Baking Tips and Tricks

I’ve been baking for a while and have picked up a few tips and tricks along the way. Feel free to comment with your own!

1. Do not over mix the dough! Once you start adding in your dry ingredients, only mix enough to incorporate the ingredients in, this is not the time to just let the mixer go and go. Mixing the dough too much creates flat cookies that spread. This is true for other types of cookies as well.
2. Do not roll the dough out more than is necessary for the reason above. The more the dough is worked, the more it will spread.
3. For softened butter (when you don’t have time to let it sit on the counter and soften on its own), microwave it in 5-10 second intervals, let it set for 10-20 second in between intervals. Something about letting it sit between heatings helps prevent it from moving too quickly from soft to melted. (Thanks, dad, for that tip!) Melted butter will also contribute to cookies spreading instead of holding their shape.
4. Once you have a cookie pan filled up with cookies, stick the pan in the fridge for 10 minutes before putting it in the oven to bake. This helps the cookies to set their shape and spread less.
5. Sugar cookies are done baking when the top of the cookie is no longer shiny. Don’t worry about paying attention to the bottom of the cookie, just look at the top. For me, this creates soft cookies that are cooked all the way through and starting to get golden on the bottom. Of course, if you prefer a crunchy cookie, you may need to keep them in the oven past this point 🙂
6. If you need a cookie to maintain its shape precisely, use the cookie cutter to the cookie again immediately after you pull it out of the oven. The edges won’t have the smooth, baked look, but you will have to exact shape you hoped for.
7. Have fun! If you aren’t having fun, then stick to other things that bring you joy and hang out here for the pretty pics and chance to buy my goodies that you didn’t have to bake!