What makes a good cookie great?

Story by Jennifer Fisk
Photography by Roth and Ramberg

Cookie aficionados know—truly spectacular cookies are baked with skill.

You know what I’m talking about—those cookies that simply have to be eaten by the handful. The edges are buttery crispy, the centres are heavenly soft and the flavour just melts in your mouth.

Making the “truly greats” is not as hard as you think. Here are some tips I’ve collected from years of practice, friends who’ve been kind enough to share their secrets and great books like One Smart Cookie by Calgary author and fellow cookie fiend, Juile Van Rosendaal.

6 Cookie Crumbs to Keep

1. Butter makes cookies better. Butter gives flavour and ensures good texture.Many margarines contain more water than oil and when used in cookie recipes, often yield disappointing results.

2. Want a cookie that stays soft? Add one extra egg yolk to most drop cookie recipes to help keep your cookies soft. The yolk adds only 5 grams of fat per recipe and naturally contains lecithin; an ingredient that adds moisture and helps the body rid itself of cholesterol and other bad fats.

3. Don’t over mix. When adding dry ingredients to butter and sugar, fold the ingredients together gently and mix only until the flour mixture is just combined. When you over mix, you end up with tough, hard to swallow cookies.

4. Choose your cookie sheet wisely. Use a shiny, light coloured cookie sheet if you want pale coloured cookies; for very brown ones, use a dull, darker coloured cookie sheet. Be careful using darker coloured cookie sheets as cookies can burn easily and quickly. Always choose a sheet that is made of heavy gauge aluminum and has low or no sides to make it easier to remove the cookies when done.

5. Don’t over bake. A common mistake is over baking. Take cookies out of the oven when they appear to be slightly underdone. Leave them on the sheet for a minute (they will continue to bake) and then remove.

6. Store properly. Keep crisp cookies in a cookie jar, and soft cookies in an airtight container. Make sure that you don’t store different types of cookies together as they will pick up each other’s flavours.

The cookie monsters at Food for Thought want to share some personal cookie favorites. Go on-line to growingalberta.com to get our best-loved recipes and the stories behind them.

Welcome Home Cookies

This recipe takes me back to after-school cookie memories of walking through the door and smelling the “welcome home” aroma of chocolate, oatmeal and coconut. These cookies taste like a mini-chocolate bar and they freeze well.

250 mL (1 cup)             butter
375 mL (1 1/2 cups)    white sugar
2                                      whole eggs
1                                      egg yolk
5 mL (1 tsp)                  vanilla
500 mL (2 cups)          flour
5 mL (1 tsp)                  baking powder
5 mL (1 tsp)                  baking soda
2 mL (1/2 tsp)               salt
250 mL (1 cup)            oats
375 mL (1 1/2 cups)   unsweetened medium coconut
1 package                     milk chocolate chips   

Cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs and yolk, and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold into butter mixture and mix until combined.

Stir in oats, coconut and chocolate chips. Drop onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Makes approximately 50 cookies (assuming you don’t nibble on a few coming right out of the oven…).