Since I was young, whenever I am bored or stressed, I bake. Sometimes, I will try new recipes for different types of sweet treats, while other times I try to perfect my “go to’s,” namely the basic cookies – chocolate chip, peanut butter, and snickerdoodle. After trying several recipes with little success, I started to do some research. For me, the perfect cookie is more on the chewy, rather than crunchy, side. If I can make a cookie that is crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle, even better! Also, I like to have the cookies around for a while.
After reading several websites, I found a few tips and tricks to avoid the overly crunchy cookie. They are as follows:
- Substitute all-purpose flour with bread flour, using the same measurement the recipe calls for with the all-purpose flour.
- Add an extra egg yolk. For example, if your recipe calls for 2 eggs, use 2 eggs and one egg yolk.
- Add about a tablespoon of milk. This one, I play around with. Sometimes I add it. Sometimes I don’t. It’s effect really depends on what you are making.
The next thing to overcome with cookies is how to make them last longer. Outside of preservatives, these tips have been very helpful:
- Freeze the dough and make as needed. So simple! Similar to the store bought cookie dough in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, roll up the unused dough into a log. Wrap it with plastic wrap and then foil paper. Stick it in your freezer, and when you are ready to bake some more cookies, slice off the number of pieces you want to bake, and bake the cookies at the temperature your recipe calls for.
- Save the end pieces of your bread loaf and put them to good use. Put a slice of bread in the storage container with the cookies. I thought of this when I remembered the trick to prevent your brown sugar from turning into a big hard clump. Here, you place a piece of bread in the container with the sugar and it will stay soft. I tried this with cookies, and it worked!
If you are looking for some fun cookies to make, check out Martha Stewart’s Cookies cookbook. I got this (and her Cupcakes cookbook) as a wedding gift, and it has been great fun to try different recipes. If you look up the recipes on her website, you will get the added bonus of reviews of the recipes with other tips and tricks to make her recipes even better.
Happy baking!
Second Tuesday 