Skip to Content

Home Baking: How to Perfect Your Cookies

Home Baking: How to Perfect Your Cookies

How to Bake the Perfect Cookies

How many parties have you gone to where the hostess had the most wonderful assortment of cookies laid out for everyone to see what a fantastic cook she is? Maybe she just wants to be the envy of all the other wives in town or maybe she really is just that good at baking. However, some of those cookies are just too perfect and if you didn’t know better, you’d swear she ordered them online from GJCookies.com. Well, maybe she did and maybe she didn’t but if you have been trying for years to bake just as good as she can, here are some tips that might get you headed in the right direction. (And, if you still can’t get it right, there’s always Gimme Jimmy’s Cookies!)

The Real Deal Lucille

For starters, don’t let anyone tell you that there is anything better than natural ingredients. Who ever heard of margarine cookies? Aren’t they called butter cookies? They are butter cookies for a reason and not just because margarine hadn’t been invented yet! There is nothing quite like the taste of butter when baked at the right temperature so it doesn’t burn and margarine doesn’t even come close. The same goes for vanilla extract. Artificial vanilla flavoring is just that, artificial. And guess what? It tastes fake! For the best cookies in town, you need the real deal, Lucille.

The Importance of a Preheated Oven

Whether you are in a hurry or not, never ever put a cookie sheet in the oven if it hasn’t been brought up to the right temperature. If the recipe calls for 350 degrees it doesn’t mean start at 125 and work your way up. By the time the oven reaches 350 degrees the bottoms of your cookies will be burnt to a crisp. Conversely, it is advisable to get an oven thermometer to make absolutely sure your oven is actually at the temperature you set it for. Many ovens aren’t accurate so it is vital to have a good thermometer.

Quality Cooking Utensils

Another thing that many people don’t realize is that there is nothing quite like good baking sheets and cooking utensils. It is especially important that the cookie sheet be capable of even distribution of heat. A cheap cookie sheet is liable to be hot at one end, cool in the middle and hot on the other end. Cookies will bake unevenly so that some are done while the ones in the middle are still partially uncooked.

In years gone by, women had to rely on the wisdom of their mothers and grandmothers as the internet still hadn’t been invented. Today there is ample information online so that you can simply do a quick search and find everything you ever wanted to know about baking the perfect cookie – and more! Remember, you get what you pay for! If the recipe calls for butter, then use butter. Don’t use cheap cookie sheets and make sure you have your oven set to the correct temperature and preheated. If all else fails, you know where you can buy the perfect cookies and if you’re smart, no one will find that delivery box in the trash.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.