Cookies! They are sheer gustatory delights any time of year, but they are especially appropriate for celebratory occasions, like Boston's first real snow of the season! (Finally...) Oh, and for the tabula rasa of a new semester. Hooray!
Indeed, sweets have always been a part of celebratory rituals the world over. This makes sense considering sugars, butters and spices were once rare treasures only to be brought out on extraordinary occasions. And after all, nothing amplifies cheerfulness like a good bout of potential cavities.
So let's talk about cookies and how to excel at producing them so that we may cheerfully devour them afterwards. Though there are thousands of different kinds of cookies, some general tips on cooking and baking that are always relevant and helpful do exist. So before you get all floured up, read over these cookie commandments.
By the way, it's always a good idea to Google for cooking tips in addition to the recipe when making something new. Unless I'm familiar with a particular recipe or the cooking technique it uses, I never work based on an unfamiliar recipe alone. Recipes are designed to give the basic procedure for making something, but rarely have the extraneous information that will help you do do it well. Allrecipes.com in particular has some helpful videos and tutorials on preparing many common, popular foods.
The Cookie Commandments
One: If you are making cut-out cookies, chill the dough in the fridge for about an hour first. Yes, it's time consuming, but go play a round of Guitar Hero while you're waiting or something. It will be worth it, because your dough will roll out evenly and not stick everywhere, thereby saving you much time and frustration in the long run. You also won't have to flour it as much to prevent sticking, which is good because too much flour can make the cookie dangerously dry. Even if it isn't for cut-out cookies, it's generally a good idea to chill the dough so the cookie doesn't crumble as easily. If you're really short on time, wrap it in plastic wrap, flatten it out a bit, and stick it in the freezer for ten minutes.
Two: Don't overbake your cookies! Why is this a problem when you just follow the recipe's time and temperature of the recipe, you ask? Because oven temperature dials can vary a bit - you can "set" the temperature to 350 degrees on some ovens, but on some it could heat to 340 and others, 360. That's enough to throw off the time by an entire five minutes. So a good rule of thumb is to check the cookies five minutes before the time at which the recipe claims they will be done. You can tell cookies are done with a quick visual appraisal: they should be very light brown on the edges. They will look slightly underdone in the center but cookies continue to cook for a short time after you take them out of the oven, so worry not.
Three: Cool the cookies completely before trying to move or decorate them. The heat must dissipate for the dough to set and harden. Premature disturbance will cause physical breakdown on the cookie's part and numerous "Aw, damn"s on yours.
Four: Don't skimp on fat. The fat is what makes the cookie brown to tender, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. It helps along the Maillard reactions, the chemical reactions between sugar and amino acid that are responsible for the tasty, toasty flavor molecules in caramelized onions, caramel candy, roast beef and of course, cookies. So if it says to use a cup of butter, don't use air-filled whipped butter or reduced fat butter-like products. Margarine, however, is okay as a trade-off, and so is vegetable shortening. By the way, if you want chewier cookies, melt the butter instead of merely softening it.
Five: Don't get baking powder and baking soda mixed up. Baking soda lacks acid to complete the leavening process, so it depends on the presence of another acidic ingredient in the dough. Baking powder, however, is essentially baking soda with acidic cream of tartar built into it, so it is more often used in recipes that don't have an additional acidic ingredient. Recipes that include a mixture of baking soda and baking powder are trying to achieve a ph balance for optimal leavening. In order to follow these proportions carefully (a requisite for good baking), I do recommend investing in a set of measuring spoons. In baking, you can't do it "to taste."
Six: This is not a real Cookie Commandment, but so far, the best chocolate chip cookies recipe I've ever used is the one on the back of those Nestle Toll House chocolate chip bags. Seriously.
Now, without further ado, here are two of my favorite cookie recipes. The first one is a basic sugar shortbread cookie recipe with a fun twist: it's made into a cookie sandwich. Of course, feel free to stop at the cookie part and make cut-out cookies that you can then decorate with store-bought icing.
Angel Whispers
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (used in 2 steps)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp lemon extract or 1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp lemon extract or 1 ? tsp lemon zest (used in 2 steps)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
1) In a medium bowl, cream together butter and confectioners' sugar until light. Stir in the lemon peel, flour and salt. Cover bowl, and chill for about one hour.
2) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
3) Flatten teaspoons of dough onto cookie sheet pans, and bake for five to eight minutes, until light brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
4) To make the filling, combine the beaten egg, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and butter in the top of a double boiler. Chances are, you don't have one. I don't. But what works splendidly as a substitute is a large Carmichael plastic salad bowl placed on top of a simmering pot of water. Stir the mixture in the bowl over the water until it becomes thick. If it doesn't want to thicken, add powdered sugar to the mix. Mixture will also thicken further after it cools.
5) Sandwich cookies with one teaspoon of filling each. Eat!
Chocolate Mint Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 Tbsp water
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
36 chocolate mint wafer candies or mini York peppermint patties
1) In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.
2) Beat in the eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about one hour.
3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4) Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. While cookies are baking unwrap candies and divide each in half. When cookies are brought out of the oven, press 1/2 mint candy on top of each cookie. The mint candy will melt in a bit due to the heat of the cookie. Eat and enjoy!
Both recipes are courtesy of Allrecipes.com.
