Using Spices To Create Flavorful Meals

Secrets To Sugar Cookie Perfection

13 July 2017

Martha Mitchell

Everyone has their own favorite type of sugar cookie. Whether it's soft, chewy, or crispy, there are ways to ensure you get nearly foolproof results. As you browse sugar cookie recipes, you'll notice that each one is a little different. Knowing how to choose the right recipe from the start will help you to get the exact cookie you crave.

Chewy, Soft Cookies

Chewy sugar cookies are the cookie of choice for many people. If they're your favorite type, you can tweak most recipes to achieve the chewy deliciousness you want. The key to a chewy cookie is a lower protein content and slightly higher moisture. One trick to get a lower protein content is to simply switch the type of flour you're using. If you're using all-purpose flour, switch to cake flour. Cake flour naturally has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour.

You may also want to reduce the baking time in the recipe. Sugar cookies continue to bake on their cookie sheet for a few minutes after you remove them from the oven. To get the chewy perfection you're looking for, make sure your cookies are slightly gold around the edges and then remove them from the oven.  Freezing your dough before baking is another way to ensure your sugar cookies remain chewy.

Recipes that feature brown sugar and butter will tend to yield a chewy cookie.

Crispy Cookies

Crispy sugar cookies are well loved because they store well in long term situations and are great when dunked in milk. They also spread less while baking, which makes them an excellent cookie to frost.

To achieve crispier sugar cookies, you want to cut down on moisture in the recipe. This means steering away from recipes that call for a lot of brown sugar. The molasses in the sugar leads to softer, chewier cookies. Instead, look for recipes that utilize a higher portion of white sugar. Selecting a recipe that uses egg whites as well as the yolks, can lead to crispier cookies because the cookie will take on a denser texture if the whites are beaten for a longer period of time.

Cake-Like Cookies

Cake style sugar cookies are gloriously fluffy and are a joy to eat. They take well to sugar style decorations. To achieve cake-like cookies you want to select recipes with higher portions of wet ingredients.

Not only do you want your recipe to have a higher portion of wet ingredients, but you also want to cream your wet ingredients along with your sugar. Not just a little whipping, you want to full on whip these ingredients into oblivion. They should look like slightly wet frosting when you cream them together.

Another ingredient to keep your eyes out for is sour cream. If the recipe features sour cream, it's almost guaranteed to be a cake style sugar cookie recipe.  

Click here for more info.

Share

Search