In Episode 15  of Food Matters well-renowned Chef, TV Cook, and Food Media Broadcaster Aisling Larkin chats about baking the best cookies.

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How to Bake the Best Cookies:

Culinary Technicality

Measure ingredients

Cups vs. weighing scales

Cup and scrape

Weigh correctly. Weigh everything first

Order of ingredients is essential

Ingredient Selection

Recipe for Rolo Cookies (Makes 12)

• 220g flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 120g butter + 35g margarine
• 135g granulated sugar
• 150g brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 medium eggs
• 150g dark chocolate ( 70% )
• 1 packet rolos
• Flaky sea salt

Method

• Preparation is key. Weigh and measure ingredients. Have the eggs and butter at room temperature. Chop the chocolate into chunks. Fit the mixer with the paddle attachment. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180℃
• Sieve the flour and baking soda into a separate bowl with the salt.
• Cream the butter. Do this for longer than you think. Cream the butter until it is light and fluffy, add in the sugar and beat for at least 3/4 minutes. Add in the vanilla.
• Add in the eggs until combined. Do not overmix here.
• Gradually spoon in the flour and baking soda and mix on a low speed. Mix in the chocolate.
• Weigh out into 60g cookie portions. Lay out on parchment paper.
• Chill the dough for at least 60 minutes. Ideally, 4 hours and 12 hours is great.
• Bake for 12-15 mintues.
• Allow to cool slightly. Using a large scone cutter swirl the baked cookie to great a circular shape.

Ingredients:

• Butter
• Salted
• Flavour
• Butter -  melts & spreads
• Margarine  -  crisp, aeration.
• Creaming  -  aerating, lightness

Sugar:

Caster, granulated, soft brown

Sugar brings sweetness and crispness.

Brown sugar  -  molasses, caramel, deeper flavour.

It also absorbs more moisture into the cookie and softens them -  if you prefer a more crisp cookie use more white sugar. Brown sugar adds a more golden colour.

Eggs:

2 eggs, room temperature

adds protein to set the cookie, which prevents it from spreading too much.

Eggs also act as a leavener when they are whipped up with air, but in cookies, we’re not whipping them enough to really get that benefit.

If your cookies end up with a shiny “crust” on the top, it’s because you whipped the batter too much after adding the eggs and they developed a layer of meringue on the top. You may want this effect, but not typical in a chocolate chip cookie

Flour:

00 flour, strong flour & plain flour

More protein -  more chewy & less spread. Puffier, Chewier result.

Plain flour, more of a spread … thinner crust, crispier

Raising Agent:

Baking soda – causes the cookies to puff up and then collapse to get the crunchy edge and soft interior. As a rising agent, baking soda needs an acid to react, but there is enough acid in the brown sugar (from the acidic molasses in the sugar). This much baking soda also helps produce a darker colour on your cookie, so it isn’t dull looking in the short baking time. ALWAYS SIFT BAKING SODA, because it tends to clump and there is nothing worse than getting a mouthful of baking soda in a cookie

Salt:

1/2 tsp salt

The salt is a contrast to the sweet and enhances all the flavours. If you don’t have enough it will taste flat and lack that caramel flavour.

Flaky Sea Salt – Flavor and pretty. The contrast of salt and sweet is addictive.

Chocolate Chips:

200g chocolate chips  -  70% dark chocolate  -  1/4 inch wide. I save some larger chunks of chocolate for sticking into the dough after I have scooped them, so they melt on top of the cookie and look dramatic.

Chocolate chip

Go for good quality dark chocolate too – the more cocoa there is in it, the more cocoa butter, which helps the chip to melt into the cookie, rather than remaining obstinately and grittily separate. And the uneven chunks created by chopping your own chocolate gives a better result than even little chocolate chips.

Vanilla:

Top tip -  always add your vanilla to your fat (butter) to get a more intense flavour and to help carry the flavour throughout the cookies.

Extract

Essence

Bean paste

Chilling:

Chill for 12, 24, 36 and 48 hours, and the increased firmness of the older cookies is very noticeable, as is the more complex, almost caramelly flavour.

Crisp on the outside and a little doughy on the inside.

Shape:

Embrace the super-sized cookie – trying to make them small and biscuit-sized just doesn't work.

Great hack -  straight out of the oven….. swirl them in a scone cutter to create a neat round shape

For Crisper Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Use more white sugar, less brown sugar – if you use all white sugar, you will need to switch to baking powder, since it will rise without the acid of the brown sugar.
• Use less eggs (you may need to add a tablespoon of water if the dough is too dry) or replace one yolk with an extra egg white, which will dry out the baked cookie a bit.
• Use less flour, so there is a higher ratio of fat and sugar, which makes the cookies spread and crisp
• Bake at a lower temperature for longer

For Softer Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Use more egg yolk (which contains the fat in the egg. Egg whites dry out the cookie)
• Use more brown sugar, which is hygroscopic, which just means it absorbs moisture, so it will soften the cookies as they sit in the cookie jar.
• Use more flour, so the ratio of flour to sugar and fat is higher

To Prevent Chocolate Chip Cookies from Spreading (or do the opposite if you want them to spread more.)

• Use more flour or one with higher protein (some recipes call for a combination of bread flour (super high protein) and cake flour (super low protein), but I find that basically equals all-purpose flour.
• Add more egg, which adds protein, that sets the cookie in place
• Add a touch of acid to the dough, which activates the proteins in the flour and eggs. Acid is found in: brown sugar, cocoa powder, cream of tartar, lemon, vinegar, just to name a few) – keep in mind that acids prevent browning, so go easy if you are looking for a caramel color on the cookie
• Use more shortening and less butter, since shortening holds its shape at higher temperatures, so it won’t spread so fast
• Bake at a higher temperature, since the high heat sets the proteins faster, so the cookie won’t spread.
• Refrigerate the dough balls before baking for up to 36 hours. This allows the liquids to marry the dry ingredients and become a more uniform dough, which won’t spread as wildly when baked. It also allows the fat to solidify, which slows it’s spreading when it hits the oven.