How to bake the perfect cookie.
- Julie R. Neidlinger
- Jun 8
- 4 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
You're here because you want to know how to bake the perfect cookie. Don't we all.
To be fair, most cookie recipes will get the job done.
Rarely have I come across a recipe that's a complete dog, though in the internet age where so many food blogs have exploded and each person is trying to come up with their own recipes, either by changing someone else's recipe in a few small ways or actually creating their own from scratch, the probability of getting a dog is likely higher.
When cooking, I'm a FAFO cook, but with baking, I like to stick to the recipe as much as possible. It should deliver the correct results, and if it doesn't (such as many famous restaurant cookbooks' recipes, which tend not to give you their secret recipe for no surprising reason, but tweak it a bit so your results aren't what you expect), that's a dog.
A dog of a recipe is one that, even when accurately following it, the end results are not what's promised.
However, there are things you can do to a perfectly functioning recipe that's not delivering as you'd like that can help you get to your perfect cookie instead of writing an angry social media post about a bad recipe.
How To Bake The Perfect Cookie
I can't perfectly answer this because it all depends on what you think a perfect cookie is. Crunchy? Chewy? Hockey puck? To each his own. But as long as you know what you want to end up with, here are some considerations to help you get there.
Farm eggs are smaller, usually.
Now that we're in full farm egg mode culturally, it's wise to understand something that comes with store-bought eggs: uniformity.
Store eggs come in different grades:
Grade AA: Highest quality inside and out, with firm whites, round yolks, and clean and unbroken shells. These are the best for frying and poaching.
Grade A: Still pretty good quality, but the whites aren't as firm as AA. These are perfect for baking.
Grade B: Less great. Watery whites, flatter yolks, imperfect shells. You won't see these in the store much since they're used in commercial food production.
Eggs also come in different sizes, and this is the main point I want to get to:
Jumbo (30 oz/dozen)
Extra-large (27 oz/dozen)
Large (24 oz/dozen, i.e. about 2 oz each)
Medium (21 oz/dozen)
Small (18 oz/dozen)
Peewee (Not Herman, but 15 oz/dozen)
What most people get are Grade A Large. What you get with farm eggs, particularly in size, is all over the place.
So. When your recipe calls for three eggs and the assumption (unless otherwise noted in the recipe) is Grade A Large, and you use non-uniform eggs of different sizes...your cookies will reflect it in texture.
If you have a kitchen scale, you can weigh your eggs to figure out what comes out to the equivalent of the large egg (2 oz. each). If you don't, you're going to have to use the TLAR method of "that looks about right" and you may have to use four farm eggs instead of three grade A large eggs.
Going light on the eggs will create a drier, cakier cookie, which is fine if that's what you want. But if you're going for a chewy cookie, it's a real bummer. It's also worth noting that even if you're using uniform store eggs, you can tweak your cookie recipe and add an extra egg yolk to make your cookies chewier.* Doing this in a cake makes it more tender and soft, but in a cookie, makes it more chewy. Understandably, if you're using eggs with small yolks, you're missing out on this.
And speaking of chewier...
Don't overbake your cookies.
It's not just the eggs that have an impact on chewiness, and if that's part of your goal with your version of a perfect cookie, you can experiment with other things. Chewy cookies come from:
More brown sugar than white.
Using melted butter for a denser texture.
Add a little cornstarch.
Try bread flour instead of all-purpose flour.
Chill the dough before baking it so they don't spread as fast.
Don't overbake.
Let us pause and contemplate that last one, the instruction to not overbake.
DO NOT OVERBAKE.
When a recipe gives you a range of time, start with the lowest and learn which is right for your oven. If your cookies look perfectly done on the pan in the oven, you overbaked them. They should look a bit doughy and undone in the center, with the lightest of golden brown edges.
That's when you take them out, and let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes. They will still bake on the sheet a bit since it's hot, the gooey center will collapse into the middle, and cookie Valhalla is near. Things you pull out of a hot oven are still retaining heat and baking, so you don't leave them in until they're done. They'll overbake on their own after the fact.
As I think of more tips, sometimes through wise, calm expertise and other times through frantic calls to the fire department when my own baking has gone horribly wrong, I'll share them here.
*I think we can all agree that the word "moist" is just gross.
