Ever wonder how bakeries get such round cookies? I know they use molds but they can be costly when you have to buy so many. Here is a useful tip that I do when baking cookies.
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While making my cookies for my family cookie exchange, I decided to put these together for my daughter, who is pregnant with twins! I happened to have regular and small cookie cutters of gingerbread figures and just wanted to give anyone with children or pregnant the idea that they can do so as well!
Everyone likes to bake cookies, children as well as experienced bakers. Recipes will most often guide you through whatever cookie you're making, however these tips might add to a cookie baker's success with every different kind of cookie.
When a particular baking item, such as chocolate chips, is on sale, I buy it and make a large batch of cookies. We enjoy half right away, and I freeze the other half for when friends drop by or we just feel like a home baked treat!
I never know when the urge to bake cookies will hit me these days, so I leave the box with the sticks of margarine out of the fridge on the counter so it is soft when I'm ready to use it.
Baking time short? Find 1 or 2 friends to swap cookies with you. Do a double or triple batch of your fav and she does the same, and you swap.
When making homemade cookies always add 1/2 cup dry oatmeal. Your cookies will not spread all over the pan and they will be delicious! By carol
While one batch of cookies is baking, I prepare the next batch on parchment paper or foil. As soon as a batch is removed from a cookie sheet, the next batch, on the paper, is slid onto the sheet and goes right in the oven. Speeds up things a lot!
I bake all of my cookies on a stoneware pizza pan. Any stoneware oven piece is perfectly good. I spread a very thin layer of oil on. Just enough to coat it but not enough to fry the cookies.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
Every Christmas I like to bake an assortment of cookies for friends, but it is such a struggle. I live in Hawaii and am convinced the humidity is ruining my cookie baking but I don't know how to counteract the effects. Cookies are either burned, not baked enough, soft, too hard .... something! Can anyone give me a general idea of what I am up against? I see corrections in recipes for high altitudes but nothing for high humidity.
I grew up in New Orleans, and I have two thoughts:
1: Borrow an oven thermometer and make sure your oven is the temperature you think it is. It may not be the humidity.
Sometimes it can be your cookie sheets if they are coated with the older "black" teflon popular several years ago. They required that you turn your oven down 5 degrees lower. Also, if you use glass bakeware for anything, you may need to lower the temperature 5 degrees. I also agree that it may be that your oven is off in its temperature--you may be needing a new thermostat. Check it with an oven thermometer.
Definitely is the humidity... i live in Singapore and cookies are fine when I cook in an air conditioned kitchen (a rarity), but I've just moved to a place without air conditioning in the kitchen and my cookies don't rise any more at all.
would love to find a solution.
Lessen the Recipe's Liquid.
Store Flour and Sugar in the Refrigerator or Freezer.
Increase Baking Time (but not the baking temperature.)
Run a Fan or the A/C.
Store Baked Goods in an Airtight Container, Or in the Fridge.
Does any one line their cookie sheets with parchment paper before baking?
By waitress
I use parchment paper for several reasons. First, don't have to wash the cookie sheet. Second, can have the next batch ready to bake. Third, I pull off the entire sheet with cookies still on it onto the cooling rack.
Always!
I have used parchment paper for baking cookies, cooling fudge etc for years. The cookies seem to bake better and more evenly. You can use the same sheets of paper for several batches and you never have to wash cookie sheets again.
Yes, sure helps with clean up. Love it. And also I use heavy duty foil and wipe it off between each pan full. GG Vi
I use parchment paper under almost everything. When I broil anything, parchment paper in the bottom of the broiler pan makes clean-up effortless. Most times you don't even have to wash the pan. (Just a wipe will do).
How would I calculate the cost of baking cookies?
By donna from Orlando, FL
You have to know how many cups are in the bags of flour, sugar, etc. that you use. Then you need to know the cost of those bags, then take the number of dozens of cookies the recipe makes into the total cost of the ingredients. I did that many years ago, when I was married, to compare the cost of homemade cookies, with the cost of bakery cookies. There might be an easier way to do it, but this is the only way I could figure out. I only used the cost of the larger ingredients. Seasonings, etc, you don't use that much of in a recipe.
Doing the math on ingredients is the simple part. Donna said "baking" cookies so I'm thinking she might mean the actual cost of the baking process in her oven. I would be interested in knowing that as well. Is it worth trying to figure that into the cost? If one were baking all day long, I imagine it would be worth adding into the cost of the cookie ingredients, especially if you're trying to recoup and make a profit at a bake sale or other enterprise.
1st you need to calculate the cost of raw product by ounce. There are good sources online for measurements such as how many ounces in a pound ect. Keep your list! You must also use an accurate scoop to measure cookie dough, as in 1 ounce scoop per cookie, how many cookie's per baking pan. So make a small normal batch see what your yield is. So when you know what 1 batch will yield, you take the total cost of raw product divided by the number of cookies you made, that yields the cost of 1 cookie. For the spices that go into the dough you can estimate that cost, probably .35 cents per batch, if you are using more expensive spice up that cost a bit. If you are wanting to resale these cookie's take the cost of the individual cookie and divide this by .45% the total will give you a resale amount that allows for a modest profit. hope this helps.
Widetrack, Livingston, TX
Finding the cost of ingredients in a baked goods recipe is always a challenge, because your results can be wildly inaccurate if you are simply counting the cups of a given ingredient used in the recipe.
The reason is that there are several conversions that need to occur during the ingredient factoring process so that an accurate ingredient cost assessment to be made, and those important conversions are bypassed when the baker is only counting units of measure.
A better method to determine the cost of ingredients in a baked goods recipe is often to: a) determine the weight of each ingredient, then; b) find the weight and cost of the ingredient when purchased, then; c) factor the in-recipe ingredient cost based on those figures.
A recipe-cost calculator - especially one specifically designed for baked goods - is one way to make the challenge of pricing a baked goods recipe much easier.
A well-designed calculator will be programmed to automatically perform the complex math involved with obtaining a true and accurate cost of each ingredient in the recipe, and will accomplish the task quickly, with a minimum of input.
One example of an online recipe-cost calculator for baked goods can be found in the reference links below.
Reference:
www.pricingbakedgoods.com
Tips and recipes for freezing cookies and cookie dough. Post your ideas.
We recently found out how well Brownies Freeze.
We always wasted some & finally decided to stick half of them in a freezer bag.It worked Great!
The second half of the batch actually seemed to last longer than the first half did when we defrosted them.
To have fresh baked cookies instantly, freeze cookie "balls" on sheets, then bag them and write directions on bag for baking so that family members will also be able to bake "fresh cookies" Yum
By Sonya
When making cookies for the holiday I make double batches of the dough, roll into a log shape, wrap in plastic then in foil, put in freezer. When you have unexpectedly forgot a gift you just needs to slice and bake.
By Beachers from West Covina, CA
What is the best way to care for Rycraft ceramic cookie stamps?
By Nancy F.
They are pretty sturdy and low maintenance. Just never put them away wet...they need to be dry before being put away.
Ideally they should be stored where they get good air circulation...but that isn't always possible.
Never store them in plastic containers if you can help it...as sometimes if there is the least bit of moisture in the container it can cause damage to the ceramic.
They have a neat website with lots of info about their history. There is a contact info if you want to chat with them to verify you are taking the best care of your investment www.rycraft.com/
Happy baking!! Enjoy them!! They were meant to be used!
Why do my chocolate chip cookies turn two tone?
By Robbyn from Davenport
It's a matter of them having at one point gotten too warm, the chocolate fats have risen to the top and are visible now. There is no quality issue but if you've had them for a long time, you'll notice they don't taste as yummy.
What do you mean by two tone? Do you mean the bottoms being darker than the top or do you mean the melted chocolate within the cookie spreading into the dough?
What is the best way to care for Rycraft ceramic cookie stamps?
By Nancy Fallert from Leavenworth, WA
Well, you might check the Rycraft Cookie Stamps website for help or to their customer service to ask your question.
I don't have this type of cookie stamp but I have other ceramic baking tools and keep them by washing between uses and keeping them separated in cloth (to avoid chipping) and in a box in the kitchen.
I have a problem with my oven baking cookies, biscuits, etc. too quickly on the bottom and they often burn. I've tried different remedies to correct this, but they don't work. Does anyone have a solution? Thanks.
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When baking cookies that tend to stick to the pan, use parchment paper made for baking. That way you don't have to use a chisel or throw away your pan, or worse yet; have to soak the pan for a week!
I am going to make cookies to give as birthday gifts. I don't know how to figure the cost into my overall budget.
If you have a lot of holiday baking to do, use parchment paper on your baking sheets.
When you are baking cookies, try to bake only 1/2 a batch and freeze the rest for later.
