Batch Basics: How to Bake the Perfect Cookie

When I first started Batch Cookies, I had so many people reach out and ask me: How do you make cookies so huge that don’t spread? How do your cookies stay soft for days after they’re baked? How do you get the middle so soft and the top perfectly crisp? Since I was running Batch as a order/delivery service I often didn’t share my tips…they are some of my secret weapons! Today, though, is your lucky day and I am going to spill all the tips for you!

When it comes to baking, it is absolutely crucial that you follow directions exactly or you run the chance that your cookies may not turn out as you had wished. Even the smallest mistakes can lead to your batch being unsuccessful. Here are some of my tips on how to avoid baking fails and to have the best batch every time:

1. Butter temperature: This one is HUGE. Pay attention to the temperature the recipe creator calls for. Do the directions say room temperature? Do they say melted? Do they say cold? The temperature of your butter will play a major part in how your cookies bake. If the butter is too soft or melted, your cookies will most likely not stand tall and firm than if the butter was cold or at room temperature. What were supposed to be beautiful cookie mounds may turn into puddles of crispy nothingness 😳
2. Do NOT over mix: Ah, one of the most important baking tips of all time. I feel like I mostly have seen this tip when it comes to making cakes or muffins but this also applies to cookies! The reason being that if you over mix your are likely making the ingredients in your batch softer and warmer. This can also result in flat, spread out cookies.
3. The temperature of your kitchen: I have basically lived in two different places for my whole life: Arizona and Utah (minus a couple year stints in Asia). Utah has four seasons and has cooler temperatures than Arizona 99.9% of the time (except for on our wedding day when we opted to get married in Utah for better weather but then it ended up actually being hotter in Utah than Arizona that day 🤪) My kitchen here in Arizona is also smaller. Living in a warm place and having a small kitchen has taught me a lot about the temperature of cookie dough. If I over mix the cookie dough or am told to use room temperature butter or melted butter I often opt to refrigerate my cookie dough for about 30 minutes to an hour. It’s not worth rushing the process if it means my cookies are going to fall flat and spread out.
4. Sift dry ingredients before adding them to the dough mixture: This is often a step that I have to admit that I sometimes skip 🤦🏽‍♀️ but I have noticed that with some recipes it is essential. I especially like to sift the dry ingredients together when I’m adding additional dry seasonings like cinnamon. To me, the main reason you sift your dry ingredients before adding them is so that you won’t over mix once they’re in. This way you can get them all mixed together first and not worry about mixing long enough to get the baking soda etc distributed evenly throughout all the cookie dough.
5. Weigh your cookie dough: Yes, I have a cookie scoop but I think it’s a little annoying and sometimes (okay pretty much all the time) I do not get the same exact size of cookie dough balls. Weighing your cookie dough takes the guessing out of everything and it allows for your cookies to be evenly baked. It may seem over the top but nothing is better than pulling out a sheet of cookies and see that they are all perfectly baked!
6. Do not overly work the dough by rolling it into perfect balls. Like I mentioned with not over mixing the dough, you do NOT need to roll the dough into perfect balls. I have noticed that when I do this I typically make the dough warmer by the friction creating with my hands and often the cookies will not stand tall while being baked.
7. Fold or pulse in the chocolate chips, M&Ms, etc. Goes along with what I’ve been saying. You don’t want to overwork the dough! By folding in the chips, oreos, candies, etc. you will better keep the same dough consistency.
8. Do not over bake: Baking cookies until they’re crisp is not my thing (maybe it’s yours though, so just skip this if so!) You want to pull cookies out of the oven once the tops are slightly brown. Then leave them on the cookie sheet they baked on for the next 30-60 minutes. The cookies will finish baking on the cookie sheet and you will thank yourself later that you let them sit and firm up in the middle. Sometimes the cookies are slightly under baked. If you hate this, you can just go ahead and microwave the cookie for 10-15 seconds and I’ve noticed the middles forming up a bit. Personally I don’t mind the under baked part and actually like it…it usually means that the cookies will be soft for a few days after baking which I absolutely LOVE 🙌
9. Know your oven. Everyone’s oven is different. My instructions may not work very well with your oven. Some ovens just get hotter than others and some lose heat more quickly. The more you bake and pay attention to how your oven bakes, the more successful baking attempts you will have!
10. Have patience and experiment: Like I mentioned above, sometimes it’s just trial and error. When I moved to Arizona from Utah I definitely noticed that my cookies tended to melt and spread out more often and realized I must refrigerate the dough or use cold butter to prevent this. So, if you make a batch and you don’t like how it turns out, evaluate what you could do differently the next time and try again!

I hope that you find some of these tips helpful and interesting. I only made it to a list of 10 tips but I’m sure the longer I think about it, the more tips I will think of…but those will just have to wait for another blog post another day!

xoxo

Nicole