I am sure most of you have tried baking cookies, cakes and other delicious desserts or snacks. However, more than half of you are doing it wrongly! Most recipes do not mention the correct steps explicitly or you may not know that those steps are indeed necessary to churn out the perfect goodies.
How many of these mistakes have you made?
1) Not understanding the procedure of mixing
Many people think that combining all the dry ingredients together is sufficient. However, they fail to realise that mixing butter and sugar is one of the most important steps. This is called creaming when the end result is lighter in colour and also much fluffier when beaten thoroughly. It takes about 5 minutes with a electric beater or 15 minutes by hand and the result can vary drastically!
2) Not leaving the baking goods out in room temperature
Butter is the main ingredient that many did not or forget to leave it out to thaw. When baking a cookie, a not-so-cold butter will react with sugar to form pockets of air, allowing for a fluffy cookie. A cold butter will not be able to form these pockets easily as they take some time to break down and give off air. It's also true for eggs!
3) Under/over beating your batter
Under beating your batter will result in non-homogeneous mixing of your ingredients. Some parts might taste differently from others. Over beating is only going to make your dough too flat, as the pockets of air are lost during the beating. Don't forget to scrap the sides and bottom of the bowl and approximately 5 minutes of beating is generally enough!
4) Not adding salt
Salt will magically enhance the sweetness of your cookie and bring out the flavours that you are trying to create. 0.5 to 1 teaspoon is the norm and you must remember to add them in. Why settle for a mediocre snack after all this hard work?
5) Over baking your cookies
This is especially true if you wanted chewy cookies and with your best intentions, they turned out to be crispy and crunchy, not the way you prefer. Do remember that cookies continue to cook even after you take them out of the oven. They should be slightly soft at the middle when you remove them.
Cookies are great as a family activity and having a delicious snack as the end result is all the more worth while! Don't forget to add some nuts and raisins for extra texture :)
