There are so many slipway for a batch of biscuit to go wrong . The small balls of dough spread across the cooky sheet like an oil color slipperiness . And by the fourth dimension the timer dings , a 12 of them have merged into one colossus , irregularly - shaped cookie the sizing of yourmicrowave . Or perhaps the posterior of your cookies burn to an ominously dark brown and adhere to your cookie sheet for life . Not even a pry bar can break up the bond . It ’s abnormal .

The point is : Baking is n’t easy . Elevating your cookie from barely edible to delectable is an oddly unmanageable experimentation in precision and forbearance . as luck would have it , we ’ve enlisted the assistance of a cookie old hand ( and some other source , too ) to provide a few solid tips on how to reach baking perfection . His name is Wally Amos , and you ’ll recognize him as the serviceman who ground Famous Amos Cookies in 1975 , though he has since left that company and formed another in Hawaii – Chip and Cookie .

You know when you ’ve bitten into the sodding cookie . It bray ever so slightly . It oozeschocolatywarmth . It tastes larder and dulcet and salty all at the same clock time . But how do you manufacture these backtalk - watering morsel of good in your own domicile ? How do you bake paragon ? The first tasty backsheesh is on the next pageboy .

5. Select Quality Ingredients

A delectable cookie is really the centre of its scrumptious parts . So pay close attention to the component you funnel into your mixing bowl . For case , Mr. Amos insists on butter , not marge , for character cookies , andvanilla pull up rather an artificial vanilla . In fact , he swan that vanilla is the biscuit ’s key ingredient – its soul – and he prefers that his cookies have the soul of Watkins steel Madagascar Pure Bourbon Vanilla Extract .

Once you ’ve selected the ingredient greats , make them really blab out . For example , if you desire crank in your cooky , add them to the hitter last – they ’ll curve up crunchier . And , if you ’re chop up the junky in a food processor beforehand , toss in a little flour andsugarfrom the recipe to soak up the Nut ' oil . That direction they wo n’t clump together [ source : Crisco.com ] .

If you insist on using margarine rather than butter , just ensure it hold enough fat . discipline the recording label on the box to see that it ’s at least 80 percent vegetable oil or 100caloriesper tablespoon . Margarine that ’s not fat - heavy iswater - heavy , which makes for soggy dough that will expand on your cooky sheet into one large amoeba cookie [ source : Better Homes and Gardens ] . For extra chewy cookies , do n’t just employ softened butter – use melted butter . Then project in a duet of ballock yolk to increase the fat content and ensure cookie tenderness [ source : America ’s Test Kitchen ] .

4. Be Delicate With the Flour

If vanilla is the cookie ’s someone , then flour is its hint , or what causes the biscuit to balloon like a lung once it hits the heating of the oven . What case and how much flour you combine into your batter will ultimately affect your cookies ' structure and grain .

Biochemist and cookbook author Shirley Corriher notes that it ’s the protein in the flour that catch moisture and defines the dough ’s consistence . Higher - protein flour will ingest more wet , and you ’ll wreathe up with drying agent dough and tougher cookies . low - protein flour will result in pissed dough and flatter cookies [ root : Corriher ] . So , for model , Corriher recommends add one - fourth of a cup more all - purpose flour to the Nestle Toll Housechocolatechip cookie recipe than it calls for . This increase the protein content and prevents the dreaded biscuit spread .

Flour is a delicate thing , and it involve to be moved and evaluate carefully . You should stir up the flour a bit before you souse it from your container to your dry measuring loving cup . Do n’t heap or pack the flour into the cup . Just smooch it . And when you ’ve satisfy the mensuration cupful , genuflect the top edge with a spatula or a knife to even it out . Resist the impulse to knock the measuring loving cup on the counter to level out the flour [ informant : Better Homes and Gardens ] . That ’s not necessary .

3. Mix it and Measure it Right

" If you ’re furious , your cookie are n’t last to taste good , " Amos told HowStuffWorks.com . Why ? Because if you stir your cookie lettuce with the spirit and vigor of awomanon the wand of a unquiet breakdown , your dinero will liquefy , and what you want for your dough is body . So do n’t commingle your slugger too heavily for too long ; just blend it until it ’s smooth and creamy . add together any chocolate chips to the batter last and do n’t stir them too long , either – you do n’t need them to turn your batter brownness [ source : Amos ]

Measure your component with precaution . If you ’re novel to the kitchen , you might not agnise that there are two types of measuring twist – smooth measure cup and dry measurement cups . A liquid measuring cup is commonly trash orplasticwith a handle and a spout . A wry mensuration cupful is usually metallic element or charge card with uncoiled edges [ source : America ’s Test Kitchen ] . This is important : If you expend the wrong type of measuring cup for your ingredients , your measurements will be inaccurate . For representative , if you measure your flour in a liquid measuring cup , you ’re potential to add a whole extra tablespoon to your batter , which , believe it or not , can jump your entire baking undertaking [ beginning : Better Homes and Gardens ] .

2. Chill, Then Heat

After you ’ve patiently merge heartsease , good will and your cookie ingredients with the electrical mixer , you ’re likely ready to ball up that batter and throw it on the cookie sheet of paper . But do n’t do it . A little trick in the subculture of cookie baking is to chill the cooky dough before you broil it . This will give your batter more trunk and your cooky more ascending [ source : Amos ] . When you leave the hitter in thefridgeovernight , the proteins and the amylum in the dough soaks up more of the liquid , which dry out out the dough to result in a fuller , more delectable cookie [ source : NPR ] .

You do n’t always have to chill the batsman overnight , however . An hour in the fridge or 20 minute in the freezer will suffice . If you ’re using oleo instead of butter in your cookies , you should always freeze the dough for at least 20 minutes before baking [ source : Better Homes and Gardens ] . If you ’re not in the mood to bake that day or even the next , you may leave your batter in the refrigerator for two to three days before broil and in the freezer for up to three calendar month . You do n’t even need to dissolve the frozen cookie boodle before you drink down it in the oven [ source : Cooking Light ] .

While the dough is cool , preheat the oven for at least 15 to 20 minutes [ source : America ’s Test Kitchen ] . Light - colored and very thick metal cookie sheets that do n’t have side are beneficial [ source : Better Homes and Gardens ] . It ’s a good melodic theme to rotate the cooky sheet halfway through broil to ensure even stir up .

1. Cool Down and Store Tight

In the words of Wally Amos , " You have to watch your cookies . " You ca n’t just pop them in the oven and then go clean your bathtub . eff just when to draw in those suckers out of the heat can be a bad call to make . Amos opt his cookies golden brown , so he reaches for the oven mitt when they heat up to that tonus . But perfect cookie doneness is a immanent affair . Some cookery book and magazine suggest bakers to take biscuit out of the oven when only the border are dark-brown . Others advise people to take the cookies out well before they look done and allow them to fix on the sail outside the oven for 10 minutes [ author : America ’s Test Kitchen ] . If you do n’t trust the red-hot cookie canvass to continue bake your cookies post - oven , then you should do what Amos does and transfer your cookies from the sheet to a cooling rack after about two to three minutes .

[ source : Cooking Light ]

Before you get your pelf chilling and your oven heating system up , get more sweet tips and magic trick on the next page .

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