Jill’s Baking Tips: Cookies!

One of my faithful readers, Christen, requested a blog post on my best baking tips.  While I’m certainly not a professional, I do have a few tips, and I’m happy to share!

Let’s get started!   Here are my best tips for baking cookies!

COOKIES

• Take off your rings or any bracelets when baking!
• If you’re short on time, make cookie bars instead of cookies.  Simply put the dough in a 9×13 greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool and cut into bars.

• If you can afford a Kitchen Aid mixer, do it!!  (I used my 30 % off coupon at Kohl’s to get mine!)

• Use parchment paper to line your cookie sheets. Parchment paper prevents baked goods from sticking, preserves the life of your baking sheets, and makes clean up a breeze!
• Mix your dry ingredients (usually flour, baking soda & salt) on a paper plate. Simply bend the plate in half to add to the mixer.  You can just throw the plate away instead of having to wash another bowl.
• When adding your dry ingredients to the mixing bowl, add the flour a little at a time and have the mixer on a low speed to avoid a “flour shower.”  (Learned this one the hard way!)
• If your dough seems too “liquidy,” you can refrigerate dough for 30 minutes and it will have a better consistency to form a ball.

• Use the “scoop and scrape” measuring method for all ingredients except brown sugar.  Scoop up your flour and then scrape the top with the back side of a knife to get an accurate measurement.

• Use real vanilla extract…it’s expensive, but worth it!
• Don’t have buttermilk for your recipe?  You can add 1 tablespoon of vinegar to 1 cup of milk to make buttermilk!
• Spray your measuring cup with cooking spray before measuring peanut butter or honey- clean up is easy!
• Ingredients are best if used at room temperature. (butter, eggs)
• When cooking with kids, let them crack the egg into a small bowl before adding it to the mixer.  If part of a shell happens to fall into the bowl, use the remaining egg shell to scoop out the shell that fell into the bowl.
• Measure white sugar first, then brown sugar, otherwise if you use the same measuring cup, you’ll get brown sugar into the white sugar’s storage container.

• Use a medium scoop to make uniformly shaped cookies.

• Try using different types of chips in your cookies.  Instead of semi-sweet, try milk chocolate or white chocolate!
• If using 2 racks in your oven, know that the top rack of cookies will be done first…heat rises.
• Rotate or turn cookie sheets once during the baking for an even browning of the cookie.

That’s it! 

I’m sure there are tips that I’m forgetting!  If you have a tip for baking cookies, please comment below!  Coming up next week….Baking tips for cakes and muffins!!