COOKIES

Creating Cookie Doughs

Cookie doughs are made with basic ingredients including sugar, fat, flour, eggs, and other leavening agents including
baking powder or baking soda. When making cookies, it’s helpful to know how these ingredients affect the
characteristics of a cookie.
Assorted Butter Cookies

Fats add flavor and often include butter, margarine, or shortening. Vegetable oils, including olive oil or walnut oil,
may be used for a specific flavor profile. Fats control texture so adding more will make the cookie chewy, and less fat
will make it crunchy. Fat substitutes, including nut butters, fruit purees (apple sauce, banana, pumpkin), and dairy
products including yogurt and sour cream, are used in some recipes for variety in flavor, texture, or to reduce overall
fat content. Eggs are used as a leavening and binding agent, add moisture, and control the spread and rise of a cookie.
Egg whites produce a crisp texture, while egg yolks result in chewier textures. Sweeteners provide taste and help to
tenderize the dough. Because sugar melts while it is baking, it increases the spread of the cookie. Coarse sugars
spread more than confectioners’ sugar which contain cornstarch. White sugar produces a crisper cookie, while brown
sugar produces a moist and chewier cookie. Molasses, honey, and maple syrup are other sweeteners that are used in
cookie doughs

Flour is a binding agent that provides structure and determines the density of the cookie. The type of flour affects the
overall texture of the cookie too. All-purpose flour is often used because of its versatility, bread flour adds more
chew, and cake flours produce a softer texture, paler color, and less spread. Unbleached flour provides more structure
than bleached versions. Whole wheat flour adds heartier and a nuttier flavor, but creates a denser texture with less
chew and should be limited to about 30% of the total flour in the recipe. Gluten-free flours are sometimes substituted
for wheat flour. Leavening agents including baking powder and baking soda are used to produce a lighter, cake-like
texture, but are often used to encourage browning during the baking process. Salt is a flavor enhancer and also
strengthens the protein in the dough making it chewier.

Add-Ins and Variations

Cookie Ratios
Cookie ratios vary depending on the desired texture. A basic cookie dough follows a 1-2-3 proportion of sugar, fat,
and flour. This is a dense cookie, mildly sweet, that is prepared as an icebox dough. For a chewy texture use equal
parts fat, sugar, and flour, and for a crisp cookie add more sugar.
Cookie Dough Makeup

Cookies are divided into categories based on their mixing and makeup method. The one-stage blending method
combines all ingredients and gently mixes them at a low speed to a uniform batter. The creaming method combines
the fat and sugar and blends them together first before adding eggs, liquids, flour, and leavening agents. The sponge
method is similar to a cake batter in which the eggs and sugar are foamed before the additional of other ingredients.

Almond Biscotti

Drop cookies are scooped or spooned onto sheet pans and often use the creaming method to build volume in the
cookie. Rolled, icebox, and molded cookies are made from chilled doughs that tend to be stiffer with higher flour
content to minimize the spread during the baking process. Rolled varieties include sugar and gingerbread cookies that
are rolled out like pastry dough and cut into desired shapes. Icebox cookie dough is shaped into a cylinder, wrapped
in parchment or plastic wrap, and chilled before slicing and baking. Molded cookies may be shaped by hand or
pressed into a mold. Piped cookies, like a spritz cookie, are made from soft doughs that are portioned onto a sheet
pan or into a mold. Softer doughs, like a tuile, may also be prepared by using a stencil to spread the dough. Twice-
baked cookies, including Italian biscotti, German zwieback, and the European Jewish Mandelbrot, are doughs
formed into logs, baked, cooled, and sliced, before baking again. They are drier cookies that are ideal as an
accompaniment for dunking in hot drinks.

Baking Cookies

Chilling cookie dough before baking helps to firm the fats and reduces spread. Cookie doughs that are baked fresh
tend to have a doughy texture and less caramelization. Aging doughs from 12-36 hours hydrates the flour, breaks
down carbohydrates into simple sugars, resulting in a sweeter tasting cookie with better caramelization and texture.
Higher fat cookie doughs spread more and need about 2”/5 cm spacing, while cookies with higher flour spread
minimally. Cookies baked at lower temperatures are thinner with more spread and a crisper texture., while baking at
higher temperatures produces a thicker and softer cookie. The general temperature for baking cookies is 350°F/175°C
on the middle rack of the oven.

BASIC COOKIE
This is a shortbread style cookie that can be modified with the addition of nuts, chocolate or cocoa powder, spices,
and herbs. The butter can be replaced with shortening, sugar can be replaced with honey or molasses, and baking
powder can be added to lighten the cookie.

Method

Step 1

 Combine the butter, salt, vanilla, and white and brown sugar in a mixer fitted with a paddle
 Cream the mixture until it is light and fluffy
  Add one egg at a time blending thoroughly after each addition

Step 2

 With the mixer on low speed, fold in one-third of the flour into the batter
 Continue to mix the remaining flour in two more additions
 Add any garnishes or add-in to the dough
 Roll the dough into a parchment paper cylinder and chill or freeze

Step 3

 Line a sheet pan with parchment paper

 Slice the dough into ¼ “/1 cm slices and position 1”/3 cm apart on the pan
 Bake the cookies at 350°C/175°C for 10-15 minutes until done
 Cool and store in an airtight container
FINER POINTS FOR THE COOKIES

1. A basic cookie dough follows a 1-2-3 proportion of sugar, fat, and flour. This is a dense
cookie, mildly sweet, that is prepared as an icebox dough.
2. chewy texture use equal parts fat, sugar, and flour,
3. crisp cookie add more sugar. 2:2:3 Fat sugar and flour

 Chilling cookie dough before baking helps to firm the fats and reduces spread. Cookie doughs that are baked
fresh tend to have a doughy texture and less caramelization. Aging doughs from 12-36 hours hydrates the
flour, breaks down carbohydrates into simple sugars, resulting in a sweeter tasting cookie with better
caramelization and texture.
 Higher fat cookie doughs spread more and need about 2”/5 cm spacing, while cookies with higher flour
spread minimally.
 Cookies baked at lower temperatures are thinner with more spread and a crisper texture., while baking at
higher temperatures produces a thicker and softer cookie.
 The general temperature for baking cookies is 350°F/175°C on the middle rack of the oven.
 They typically have a moisture content of less than 4% and when packaged in moisture proof
containers have a long shelf life, perhaps six months or more.
 Hard dough has high water and relatively low fat (and sugar) contents. The dough is tough and
extensible (it can be pulled out without immediately breaking), like tight bread dough. The
biscuits are either crackers o,r in a group known as semi-sweet or hard sweet.

 Soft doughs contain much less water and relatively high levels of fat and sugar. The dough is
short, (breaks when it is pulled out) which means that it exhibits very low extensible character.
It may be so soft that it is pourable. The biscuits are of the soft eating types which are often
referred to as ‘cookies’. There are a great number of biscuit types made from soft doughs and
a wide variety of ingredients may be used.

The use of sodium metabisulphite, SMS, has a dramatic effect on the dough quality. Typically the
level of usage is about 0.029 units to 100 units of flour. Compared with doughs with no SMS the
amount of water needed is reduced by 10% or more. The SMS reduces the elasticity of the gluten so
the dough shrinks less after cutting. It is therefore easier to control the shape of the biscuits baked
from the dough. By adjusting the amount of SMS used some variations in the quality of the flour can
be compensated for.

Techniques involving emulsifiers have allowed the fat to be more effectively used in the dough so it
has been possible to use less fat without affecting significantly the eating qualities of the biscuits,
crackers and cookies baked products but these fat reductions are only in the order of about 20%.

l lecithin is a fluid or a plastic paste which, if used in excess, imparts unpleasant flavours. The usage
rates may be expressed relative to the weight of flour (normally between 0.5–1.0%) or the weight of
fat (up to 2%). The author prefers the dosage to be relevant to the fat as it is best to handle the
lecithin by dissolving it in the fat before adding to the mixer. Soya lecithin is not soluble in water but
dissolves in warm fats and oils. It is, therefore, convenient to dissolved the lecithin in the fat before
this is added to the recipe. Purified and modified lecithin is also available as a powder.

Anti-oxidants are substances which retard the onset and progression of oxidative rancidity in fats.
They may be useful to extend the storage life of fats, before use in biscuits, and to extend the shelf
life of biscuit products. The most commonly used antioxidants in biscuit manufacturing are BHA
(butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene), propyl gallate and TBHQ
(tertiarybutylhydroquinione). They are thought to work by preventing the formation of free radicals
that initiate and propagate auto-oxidation.
Chewy cookies

Bake at Low temperature

Add more baking powder into it so that it can rise

Mostly made with dry fruits / nuts etc

Bown sugar moist and chewy cookies

More fat chewy cookies

Crunchy/Crisp Cookies

High temperature

Less baking powder

Less butter/ more flour crunchy cookies

More air is incorporated

White sugar crisp/crunchy cookies

Normal Points about cookies

a) Always refrigerate cookies for atleast 24 hrs for chewy cookies

b) 1-2 hours
c) Or for 15 minutes if you don’t have time.