10 Tips for Making the Perfect Cookie

Baking cookies is a great treat for children and adults. I've put together a few tips to help make sure your cookies bake perfectly each and every time you make them. I wish you success with each sheet of cookies you bake!

1. Use shiny cookie sheets. You could even cover dark cookie sheets with aluminum foil. The reflective quality of the pan insures even baking and browning of your cookies. With the right cookie sheet, you will produce perfectly browned cookies each time you bake. = 2. Use a spoon or other measuring device to measure out drop cookies.Making sure your cookie dough is evenly divided is essential. Your cookies will bake more evenly during their cooking time. If your cookies are different sizes, they will require different cooking times. You will end up with some underdone and some overdone cookies. We definitely wouldn't want that to happen! = 3. Chill dough thoroughly if you are rolling out cookies.By making sure that the dough has been chilled completely, the dough will be much easier to work with during rolling and cutting. = 4. Monitor the baking time of you cookies closely.Remove your cookies from the oven when they still look a little underdone in their centers. They will finish cooking on the cookie sheets. = 5. Use the correct fat for your cookies.If the recipe calls for butter, use butter. Butter happens to be my personal favorite for baking cookies! I never use margarine. If the recipe calls for shortening, I will use butter flavored. Butter and shortening provide the bonding fate that keeps our cookies from spreading too thin while cooking. If you use margarine when it calls for butter, your cookies may be thinner and may cook too quickly for optimum taste benefits. = 6. Rotate your cookies halfway through the baking time.Often ovens cook faster towards the rear of the oven. Rotating the cookies insures even baking of your wonderful treats. If you are cooking more than one sheet of cookies at a time, make sure you switch top and bottom sheets halfway through baking time also. = 7. Always use large eggs.This is the standard size egg used for developing cookie recipes. Your cookies will mix perfectly by using the correct size eggs. = 8. Measure all of your ingredients carefully. Don't use heaping cups of flour or sugar. Make sure you use a flat surface to level all dry measured ingredients. Measure your liquid ingredients carefully also or else you might end up with very dry or very runny cookie dough. = 9. Preheat your oven to the correct temp.Do this before you place your cookies in the oven. This will make sure your cookies will cook properly to become the perfect cookies! = 10. Have Fun! Baking cookies is a wonderful tradition in homes today. Have fun while you are making them, and the smiles will be even bigger when you eat them! Having fun and smiling makes everything taste better!

What counts is not necessarily the size of the dog in the fight - it's the size of the fight in the dog...... Dwight D. Eisenhower

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