How to Bake Cookies

Co-authored by Mathew Rice

Last Updated: February 10, 2022 References

There is a cookie for almost every taste. But how do you get the perfect cookie for you? Whether you like your cookies big and fluffy, light and airy or prefer a chewy, gooey cookie, we've got you covered with helpful instructions that you won't find in your average cookie recipe. Continue to the end to find great recipes to get you started!

Part 1

Part 1 of 6:

Making the Dough

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Keep everything cold. If you are using butter in your cookies (and even, to a certain degree, if you aren't) you will want to keep your ingredients refrigerator-cold. This will make your cookies much more firm and keep them from spreading out in the oven.
- This means that you'll have to warm up the butter enough to work with it by placing it on the counter, rather than in the microwave. Absolutely never melt it in order to mix it into the dough.
- A great practice is to cool your dough in the fridge for an hour before rolling it out.
If your recipe calls for butter and doesn't specifically prohibit this practice, you should always "cream" the butter and the sugar first. This is a process by which you mix the two until a sort of paste is formed.^{[1]
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Sweet cream butter tends to make cookies taste too sweet. The salt will balance out the sweetness of the cookie just enough to make it taste much better over all. You won't be able to properly taste the salt, but believe us, you'll notice the difference.
4
Change the recipe to alter the final product. If you find a recipe that you love the taste of but what a different texture, it is totally possible to alter the recipe just a bit in order to get exactly what you want! Experiment, or try these tricks:
- Use cake flour, shortening instead of butter (or switch for part of the butter), or ~2 teaspoons of cornstarch with 4 teaspoons LESS flour in order to get fluffy, cakey, soft cookies.
- Use 2 tablespoons of milk, an extra tablespoon or two of butter, or switch your white sugar for brown to get a crispy cookie.
- Use melted butter to mix dough and then chill it before baking (undercook a minute or two) to get a chewy cookie. You can also use only yolks, instead of whites.
- Using a rubber spatula often helps speed up the mixing process if you are not using a machine.
If you find that you still struggle with getting your recipe to turn out right, bake like the pros (and Europeans!) do and weigh your ingredients. Get a good electronic kitchen scale and do your recipe based on weight. This will help ensure the perfect cookie.^{[2]
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Part 2

Part 2 of 6:

Baking the Cookies

If you want to make sure that every cookie in a batch turns out looking the same, use an ice cream scoop to get perfectly equal balls of dough.
Skip the Silpat in favor of parchment paper. Silpat can make it difficult for cookies to cook evenly and it also keeps the bottoms from developing that perfect crispness. Parchment paper turns out a much better cookie.^{[3]
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If you notice that the cookies at the edge of your sheet are prone to getting over cooked, use an Round or oval pan. If you don't have one, improvise and flip the pan over to use the bottom!
4
Know your oven. Every oven is different and it is important for you to know how yours behaves. If you know what to expect, then you can find ways to work around the expected problems.
- For example, if you notice that cookies on one corner or side bake faster than in another, make sure you turn the pan part-way through the baking process.
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Start with a cold pan. Put your baking sheet in the fridge to cool before you put each set of cookies on. If you want to save time, you can scoop the dough onto parchment paper and store them in the fridge until they are ready to go out on a cooled pan.
- This means cooling the pan between each set of 12 too!
6
Don't overbake your cookies. If anything it's better to under-bake them. For the first batch carefully watch them and time for when they get the first hint of brown^{[4]
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Research source} at the edges. Edge browning usually means you've gone too far, though these cookies are still perfectly good (especially if you like yours crispy!). Once you know how long it takes to reach that point, pull them out maybe 30 seconds before they brown for perfectly soft cookies.
- If you are using white chocolate chips in your cookies, be careful, as they can burn particularly easily.
Let your cookies sit on the pan for a few minutes before taking them off. This will let them firm up on the bottom, making them much easier to eat.

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Part 3

Part 3 of 6:

Converting for Dietary Restrictions

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Convert for vegans. To convert almost any cookie recipe for a vegan diet, the main ingredients you'll have to worry about are the butter and the eggs. The butter is easily replaced with shortening (this often makes a better cookie anyway!) but if you want to avoid the awful egg substitute, try this instead^{[5]
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- Add 1 tbs of oil, 1 tbs of cornstarch, 2 tbs of soymilk and 1 tbs of ground flax seed in place of each egg called for in the recipe. If it calls for only yolks, go easy on the milk and oil.
If someone has a bad lactose intolerance, you can easily replace the butter with shortening. Any milk called for can be replaced with lactose-free milk, soy milk or more exciting options like hazelnut milk!
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Convert for a peanut allergy. If someone has a peanut allergy, you can replace ingredients like peanut butter with almond butter or Nutella (yum!). Just make sure that no other ingredients have had contact with the peanut butter.
- Make sure, for example, no one has EVER used a knife to get some peanut butter out of a jar and then used that same knife to get some Nutella without cleaning in between. To be safe, get a new jar.
Replacing flour in recipes is easy, but you have to keep a few things in mind. For things like cookies, you'll want to err on the low-protein side, since you want them to be soft. You also want to mix different types of wheat flour substitutes. When using these substitutes, it is also necessary to add a slightly larger amount of liquid.
This is tricky, since it's the carbs as much as the sugar which causes the problem for diabetics. Try to make protein heavy cookies (like peanut butter cookies with high-protein alternative flours instead of normal flour) and switch the sugar with some Splenda or other sugar alternative (honey is good!).

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Part 4

Part 4 of 6:

Baking Classic Cookies

Make chocolate chip cookies. To make your recipes even more inventive, try different varieties of chocolate chips, like white, milk or bittersweet.
. Whole grain oats add a heart-healthy element to this popular treat. To make them gluten-free, substitute oat flour for the all-purpose flour and make sure that your oats are labeled gluten free. You can also add raisins, walnuts or butterscotch chips to your oatmeal cookie recipe.
. For a nutty treat, make peanut butter cookies. These make a great breakfast snack, with the extra protein boost!
. These sugar cookies get a wonderful crunch and sweetness from being rolled in cinnamon and sugar before they are baked. The secret to great snickerdoodles is to hand-mix the ingredients instead of using a mechanical mixer.
. Ginger snaps get their flavor from molasses and ground ginger. To dress these cookies up, drizzle them with a lemon glaze.
. These light and fluffy coconut cookies are free of both flour and egg yolks. You can also use food coloring in these cookies to customize the macaroons for a variety of occasions.

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Part 5

Part 5 of 6:

Baking Holiday Cookies

. Decorating gingerbread people is a favorite holiday tradition in many households. These cookies make a delicious blank palette for a variety of candies, colored glazes and frostings.
. Basic sugar cookies are delicious on their own and form the basis for many more complex cookie recipes.^{[6]
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Research source} You can either cut sugar cookies out with a cookie cutter and frost them for the holidays or make drop sugar cookies.
. These German Christmas cookies incorporate the flavors of an herby gingerbread and lemon. For a different flavor profile, try chocolate Lebkuchen.
. These cookies are shaped using a cookie press, which is an easy-to-find and affordable investment. Decorate the cookies with colored sugar or sprinkles to make them more festive.
. For a Scandinavian Christmas, try using marzipan in your cookies. This gives the cookies an intense almond flavor.
. A combination of chocolate sugar cookie dough and regular sugar cookie dough, stacked and rolled together, creates these delicious and colorful pinwheels. You can customize the color of the plain dough for any special occasion.

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Part 6

Part 6 of 6:

Baking Unique Cookies

. Vary this recipe by using different colors and flavors of Jell-O. These cookies are a great way to welcome kids into the kitchen.
. If you’re a bacon lover, make these chocolate chip cookies that incorporate bits of bacon into the dough.
. Adding green food coloring to your chocolate chip cookie dough gives these cookies a delightful green tint. You can serve these cookies on St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, Christmas or any day.
Make fried Oreos. Oreo cookies rolled in batter and deep-fried make a sinful treat. You can serve a plate of these cookies with either ice cream or a big dollop of whipped cream.
. Cocoa powder, melted chocolate and chocolate chips make these no-bake cookies irresistible. You will need to set aside some time to chill these cookies, but the results will be worth the wait.
Chocolate and marshmallows are always a winning combination, particularly for moon pie lovers. These delectable cookies are filled with marshmallow filling and then dipped in melted chocolate.

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Expert Q&A

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Question

What is the most essential tool in your kitchen?

Mathew Rice
Professional Baker & Dessert Influencer
Mathew Rice has worked in restaurant pastry kitchens across the country since the late 1990's, and currently owns Pink Door Cookies in Nashville. His creations have been featured in Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, and Martha Stewart Weddings. In 2016, Eater named Mathew one of the top 18 chefs to follow on Instagram. In 2018, he appeared in season 18 of the Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay and won his episode.

Mathew Rice

Professional Baker & Dessert Influencer

Expert Answer

I think it’s probably a scale. For me, once I started scaling everything out, that’s when I feel like my baking became a lot more precise.

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Should the baked cookie be soft at the center and crisp on the edges?

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This depends on the type of cookie you're baking. If your mixture is a bit on the thin side, it will spread. This will make the cookie crisp on the edges and soft at the center. On the other hand, if you have a chunky mixture — for example, with choco chips — the entire cookie will bake at roughly the same rate. With some recipes, such as snickerdoodles, the center will be soft at first and then harden as it cools down.

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Do I need to grease my pan?

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It depends on the types of cookies, and what the recipe says.

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Tips

When you are baking the cookies, do not forget the parchment paper! If you do, the cookies might spread and become one huge cookie!!!

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Crunchy, salty, buttery nuts are the perfect ingredients for outstanding cookies. Choose from cookies made with peanuts, walnuts, pecans, almonds and pine nuts to satisfy your cravings. They're also a great source of plant-based fats and protein.

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If your cookies seem off but you can't figure out why, you used too much flour.

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Warnings

Make sure that everyone eating the cookies can do so safely! Many people have nut allergies. Even with no nuts in the cookies, there may be ingredients with nut contact. Ask ahead to see if anyone has a very bad allergy.

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