How to Get the Texture You Want in Your Cookies
cookie textures peanut butter bar sugar
Cookies are a favorite goodie of just about
everyone. And it seems like just about
everyone has a different opinion of how
cookies should be. Some people like their
cookies crisp and delicate. Others prefer a
chewy cookie with a thickness that you can
sink your teeth into. The conundrum lies
in getting the cookies you bake to have the
texture you want. The exact same cookie
recipe can bake up into two completely
different cookies, the flavor will be the
same but the texture will be different.
How, you ask?
The reasons all lie within the variables of
ingredients, mixing technique, temperature,
and equipment and baking
time.
Ingredients
The ingredients you use are extremely,
extremely important in achieving your
desired cookie. Doing something as small as
using baking powder instead of baking
soda or using cake flour instead of all-purpose
flour can make a huge difference.
Even the type of fat you use in your cookie will
dramatically affect its outcome. The basic building
blocks of most cookies are fat, flour, baking powder
and baking soda, sugar, and eggs or other liquid.
* Fats - The fats most often used in cookies
are butter, margarine, shortening and oil. Fats play
a major role in the spread of your cookie. In other
words, they help to determine if your cookie spreads
out into a thin mass on the cookie sheet or pretty
much keeps its original shape. Shortening, margarine
and spreads are fairly stable so they will help cookies
keep their original unbaked shape. Butter melts at a
much lower temperature than the other solid fats, so
cookies made with it will tend to spread out. And oil,
since it already is a liquid at room temperature, produces
cookies that keep their shape. The amount of fat also
affects the cookies.
You can basically think of it this way: More fat equals
flatter and chewier to crispier cookies. Less fat equals
puffier and more cake-like cookies.
* Flour - Flour also affects how cookies bake and
behave. Flours with a high protein content like bread
and all-purpose flour will help to produce cookies that
tend to be flatter, darker, and more crisp than their
counterparts made with cake or pastry flour.
* Baking Powder and Baking Soda - Baking powder
and baking soda are the two most common leaveners in
cookies. Baking soda is simply bicarbonate of soda,
while baking powder is a combination of bicarbonate of
soda plus an acidic ingredient (cream of tartar). Baking
soda neutralizes the acidity of the dough, allowing the
cookies to brown in the oven. Since baking powder
already contains its own acid, it will not reduce the
acidity in the dough, and the resulting cookies will be
puffier and lighter in color.
* Sugars - The type of sugar and how much you use
also plays a big role. White sugar will make a crisper
cookie than brown sugar or honey. In fact, upon standing,
cookies made from brown sugar will actually absorb moisture,
helping to insure that they stay chewy. Thus the reason
that most chocolate chip cookie recipes contain both
brown and white sugars is that you get the best of both
worlds! If you lower the amount of sugar called for in
a cookie recipe the final baked cookie will be puffier
than its high sugar counterpart.
* Eggs and Liquids - Eggs and liquids can either
cause cookies to puff up or spread. If egg is the liquid
it will help to promote puffiness. Just a tablespoon or
two of water or other liquid will help your cookies spread
into flatter and crisper rounds. One thing to remember is
the different effects of egg yolks and egg whites.
Egg yolks will help to add moistness whereas egg whites
tend to make cookies drier.
To make up for the drying effect of the egg whites extra
sugar is added. This is the reason that cookies made with
just egg whites tend to be so sweet.
Mixing Technique
Cookies are not as delicate as cakes, but mixing still
plays an important role. The most important step in cookie
mixing is the creaming step. This is the step where the
fat and the sugar are whipped together until light colored,
smooth and fluffy. This helps to incorporate air into the
batter, which you need if you want your baking soda and/or
baking powder to work. Another important factor is not to
overmix the dough.
Once you combine the dry and wet ingredients, mix until
just combined and no longer.
Temperature
Do not underestimate the importance of temperature
in cookie baking. Cookie dough that is chilled before baking
will hold its shape and produce a slightly puffier
cookie. Cookie dough that is at room temperature before
baking will spread and flatten out while baking. So if
you happen to have a very warm kitchen, it's a good
idea to refrigerate the dough before you bake it.
Equipment and Baking Time
Different baking sheets and whether you grease the
sheets or not will produce different results. A good
baking sheet can make a big difference. Super thin baking
sheets will cause the cookie bottoms to cook faster,
sometimes resulting in burnt bottoms. Yuck! Insulated
baking sheets allow air movement and will help to produce
puffier cookies. If you want flat crisp cookies, your best
bet is the standard semi-thick baking sheets that are
available just about everywhere. If you grease your
cookie sheets before baking, it will cause the cookies to
spread out more but if you don't grease the sheets you run
the risk of the cookies sticking to the sheets and
making a big mess. A good and fairly inexpensive solution
to this is parchment paper. Its non-stick surface makes
for easy cookie removal and yet it doesn't cause the
cookies to spread out.
Yes, it is true the longer you bake something the more
cooked it will become. Cookies are usually baked from 350
degrees F (175 degrees C) to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C).
Since cookies are small they tend to bake fast. A difference
in temperature can completely change the amount of time
ou'll need to bake your cookie.
If you want your cookies to be chewy, the trick is to
slightly underbake them. If you want them to be crispy, bake
them a little longer. The best way to do this is with an
accurate oven thermometer, a timer and your watchful eye
until you get it all down.
So How Do You Want 'Em?
So now that you know a little bit about what goes into
the cookie, how do you combine it all to come up with your
favorite winning texture? Just follow these tips
to get the cookie you desire. Don't be afraid to mix and
match, your ideal might just lie somewhere between all
the extremes. Start baking cookies - there's a texture to
find!
* Flat - If you want your cookies on the flat side,
you can do some or all of the following things: Use all
butter, use all-purpose flour or bread flour, increase
the sugar content slightly, add a bit of liquid to your
dough, bring the dough to room temperature before baking.
* Puffy - If you like your cookies all light and
puffy, try some of the following tricks: Use shortening
or margarine and cut back on the fat, add an egg,
cut back on the sugar, use cake flour or pastry flour,
use baking powder instead of baking soda, refrigerate
your dough before baking.
* Chewy - If chewiness is your desire remove the
cookies a few minutes before they are done, while their
centers are still soft and not quite cooked through. The
edges should be slightly golden but the middle will still
look slightly raw. Use brown sugar or honey as a sweetener.
Try using egg yolks instead of whole eggs, this will add
some extra moistness to the cookies thus helping to be a
bit more on the chewy side.
* Crispy - For crisp and crunchy cookies, bake your
cookies a few minutes longer than suggested and immediately
remove them to wire racks to cool. Cookies made with all
butter and a high amount of white sugar will also crisp up
quite nicely.
Another trick is to use bread flour.
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