Well, it’s that time of year again: Determined bakers are suddenly going to decide that Santa deserves nothing less than a 10,000-cookie buffet, and their goal is to tackle everything. funny idea They have been filing for the last few months.
Any way you slice it, that level of baking will always involve a solid investment of time, but whether you treat it like a marathon or a few shorter runs, it can make all the difference in the world. By spreading out the cookie-baking chores (and cleanup) over a few days, you can make the experience a lot less stressful, messy and chaotic, and a lot more fun.
Here are four easy steps to make your holiday baking plans stress-free.
Cookie Prep Tip #1: Make a Plan
Although there’s nothing wrong with grabbing a handful of your favorite recipes, it’s worth considering how different recipes will work together before embarking on an epic cookie quest. Look for combinations that can provide a good range of flavors, textures, And Techniques. For example, here’s a good mix: Crunchy Gingersnaps (drop cookies), frozen cut out (rolled sugar cookies), and Buttery Spritz (Piped Cookies).
The delicious benefits of this arrangement are obvious. Like a good cheese plate, offering a selection of flavors and textures keeps things interesting. But variety can also help preparation, as it saves tying up different equipment and machines while waiting for a long line of identical cookies to be made.
Cookie Prep Tip #2: Make Ahead
There’s nothing better than a freshly baked cookie, and the best way to coordinate the freshness of multiple recipes is to eliminate their collective preparation in advance. With a few exceptions (say, piped meringue kisses), most cookie doughs are happy to stay in the fridge for up to a week, and many will actually get better with age. So you can spread the cookie-making task over a few days or weeknights, then save the baking fun for lazy Sunday afternoons.
The average cookie dough is fairly low moisture, which means the leavening agents don’t react immediately (you can read more about the mechanics of those reactions here). Here and/or HereStill, you’re always better safe than sorry, and there’s a great trick to make sure your cookie dough doesn’t lose any flavor in the fridge: Don’t mix leavening agents with the dough; Mix them in sugar instead.
This way, when you rub butter and sugar Together, the leavening agents become coated in the cold fat, creating a subtle waterproofing effect that prevents moisture from triggering the release of carbon dioxide until the cookie dough begins to melt in the oven, so the cookies rise just as they should. They are blooming as they should. It also ensures the most completely uniform distribution of ingredients, so it’s a good way to incorporate spices and salt as well.
This trick won’t work for recipes that call for melted butter (for example, kenji). chocolate chip cookies and my oatmeal cookies), but it’s an easy solution for any cookie dough that involves creaming butter and sugar.
Cookie Prep Tip #3: Prepare for Cooling
For rolled cookies, divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic and refrigerate into a flat disk. This doesn’t mean starting the rolling process all at once, but rather making sure the dough softens at a more uniform pace when you’re ready to roll. Most doughs will tear and crumble when rolled straight from the fridge – although some are specifically designed for this purpose – so I recommend letting the discs stand at room temperature to restore the plasticity of the butter. , which is usually around 65°F/18°C. (A little cooler if the flour contains a lot of invert sugar, like jaggery or honey).
For drop cookies, it is important to divide the dough before refrigeration; Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until the huge mass of dough has softened before it can be rolled out. If the dough is stiff enough, you can put the pieces directly into a zip-top bag. For soft, pliable dough, it helps to keep the dough divided into pieces and placed in the freezer until it hardens.
If you prefer thicker cookies you can bake the cut dough straight from the fridge, but keep in mind that this will invalidate the baking time suggested by the recipe. Otherwise, let the dough stand at room temperature until soft, which will happen when it reaches about 70°F (21°C), then bake as directed.
Cookie Prep Tip #4: Get Your Spot
If cookie dough is not suitable for refrigeration, you can still speed up the process by reducing your ingredients beforehand. Having all the sugar, salt, spices, and leavening prepared and ready to use gives you a sort of DIY cookie mix. Simply put it in a bowl, add softened butter (or whatever other ingredients your recipe calls for), and eat it. Most recipes call for adding flour and other dry ingredients, such as cocoa powder or ground nuts, last, so it can be helpful to have these in a bag and ready to go.
This type of advance preparation is especially helpful if you’re planning to do some baking with kids, at a friend’s house, or in a group setting where you can talk and be distracted – did I do the baking? Soda, or just added salt? This is something I always do when I visit my parents, so I can give the gift of freshly baked Christmas cookies without tipping my scale.
