Of Cookie-Making

By Aneesah, 29 Aug 12

Assalamu’alaikum warahmatullah. Greetings!

Throughout Ramadhan, I embarked on a new hobby called “recording random videos, speeding them up and posting them on Facebook”. I’ve always loved timelapses, and although sped-up videos are not quite timelapse photography (which consist of still photos), it’s close enough. 😛

So. One of the videos was this:

Now I don’t intend to cross-post everything that I post on Facebook on this blog, but since it’s a blog, there’s this ability and space to type sooooo much more to go with the video…~ :boogie: Ahem. I guess I can mention a few cookie-baking tips (basic stuff, stuff that I tell the Weekenders who found themselves in charge of baking cookies for the first time with little kiddos):

1. Baking tin/sheet — avoid glass and dark-coloured baking tins. They could cause heat problems, ie. burnt bottoms. These are standard stainless steel ones (I think).
   

   Steel/aluminium baking tins FTW! And Skinny the cat!

2. Use baking paper! No need to grease sheets, helps with even heat transfer, and with transferring batches of cookies for cooling. The papers can also be reused for each batch that goes in the oven.
3. Cut baking paper to size except for one or two sides (if two sides, make them opposites). This is so you can lift or pull out the whole sheet of cookies for cooling like I did in the video. Extra tip: if the paper likes to curl or refuses to sit still in the baking tin, just sprinkle a bit of water on the sheet’s surface and the paper will stick to it.
   

   See the extra paper up the side of the tin? That’s for easy lifting later on.

4. Related to point above, LET COOKIES COOL. Preferably on wire racks (the one I use is from inside the big oven) because it allows air to pass underneath the cookies. You would not want to let them cool on the baking tins because the heat would make them continue cooking. Cooling is important for the cookies to “set” and get their texture.
   

   Wire racks. Another alternative would be trivets.

5. Don’t over-mix the dough (results in tough cookies).
6. Make cookie sizes as uniform as possible. So you wouldn’t get under/over-cooked ones in each batch.
   

   Not *exactly* uniform, so make them more uniform than these, ok? 😛

7. This may or may not be accurate, but — smaller ovens tend to produce more consistent results. I’ve used the big oven (the kind that you cook lasagna and roast chicken in) for cookies before, but I think the heat circulation may not be as condusive so you will get different results than using a small portable countertop oven.

End of tips. The cookies above are the peanut butter oatmeal ones. But seriously, it might be a Cookie Law, that no matter how many times you use the same recipe, there is always a possibility for the cookies to turn out different each time. 😛

Another recipe I frequently use is Crispy Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, which, again — sometimes they turn out too crispy/hard, other times chewy. 😛 It must be the circle of life.

Anyway, I am no expert, just a hobbyist (in fact the two recipes are pretty much the only stuff I bake regularly  ^^; ), so feel free to share your favourite recipes and tips. I tend to bake (and definitely tend to cook) more in the UK — Malaysia’s kitchens get way too hot and humid. X(

Bye.