Content

• To step
• Method 1 of 4: Mastering techniques
• Method 3 of 4: Bake like a professional pastry chef
• Tips
• Warnings
• Necessities

Whether you call them cookies or biscuits, everyone loves them. Cookies come in thousands of shapes, sizes and flavors and they are easy to make. While some cookies do not require baking, those that do offer more variety in texture (crunchy and chewy or soft). All you need to know to make the cookies you like is how to adapt the ingredients and baking technique to the recipe! In this article you will find tips on how to improve any cookie recipe. Just get started with step 1!

To step

Method 1 of 4: Mastering techniques

1. Be accurate. This is the golden rule of cookie baking. Follow the recipe to the point (you can always experiment with cookies that you make another time and determine how the adjustments affect the final result) and take the time to get used to measuring cups and spoons.
2. Add a little extra baking soda if you like thin crunchy cookies. If you buy 5-15 g. baking soda per 4.5 kg. Additional cookie dough increases the pH value of the dough, which weakens the structure and makes the dough expand more during baking. However, be careful as adding too much baking soda can cause the cookies to brown too much, or make the cookies taste a bit salty and synthetic, and it can cause eggs in the mixture to turn gray-green!
3. Use coarser sugar if you want to make thick, chewy cookies. Fine sugar dissolves faster than coarse sugar and this affects the spreading of the sugar throughout the dough and ultimately the texture of the dough, just like baking soda. If you use powdered sugar because you want to make the cookies extra crunchy, check if there is corn syrup in it, as this can have unexpected (and unwanted!) Consequences.
4. Use butter that has been refrigerated. Always try to keep the butter as cold as possible. Put the mixed wet ingredients in the fridge right away when you are done. The cookies will flatten and run if you use butter that is too soft.
5. Use cornstarch or "shortening" (vegetable shortening, available from Jumbo) if you like fluffy cookies that are more like cake in texture. If you replace the butter with shortening, you improve the texture of the cookies. You can also add 2 tbsp. cornstarch instead of 4 tbsp. add flour to the mixture if you like very fluffy cookies.

Method 3 of 4: Bake like a professional pastry chef

1. Bake simple sugar cookies. These are easy to make and require few ingredients. So you can easily make them spontaneously without having to go to the store separately. Sugar cookies are also so simple that everyone likes them; there are no strong flavors that are not liked by everyone.
2. Make classic chocolate chip cookies. These are very popular cookies that are also very easy to make. Make them a bit more exclusive by using high quality chocolate chips or a variation thereof.
3. Bake healthy oat cookies. This contains extra fiber making them healthier than most of their cookie peers. Oat cookies are also easy to make, you can adapt the recipe to your own taste and make it more interesting or luxurious if you want.
4. Make delicious crumbly peanut cookies. This is the favorite of many and can serve as a tasty filling snack for in between meals. Peanut cookies are also more suitable for diabetics if the amount of sugar has been adjusted.
5. Make sweet Snickerdoodles. These are actually huge piles of butter, sugar, cinnamon that together form a divine whole. They are not the most obvious choice if you are looking for a healthy cookie, but they are simply a delicious treat that you just have to indulge in every now and then.
6. Bake spicy ginger cookies. Whether it's almost Christmas or you're preparing for a summer picnic, ginger biscuits are a suitable treat for all kinds of social occasions. They are appreciated by many people and are easy to make, so give them a try!
7. Make tropical coconut macaroons. It seems as if they are difficult to make, but that is actually not the case at all. If you want to impress someone, this is a very suitable cookie. With the coconut and possibly chocolate you feel like a real connoisseur.
8. Bake fancy marzipan cookies. Marzipan is usually the exclusive ingredient in chic Italian desserts. However, you can also use the sweet almond paste for a very tasty biscuit and some fine Italian sophistication.
9. Make elegant lemon ricotta cookies. Whether you are looking for a unique flavor or want to throw a fancy party at the last minute, give these cookies a try, they are really for the gourmets. You will be amazed by the combination of flavors and your guests will be deeply impressed.
10. Bake special bacon chocolate chip cookies. Because who follows everything from the books? Not you. And who exceeds everyone's expectations? Right, you. These cookies don't just taste great; at a party they ensure that people start talking and that the atmosphere starts off well. Why bake regular chocolate chip cookies when you can make something they will never forget?

Tips

• When you have finished baking and the oven is off, you can open the oven door ajar to let it cool down faster. However, if the oven has plastic knobs, take a minute to make sure that the heat does not melt the knobs.
• Use vanilla sugar to add more flavor. Put a vanilla pod in a jar with sugar and let it rest for two weeks. This gives the sugar a vanilla flavor and flavors cakes, cookies and even sweet breads.
• Preheat the oven while you are mixing the ingredients.
• If you put some flour on the baking tray after it has been smeared with butter, you can prevent the cookies from spreading too much (this can be a solution for cookies that are too thin) and prevent any chocolate chips in the dough from sticking to the baking tray.
• Know that a Silpat baking tray can give the cookies a slight plastic taste.

Warnings

• If you are a child ask your parents for help as you could injure yourself with the oven or the cooking utensils.
• Make sure you don't put anything flammable on the stove as this can cause a fire.
• Do not eat cookies that are not yet cooked. They taste too much like dough, increase health risks due to the ingredients that are not fried (for example salmonella due to the raw eggs) and can even lead to stomach pain. Also follow the prescribed time for baking the cookies.
• Do not always open the oven door to check the cookies. Because every time you open the oven it cools down and this has an effect on the end result. Instead, use the oven light if you have one to see through the oven door.

Necessities

• Baking trays
• Mixing bowls
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Grids for placing and cooling the cookies
• Spatula
• Cookie molds
• Oven or microwave