Today Ina and I baked some sugar cookies and my left over cranberry oatmeal dough. The first couple of batches were a hit! However, in the third batch we lost LPG so we had to stop. I put the dough of the sugar cookies and the trays with the scoops in the freezer. Then after the tank was delivered, we finished the last batch of sugar cookies.
L-R: Baked at room temp, scooped then chilled dough,
chilled then scooped dough.
Now, here are my observations as to baking cookies so far.
1. Sugar cookies should be baked with the dough at room temperature. It's okay to chill the dough for around 20-30 mins to ease scooping but leaving it to freeze and pop it directly in the oven is a bad idea. Sugar cookies are obviously laden with sugar and it's baked at a relatively high temperature (at least compared to chewy ones) and sugar tends to burn when it's heated long.
2. For chewy cookies, it is imperative to chill the dough and it's best that way before you place it straight into the oven. I think that's the thing with chewy cookies, the cookies are cooked slowly in relatively longer and at lower temperatures. The chilling is key to maintain its shape, believe me.
3. There is this thing with over mixing, I guess you just know it by feel. I can't really say how you can tell if a batter is over mixed; just mix your dough well for a couple of minutes after all ingredients are incorporated and some more unless specified. Luckily I haven't had a batch of over mixed cookies so far. I hear they're pretty hard.
Baking really is an exact science, and it pays to follow your recipe religiously. Just tweak it from there. :)
UPDATE 6/12: We made a superb batch of Banana Crunch Muffins (recipe by Ina Garten). I am so making that again the next chance I get.
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