Cookie Monster

I spent the morning making cookies. A lot of them. I like making big batches of cookies and then freezing them. If you walked into a house inhabited by one of my family members and opened their freezer, you'd probably find frozen candy (Snickers, M&Ms, etc) and/or frozen cookies or cookie dough. I don't remember when it all started, but we are a freezing snack kind of family. (I should take a minute and thank my dad for passing down his rock solid teeth. It makes liking frozen snacks possible.)

So, cookies. I made chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal cookies with cornflakes, butterscotch and chocolate chips. I scooped so many that I broke the ice cream scoop I use to scoop cookies. (Broke my heart just a little.) Don't worry, I happen to have two of those just in case that very thing happened. Also, I've never made cookies with cornflakes before. They were delightful. Loved the crunchy texture.

I am not posting recipes today. I think talking about the foundation of cookies is much more important. Don't worry, I'll be around for years, we have plenty of time for recipes and less-than-stellar photos. For today, let me just take this moment to make your mouth water just a little. These cookies turned out perfectly today.




Creaming Method of Making Cookies

The most important part of making cookies is creaming the fat with sugars. This starts to build your dough. You want to make sure that the fat and the sugar are evenly mixed throughout the cookies. Keep it mind that the longer you cream the butter and sugar, the crispier your cookie will be. Even if you want a soft cookie, make sure you cream them long enough that you can't tell the difference between the sugars and the fat.

I always use butter for cookies. It makes the texture, taste and mouth feel better than using oils, shortening, or margarine. Next, I usually use brown and granulated sugar, either with equal parts or more brown sugar than white. I like the added depth from the molasses in the brown sugar. It also enhances the color and softens the cookies.

After you've creamed the sugar and butter, you will just be mixing to incorporate the ingredients. Add the flavoring (vanilla extract, almond extract, salt, etc...) and leavening (baking soda and powder) and mix. Then you can add the eggs. Finally, the flour can bring it all together. Obviously this will be a little different depending on the kind of cookie you're making.


Tips for Specific Cookies

Peanut butter cookies- cream the peanut butter with the butter and sugar before adding your other ingredients.

Oatmeal- add the oatmeal after the flour. Don't over mix. Please. I can only say that so many times.

Chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, or other add ins- add at the very end.


What Went Wrong?!?

Now. You've put your first batch in the oven and have already eaten about 14 cookies worth of cookie dough. You are pretty excited about finally eating a baked cookie. Then they come out flat or too crisp or too soft. Nothing is worse. (Ok, lots of things are worse, but this is a bummer!) Here are some of the reasons why. Read over them and use this new-found knowledge to fix the dough! That's right. You can fix it. Your second batch should be better. (My mom taught me this by having me bake a test cookie or two first. That way I didn't waste 12 of them if the dough was wrong.)

Crispness is caused by high sugar and fat content, high temperatures or long baking time, low proportion of liquid in the mix. One way to fix this? Store in an airtight container. Add a slice of bread and let the cookies retain the moisture from the bread.

Softness is caused by high proportion of liquid in he mix, low sugar and fat, molasses in formula, underbaking, and large or thick shape. Keep them in an airtight container to keep them soft.

Chewiness is caused by high sugar and liquid content, but low fat content, or a high proportion of eggs. It can also be caused by the gluten developed during mixing. Don't over mix.

Spread is caused by high sugar content, high leavening content, low oven temperature, high liquid content, strong flour, or heavily greased pans. Watch the recipe, especially if you are doubling it. Make sure you are following it exactly.


I know this was an educational post, but I want to share with you how I learned in school. I would read over the processes and recipes for each lesson before school, then we would get a demonstration before we got to try it in the kitchen. It helped me build a strong foundation for learning and understanding. I'll try to keep these lessons entertaining and short for your benefit. (You just learned an entire chapter from my 1088 page textbook, by the way.) Eat it up. Good stuff is coming tomorrow. One of my favorite recipes! (Hint: It's healthy and my meat-loving husband loved it. He even asked for more. No, he wouldn't do that to be nice. He knows that would drive me crazy.)