5 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Baking Cookies
1. Underbeating the butter and sugar. This leaves the butter ‘undercreamed.’ The butter mixture should be a pale yellow in color when beaten, soft and fluffy. This takes roughly three minutes; this helps form tiny air bubbles so that during baking, the bubbles expand and help the cookies rise.
2. Overbeating the butter and sugar. If beaten too much the butter and sugar mixture will be flat, and loose it’s fluffy texture. Stop once the butter is pale yellow and fluffy, otherwise the butter starts to break down and release all those air bubbles you’ve just created. During baking, the cookies will remain flat and dense.
3. Placing the cookies too close together on the baking sheet. Give the cookies enough space to spread. If there’s not enough room, bake the cookies in batches. You don’t want them to end up sticking together and having to cut them apart. This will leave you with harsh edges than won’t be flattering.
4. Overmixing the cookie batter. Overmixing activates the gluten in the flour, yielding chewy and tough cookies. Beat in the flour on low speed just until combined well.
5. Overbaking the cookies. Check the cookies at the minimum baking time and remove them when they’re lightly golden on the top and bottom, and firm around the edges. Even a few extra minutes can lead to cookies that are too dark and very hard once they’ve cooled. I prefer to take my cookies out a minute early and let them cook the last few minutes outside of the oven from their natural heat.