recipes
LOVIN’ FROM THE OVEN
Mastering cookies requires practice and the right ingredients.
WRITTEN BY JENNIFER RACHEL BAUMER
PHOTOS BY JACI GOODMAN
Cookies. The quintessential sweet treat. They’re fast, easy, portable, and they taste great. What could be simpler than a cookie?
Lots of things, if you’re looking for just-right texture and taste. Cookies lend themselves to culinary disasters. There’s the thin, greasy, spreading cookie. Then there’s the cookie that refuses to expand, remaining a hard, unyielding ball. There are burned and undercooked cookies, and lots of confusion over what pans to use.
Individual preference for cake-y, chewy, or crispy cookies determines what makes a great cookie. Here three Northern Nevada bakers discuss how to make a great cookie, starting with practice — you have to play with a recipe.
All You Need is Love
What makes a great cookie? Love, says Don Holtzer, owner of Franz’s Backstube in Reno. Also, following the recipe consistently — if it’s right. But cookbooks aren’t always correct.
“You need that love, and an understanding of how the ingredients work — milk, flour, eggs, and everything else,” Holtzer says.
And then, he suggests, maybe you make small batches until you figure out how to make that cookie recipe work for you consistently.
Know Your Ingredients
Understanding your ingredients can stop cookies from spreading to the size of dinner plates and becoming brittle and greasy messes. Nicholle Alumbaugh, chef/owner of Homage Bakery in Reno, is a fan of unsalted butter, which generally is of higher quality than salted because it has a lower moisture content. That advantage adds a challenge, because butter melts faster than shortening, so cookies spread more quickly and easily.
“So the best thing to do is make your cookie dough and chill it really well, even portioning and freezing before baking,” Alumbaugh says.
Another trick for avoiding thin, brittle cookies: Make certain the sugars are mixed in thoroughly. Once the bowl is scraped, there shouldn’t be any dry crumbs at the bottom.
If your cookies aren’t spreading at all but cooking in small lumps, try creaming sugar and butter, then adding eggs as usual, but then thoroughly mixing in the leavening ingredients (salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cream of tartar) before adding the flour, which then combines more quickly and without overworking the gluten.
Over-mix (or melt) your butter and the dough will liquefy, says Kyle Boesen, chef/owner of Sweet Treats by Kyle in Reno. That turns a chocolate chip cookie into baked chocolate chips — the cookie part melts away. With over-mixed dough, the cookie either comes out flat and brittle or doesn’t spread at all because there’s too much air mixed in.
Baking Tips
For easy cleanup, Alumbaugh suggests sheets of parchment paper (treat it well and you’ll get more than one batch out of it). Silicone baking mats are another option; they’re nonstick and offer quick, easy cleaning.
Pans meant for home use can warp and develop hot spots so cookies bake unevenly. A commercial half sheet pan from a kitchen supply store costs about $10, Alumbaugh says, and holds up beautifully.
A full-time writer and amateur baker, Jennifer R. Baumer is determined that some day her cookies won’t melt, burn, turn into rocks, or fall apart when picked up.
ADDITIONAL TIPS
Altitude and attitude
Cookie dough is more forgiving than other baked goods.
High-altitude baking instructions change amounts of flour and leavening ingredients because every 1,000 feet of altitude alters temperature and times of various reactions. But while altitude affects cakes and breads, cookies don’t care.
Cookie dough also is more forgiving than cake batters. Ingredients don’t need to be at room temperature before you start, though butter should be softened (not melted) so it creams thoroughly. Checking that you have all ingredients on hand before starting allows you to avoid emergency trips to the store for what’s missing. But cookie dough won’t collapse like cake batter if you have to run out mid-creation to buy eggs.
Resources
Franz’s Backstube
3882 Mayberry Landing, Reno
775-624-2921, Franzbackstube.com
Sweet Treats by Kyle
100 W. Liberty St., Suite 150 (in the Museum Tower), Reno
775-657-6862
Homage Bakery
519 Ralston St., Reno
775-323-8952
RECIPES
Peanut Butter Bonbons
(courtesy of Kyle Boesen, Sweet Treats by Kyle, makes 12 to 24 cookies)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups Bisquick® mix
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat condensed milk and peanut butter until well blended. Stir in Bisquick mix and vanilla; mix well. Shape dough into balls. Dip top of each ball in sugar.
Bake 7 to 9 minutes. Either firmly press a chocolate candy into top of each cookie and bake for an additional minute, or let cookies cool and drizzle chocolate over top.
French Macarons
(courtesy of Nicholle Alumbaugh, Homage Bakery, makes 18 cookies)
9 tablespoons powdered sugar
5 tablespoons almond meal
Aged egg whites from 2 eggs, room temperature*
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Food coloring, optional (natural food coloring is available at Whole Foods Market, Reno)
*To age egg whites, carefully separate eggs, reserving yolks, and leave whites out at room temperature for about two days. This process affects acidity, which makes for better macarons, Alumbaugh says.
Combine powdered sugar and almond meal in bowl of a food processor. Pulse until well combined. Using a sieve, sift two times.
In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites on medium until foamy. Gradually add sugar. Once sugar has been incorporated, increase speed** to high and continue to whip until stiff peaks are achieved. (**If using food coloring, add during the first few seconds of increasing speed.)
Using a sieve, sift dry ingredients for a third time over stiff egg whites. Fold dry ingredients into whites, until batter resembles a shiny lava. Transfer batter into a pastry bag fitted with a half-inch, plain pastry tip. Pipe ¾-inch rounds onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, one inch apart. Let cookies stand at room temperature for 60 minutes.
While resting sheet of cookies, preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes then remove to a cooling rack.
Sandwich two cookies together with desired filling. Place in airtight container and refrigerate overnight.
Suggested fillings: ganache, Swiss meringue buttercream, and lemon curd. For those recipes, visit the Recipes tab.
