5 Common Mistakes People Make When Baking Cookies at Home
Baking cookies at home can be a thrilling experience or disappointing. Whether you are a beginner or an expert in baking at home; even small mistakes can change the texture of your cookies from soft and chewy to hard, flat, or burnt. At The Cookie Bar, we’ve seen it all, and convinced that anyone can bake cookies well by simply using the right techniques.
In this blog, we discuss the 5 most common mistakes people make when baking cookies at home and how to fix them.
- Not Measuring Ingredients Accurately
One of the biggest mistakes people make when baking cookies is to assume that the ingredients measurement are ‘good enough. Baking is science which requires precise measurements. Changing the amount of just one ingredient like flour, sugar, or butter affects the texture of the cookies.
Tip: In order to be precise, use a digital kitchen scale. If you use a cup, scoop the flour directly from the bag and level it with a knife. The reason behind this is that when you scoop flour out of the bag, you are compressing it and therefore it weighs more.
Why it matters: Excess flour results in dry and crumbly cookies, while little flour causes the cookie dough to spread too much and the cookies become thin.
- Using the Wrong Type of Butter or Not Softening It Properly
Butter is the heart of cookie dough, it gives the dough a great flavor and a nice texture. Many home bakers make the mistake of using margarine, salted butter in place of unsalted butter, or not letting the butter get soft enough before mixing.
Tip: Use room temperature unsalted butter (soft but not melted). Soft butter blends easier with sugar at room temperature because it traps more air making cookies soft and chewy.
Why it matters: Melted butter makes cookies thin and greasy whereas hard butter gives rise to uneven dough and dense cookies since it does not mix well.
- Overmixing the Dough
Its tempting to continue mixing the dough until it feels really smooth but over-mixing the dough won’t help. Over-mixing the dough will develop too much gluten which makes cookies hard and dense instead of soft and chewy.
Tip: You can mix the dry and wet ingredients really well and stop when you no longer see any dry flour.
Why it matters: Over-mixing the dough will take away the soft texture of the cookies that makes them hard to resist.
- Ignoring Oven Temperature and Baking Time
Cookies can turn out to be a disaster in the oven even if the dough is perfect. Many home bakers either skip preheating their ovens or only rely on the dial which can be misleading. Over-baking, or baking at the wrong temperature, causes the edges to burn while the centers remain under-cooked.
Tip: Remember to preheat your oven as well as get an oven thermometer to be precise. Use the baking time from the recipe as a guide; however, start checking your cookies some minutes earlier as they still bake for a little while after being removed from the oven.
Why it matters: Accurate temperature and time will give you the perfect cookies that are soft and tender inside and have a golden-brown edge.
- Skipping Chill Time for the Dough
Some cookie recipes require chilling the dough before baking. Skipping chill time makes the cookies become very thin and lose their shape. Chilling also aids in flavor development because it allows butter and sugar time to mix properly with other ingredients.
Tip: Put your dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking. If the recipe requires the dough to be chilled overnight, plan ahead, it’s worth the wait.
Why it matters: Chilled dough ensures cookies hold their shape, have a balanced texture, and full flavor.
*** Check out our blog on The Role of Chill Time in Cookie Dough ***
Bonus Tip: Experiment, But Don’t Ignore the Basics
You can experiment with the flavors by combining chocolate chunks and nuts, or sprinkling a bit of coconut sugar, but the basics are important. Properly measuring ingredients, choosing the right butter, not overmixing the cookie dough, checking the oven temperature, and refrigerating your dough are all sure ways to turn your cookies from “meh” to mouth-watering.
Conclusion: Perfect Cookies, Every Time with The Cookie Bar
Baking cookies at home is such a delightful activity when you avoid these common mistakes. However, if you really want to have a stress-free experience, The Cookie Bar is your solution. Our cookies, freshly baked with high-quality ingredients ensure the same taste and texture every time you take a bite. We make it easy for you to enjoy bakery-quality cookies at home with a variety of flavors to choose from.
Don’t let your next batch of cookies be a complete disaster. Order your favorite cookies from The Cookie Bar and experience the perfect cookie without any stress!
