acknowledges that it’s the most expensive option. If you’re using a stand mixer, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
A hand mixer also works, but he suggests making sure the butter is thoroughly softened to ease the process. Mixing by hand is much easier in a cookie recipe that asks for melted butter, he noted.
More tips
Miller recommends baking only the amount of cookies you plan on eating that day, freezing the remainder of the dough (as scooped cookies) and baking from frozen as needed.
“There is nothing better than a freshly baked cookie still warm from the oven,” he said.
In fact, he believes most cookies bake best from frozen, as it allows the center to bake slower, resulting in a softer center and crispy edges.
Looking for your next cookie recipe? Check out these chocolate-covered cherry cookies, red velvet cream cheese sandwich cookies and holiday lights sugar cookie pizza.
