Tips for making perfect cookies

Did you know that homemade cookies can last up to a month in perfect condition if you store them well? That is, as long as you don’t get distracted and the little ones (or a bigger kid in the house... Ahem!) don’t sneak in like little mice and eat them first.

Making cookies is one of my favorite pleasures. It’s easy and quick, since the dough requires very little mixing and the baking takes little time (about 15 minutes). Kids enjoy it too, you can be sure you’re eating quality ingredients, and if you make a big batch, you’ll have extras for days.

Tips for making homemade cookies successfully

If you're keen to try and ace the first test, or if you want to clear up any doubts, here are some tips and tricks for making perfect cookies (and I'll remind you of some great recipes later):

1. Calculate the weight of the flour in a scale and with accuracy, not in measuring cups. The weight of the flour can vary depending on the type of flour you use, and with measuring cups you can overdo it by packing them in. Using more flour than called for will make them tough and dry, and they may crack.

2. Use all-purpose wheat flour (medium-protein). Bread flour can develop too much gluten or can make them turn out too hard; by contrast, low-protein flour will make cookies that are too delicate.

3. You don't need to add yeast (in some cases a quarter of a coffee spoonful is indeed added). Baking powder would make them rise unnecessarily, they wouldn’t be uniform (depending on each one’s position in the oven, they would rise unevenly despite coming from the same mixture) and you’d also risk them rising so much that they end up sticking to one another. In short, don’t add baking powder.

4. The butter should be softened, but still slightly cool yet. Remember that as you mix it, it will heat up, and the hotter the butter is, the more flour it will require.

If you don't want to wait for it to soften, a trick I loved discovering is to put the butter in a plastic food bag and hit it hard several times with a roller. Yes, straight up. It gets soft right away but still has that touch of cold we need.

5. Don't overwork the dough or you’ll develop the gluten. You must mix until you get a homogeneous dough. Nothing else.

6. It is always recommended to put the dough in the fridge for at least one hour once you have the dough. That's because you'll roll it out more easily and, most importantly, you'll cut it better: lThe shapes will be better defined, pay attention.

7. It's very comfortable roll out and cut the dough on top of the baking tray. You'll avoid handling them and having them deform: it will simply be a matter of rolling it out with a rolling pin, using cutters and stamps to get the shapes you want, and removing the excess dough. Straight into the oven!

8. When rolling out the dough, remember to do it in a so it has an even thickness. It is ideal to make them with a height of between half a centimeter and one centimeter (the flatter they are, the more likely they’ll end up dry and break easily, and the thicker they are, the longer they’ll take to make... and to eat!).

To do this, you can use the Joseph Joseph rolling pin, or place a pair of wooden spoons on each side of the dough (or similar utensils with long, equal-sized handles) so they act as "rails" for your rolling pin, helping it maintain the same height as it passes over them, with the dough underneath.

Joseph Joseph Rolling Pin, Nordic Ware stamps and Birkmann cooling rack

9. In turn, use similar-sized cutters on each tray, so that they have a similar baking time. If you put cookies of varied thicknesses and sizes on the same tray, some will end up hard and others undercooked, and the golden color won’t be similar either (How nice it is when they all come out evenly golden!).

10. It's important that the oven is hot when you put the cookies in. Otherwise, the dough will soften a lot and they may deform before baking properly. So you must preheat the oven (usually at 180ºC for 10-15 minutes before putting the cookies in).

11. When you see the cookies start to brown around the edges, you should take them out. Don't wait any longer! If you wait, they'll end up hard. Don't be surprised if they're soft when you take them out -it's normal, really. You should let them cool in a grid and you'll see they set to the perfect firmness: you can then handle them easily; they'll be crisp, but the inside won't be hard and you won't break your teeth on them (yes, that's what happens if you overbake them).

Depending on the size of the cookies and the height at which you place the tray in the oven, you'll need more or less time, but in general you'll need only 10 to 20 minutes to have them ready, So don't stray too far from the kitchen!

12. Once they’ve cooled, after between half an hour and an hour, you should store them. Where? Never in a plastic container: save them in a tin container or in a glass container that closes properly. It will be the way to keep your cookies perfect, and they can even last up to a month.

De Buyer baking tray and perforated tray

Easy and delicious cookie recipes

Ready to bake cookies? Here are some tried and thoroughly tested recipes that will win over the family and those guests you'll linger over Sunday lunch with. You'll be a hit!

• Hazelnut and chocolate cookies
• Ginger cookies
• Matcha tea and chocolate cookies
• Butter cookies (classic recipe)*
• Butter cookies (with the Nordic Ware stamps)*
• Oatmeal and chocolate cookies**

* The butter cookies you'll see in these recipes are made with the Ilsa cookie press and Nordic Ware stamps, but you can also use the Imperia cookie press or other molds and cutters.

** The oatmeal cookie recipe is made as a large oven-safe skillet cookie, but you can use the same mixture, make small balls and flatten them to get individual cookies and bake them on a baking sheet as usual.

They’re delicious recipes—I hope you give them a try! And you’ll have to tell me how many seconds the guests’ "Mmmh!" lasted. The cookies, if you leave them on the table, I don’t think they’ll last long.

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You'll find many special products for making cookies in our section "Cookie utensils".