Baking is a precise science. If you want to ensure a successful baked goods season, consider these tips from “The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook” (The Countryman Press, $29.95):
Before you start to bake, read the complete recipe instructions and gather all the ingredients and equipment you will need to prepare the recipe.
Make sure your baking powder and baking soda are current and that use-by dates have not expired.
Measure ingredients correctly. Use clear glass or plastic cups to measure liquid ingredients and use stacked cups to measure dry ingredients.
Measure the flour carefully and as directed in the recipe. Spoon it lightly into the appropriate-size dry measuring cup and level the top off with the flat edge of a spatula or knife.
Check your oven’s temperature with an oven thermometer and adjust accordingly.
To avoid overbaking, check cookies a few minutes before their minimum baking time. Bake cookies on your oven’s center rack for even browning.
Do not run hot baking sheets under cold water. Abrupt temperature changes may cause them to warp.
Never put cookie dough on a hot baking sheet or the cookies will spread out too much.
Award-winning baker Nick Malgieri, in his new book, “A Bakers Tour” (HarperCollins, $34.95), offers more tips to ensure perfect cookies.
Some cookie recipes involve baking more than one sheet or pan of cookies at a time. This can lead to uneven baking, since the cookie sheets must be placed in different locations in the oven.
Remember to do the following about halfway through the baking time. Change the position of the pans from the upper to lower rack and vice versa. Rotate the pans back to front for more even baking.
Also, if you notice that cookies frequently burn on the bottom when baking in the lower third of the oven, stack two sheets together to insulate the cookies from the excess heat. That should prevent the bottoms from burning. The double-pan arrangement should always be on the bottom rack of the oven, so remember to leave the extra pan there when you switch the two regular pans.
Watch the cookies for signs of doneness and use a fingertip when appropriate to determine when the cookie dough has become firm and baked through. Cookies suffer even more than other baked goods from slavish adherence to a schedule, so use your fingers, eyes, nose and common sense to determine doneness.
Be careful to cool cookies completely before packing them in tins or other containers. And don’t skip placing paper between the layers of cookies; it will prevent them from sticking together should they soften.
If cookies that are meant to be crisp become soft while you are storing them, you can crisp them again by spreading them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet and baking them at 300 degrees for seven or eight minutes. Cool the cookies on the pans on racks. Once cool, they will have regained their snap.
These baking tips are from “Christmas Cookies From the Whimsical Bakehouse,” by Kaye and Liv Hansen (Clarkson Potter, $16.95):
Unless otherwise noted, it is important to have your ingredients, especially your butter and eggs, at room temperature. This will facilitate the creaming and mixing of the dough.
Adding too much flour in the hope of firming up a sticky batch of dough will only make it tough. Instead, try chilling the dough.
Most cookie doughs can be prepared well ahead of their baking time. Simply wrap the dough in plastic wrap and either refrigerate or freeze it until you are ready to cut or roll it out. If sealed well, cookie dough can last up to one month in your freezer.
Most cookies have a long shelf life – up to two weeks. Some cookies can be frozen after baking and, if sealed well, can last up to two months. So don’t be afraid to start your holiday baking early.
When making oversize rolled-out cookies, we recommend rolling out the dough, chilling it and then cutting out your cookies. Your cookies will have neater edges.
A good rule of thumb when baking for a crowd is 1 pound of cookies for every eight to 10 people. One pound, depending on the weight of each cookie, is 25-35 cookies.
