From chocolate chip to oatmeal raisin, no dessert satisfies quite the way that cookies do. They're easy to make, serve a crowd, and there are so many iterations to choose from. Using high-quality ingredients and a reliable recipe are two ways to ensure a delicious cookie—but there's something else you should do to take the dessert to the next level: refrigerate the dough.
Flour contains naturally-occurring enzymes, which break down as the dough chills, leading to increased browning. The sugar in the dough absorbs the moisture from the flour, causing the cookie to brown and caramelize. Refrigerating the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps to make the cookie dough firmer.
Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies. "The colder and more solid the fat is, the less the cookie will spread," says food stylist and recipe developer Caitlin Haught Brown.
More Flavor
Chilling the dough also improves the way your cookies taste. "In terms of flavor, you'll notice more depth of flavor from the vanilla and the sugar will taste sweeter," says Haught Brown. "In terms of texture, chilled cookie dough produces a more evenly golden-brown cookie with a crisper edge and chewier center."
How Long to Refrigerate Cookie Dough
As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product. Once the dough has chilled, let it warm up at room temperature until it's just pliable (about 5 to 10 minutes). Don't let it get too warm or you'll defeat the purpose of chilling the dough all together.
How to Refrigerate Cookie Dough
To make forming the chilled cookie dough more manageable, pre-portion it by scooping balls of dough into individual cookies, placing them on a sheet pan or in a resealable bag, chilling, and then baking right away.
When Not to Refrigerate Cookie Dough
There are some cases where you should avoid chilling cookie dough. For example, the dough for Alexis's Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies shouldn't be refrigerated, since the goal of this recipe is to create super thin, crispy cookies that spread significantly when baking. Refrigerating the dough would prevent these cookies from spreading the way they're intended to.
"A tuile cookie, where the appeal is based in the thinness or lacy qualities, is another example when you should bake the cookie dough immediately," says baker and food stylist Jason Schreiber. Additionally, if you're making a super soft peanut butter cookie or a cakey snickerdoodle, you may not want to refrigerate the dough before baking.
Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.
Chilling cookie dough before baking solidifies the fat in the cookies. As the cookies bake, the fat in the chilled cookie dough takes longer to melt than room-temperature fat. And the longer the fat remains solid, the less cookies spread.
The longer you chill the dough, the more flavor will develop. The flour will also absorb more of the moisture so the thicker and chewier the final texture will be.
The fridge constantly circulates cool air to keep things cold, but this will also result in drying out your dough. (There are some recipes that call for chilled dough and typically the recipe will have been created to account for this.)
Is it true that your cookie dough can be left out at room temperature for up to 21 days? Yes. Our cookie dough has been tested and approved for a rating of shelf stability by Eurofins, the world's largest and most respected food and pharmaceutical testing company.
The cookie baked from room temperature, being thinner, has a more uniform texture, while the one baked straight from the fridge. is thick enough to accommodate a softer interior. and crispier exterior. No contest. Generally speaking, you should chill your cookie dough before baking it.
Shaping bread loaves after first-rise refrigeration
After a cold bulk fermentation, allow your dough to regain some warmth on the counter for 40 to 60 minutes and become slightly puffy before shaping it. You can help the process along by stretching and folding the dough.
Refrigerating the dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps to make the cookie dough firmer. Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies.
If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, there are a few things you can do to fix it. First, try adding more liquid (milk, water, or even just a little bit of oil) until the dough is wetter and more pliable.
You'll want to fill it to heaping and then sweep the excess off the top with the flat edge of a butter knife. Be careful not to overmix here — you want the dough to stay light and fluffy, and overmixing can result in a tough cookie. Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until firm.
Even a short shift in the fridge will do, however, long periods of chilling time (such as 3 to 5 days) allows the cookie dough to dry out, Hill adds. This is actually a good thing; it leads to even more concentrated flavor.
Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly. The lack of moisture makes the cookies hard and dry, which makes them difficult to enjoy.
Cookie dough can be sticky for various reasons, such as using too much liquid, not adding enough flour, or not chilling the dough enough. It can also be affected by humidity and temperature.
Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.
The colder your dough is before it heads into the oven, the less it will spread during baking, which makes for loftier cookies. The chilling phase also gives the flour in your dough time to hydrate, just like pie dough, which translates into a cookie that's more chewy than cakey.
First things first, mold. If you spot any fuzzy stuff surfacing, then it's a no-go; chuck your bad cookie dough away to whip up a fresh batch. Even if it looks mold-free, eyeball the color. Sometimes, the bad dough will start changing its hues, especially around the edges, due to chemical reactions from oxidation.
According to the USDA, homemade cookie dough lasts two to four days in the refrigerator and should be stored in small containers. Frozen cookie dough, however, can last up to two months. There are two ways to freeze cookie dough: shaped into ready-to-bake individual cookies or as a whole undivided batch.
Solidifies the fat in the dough, allowing the liquid to dissolve the sugar and flavorings and the flour to absorb them. This improves the flavor of the cookies. Makes the cookie dough less sticky and easier to handle.
Having a very large wooden cutting board, or a countertop made of butcher block, is the key to keeping your dough from sticking. Flour sticks very naturally and very nicely to wooden surfaces, and you'll only need to sprinkle it once or twice with flour throughout the entire day.
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Introduction: My name is Duncan Muller, I am a enchanting, good, gentle, modern, tasty, nice, elegant person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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