Nothing is worse than taking the time to make homemade cookies, only to be let down upon taking the first bite. Dry, crumbly cookies can put a damper on your whole day. Here at Chocolate Shipped Cookies, we pride ourselves on delivering fresh, soft, delicious cookies right to your door. But, for the times when you just can’t wait for delivery, here are some expert tips to make sure dry cookies are a thing of the past for you.
Ben Rayl
Ben Rayl, Chef and Food Blogger of Comfortable Food.
Retain Moisture
The key to soft and chewy cookies is to retain moisture inside the dough. This is why it is crucially important to never overcook your cookies. You can shave a few minutes off their time in the oven and let residual heat do the rest of the work.
You can also [change] your ingredients a little bit to introduce more moisture. Techniques may include mixing cornstarch into the dough, adding an extra egg yolk, or using brown sugar or even molasses instead of white sugar.
An Extra Egg Yolk
The best way to make cookies extra soft and chewy is by adding an extra egg yolk. The extra egg yolk acts as a binding ingredient that will not only make cookies chewy but it will also make the cookies more soft and tender at the same time.
Jessica Randhawa
Jessica Randhawa, Head Chef, and Owner of The Forked Spoon.
Jessica Clark
Jessica Clark is the founder and gluten-free eating expert at glutenfreesupper
A Few Simple Tips
Cookies that are soft and chewy can be made by following a few simple tips:
- Use butter, margarine, or shortening instead of vegetable oil.
- Soften the butter or margarine before mixing the ingredients.
- Don’t over-mix the dough, or the cookies will be tough.
- Bake the cookies on a silicone baking mat or parchment paper for best results.
- Make sure that the oven is preheated to 350 degrees F before putting in the cookies.
Brown Sugar and Pure Vanilla Extract
I always use more of, or replace all granulated white sugar with brown sugar, in recipes I want soft and chewy. I use light brown sugar which provides a softer, chewier texture with a richer flavor as a bonus.
I [also] always use pure vanilla extract in my cookie recipes. It adds a depth of flavor and I think also helps with a softer texture.
Betsy Brook
Betsy Brook from Little Beauties Home.
Christina Russo
Christina Russo is the Creative Director of the Kitchen Community
Baking Time
There’s a simple and effective way to ensure that your cookies are always ooeey, gooey, and chewy, and it’s all to do with how you bake them. It isn’t about heat or ingredients; it’s all about the time it takes to bake them.
However long the recipe you’re using tells you to bake them for, reduce it by five minutes. It might not seem like much, but those 300 seconds are the best way to guarantee that your cookies will be soft and chewy every single time.
Almond Butter
I’m a low-carb baker, so making soft and chewy cookies without white flour and real sugar is quite a challenge! But, my secret weapon is almond butter. [Almond butter] acts as the base for the cookie dough and gives it just the right amount of chew.
I add some spices, sugar-free sweetener, and coconut flour and bake them up. The cookies are soft, chewy, and quite addictive.
Emily Krill
Emily Krill is the food blogger behind Resolution Eats.
Markus Albert
Markus Albert, Managing Director at Eat First
Three Tips To Make Soft And Chewy Cookies
Tip 1:
The first step in making soft and chewy cookies is to use the right ingredients. Make sure that you are using all-purpose flour instead of cake or bread flour. Cake and bread flours have a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour, which will make your cookies tough and chewy.
Tip 2:
Cream the butter and sugar together until they are light and fluffy. This will help give your cookies a nice texture.
Tip 3:
The dough for your cookies should be soft but not too sticky. If it is too sticky, add a little more flour until it reaches the desired consistency. Place the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes so that it will be easier to work with.
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