31.4 Cookies

The word cookie means "little cake", and like cakes, cookies can be mixed several ways. The creaming method is the most popular. Outside North America, the word may mean nothing at all to people.

Creaming a cookie dough

• Weigh every ingredient carefully, and have them all at room temperature.
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• Put the sugar and fat in the mixer bowl, with the paddle, on low speed.
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• Cream them together. How much air you beat in here shapes the texture of the cookie.
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• Add the eggs and any liquid.
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• Sift in the dry ingredients and stop as soon as they are mixed in. Beating on past that point builds gluten. see chapter 7: Flour
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Scrape down the bowl every time before something new goes in.

Six kinds of cookie

Cookies are sorted by how the dough is shaped.

• Piped. A soft dough goes into a piping bag with a tip and is squeezed out onto the pan. It keeps the shape it was piped in.
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• Dropped. The dough is portioned onto a prepared cookie sheet with a scoop or spoon. These often carry add-ins such as chocolate chips, nuts and candies.
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• Rolled. The dough is rolled out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface, then stamped out with cookie cutters.
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• Molded. The dough is shaped by hand, or pressed with a stamp.
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• Icebox. A slightly stiffer dough is rolled into a log and chilled. At baking time it is sliced into equal pieces and set on the prepared sheet.
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• Bar. The dough is spread in a sheet pan, baked, and then cut to shape. It can also be formed into a log and baked whole.

Rolled and cut: savory wafers and straws

Cutting solid fat into flour, as for biscuits, also makes thin, crisp bakes that are rolled and cut like rolled cookies.

• Sesame seed wafers. Cake flour and whole wheat flour are mixed with salt and sugar, shortening is cut in, and ice water is stirred in until the dough is like pie dough. It is rolled ⅛ inch thick, sprinkled with sesame seeds and rolled once more, then cut into 1-inch squares. They bake on a lightly greased sheet at 425°F for about 8 minutes, until brown.
• Cheese straws. Butter and half the grated sharp Cheddar are cut into flour seasoned with salt, dry mustard and cayenne. A little ice water binds it. The dough is rolled, covered with the rest of the cheese, folded in half and rolled again. It is cut into strips 3 inches by ½ inch, sprinkled with celery seed, and baked at 350°F for 12 minutes or until light brown.

Where the quick-bread methods turn up again

Once you know the muffin and biscuit methods, you will spot them in many other recipes.

• Muffin method. Whole wheat muffins are mixed like plain ones: sift the white flour with the other dry ingredients, blend in the whole wheat flour, add the combined liquids and stir only until blended. They bake at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes.
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• Muffin method. Herb corn sticks follow the same pattern. The beaten egg, milk and melted butter go into the flour and cornmeal all at once and are stirred just until damp. They bake in well-greased corn stick pans at 425°F for 20 minutes.
• Biscuit method. Blueberry scones start with chilled butter cut into the dry ingredients until crumbly. The berries are folded in, heavy cream goes into a well, and the dough is folded only until it comes together. It is pressed 1¼ inches thick, cut into four triangles, and baked at 400°F for 15 to 20 minutes. A warm glaze of powdered sugar, lemon juice, butter and zest goes on top.
• Biscuit method. A fruit cobbler is topped with a soft biscuit dough: shortening cut into the dry ingredients, then milk stirred in. Spoonfuls are dropped onto the hot, thickened fruit, and the dish bakes at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes.
• A kneaded quick bread. Irish soda bread is a soft dough of whole wheat and all-purpose flour and buttermilk or sour milk. Unlike biscuits, it is kneaded for 2 minutes, shaped into a round, and marked with a cross on top before baking at 375°F for 25 to 35 minutes.
• A spoon bread. Southern spoon bread starts as cornmeal cooked in milk to a mush. Egg yolks go in, then beaten egg whites are folded through. It bakes at 325°F for 1 hour and is served with a spoon, topped with butter. see chapter 15: Foams: meringue, soufflé, puffy omelet