cabbagehead
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Almost all cookies use the creaming method. In fact, it's so prevalent that industrial recipes are often limited to a list of ingredients followed by the words "creaming method."
When the butter and sugar are beaten together, the sugar granules punch microscopic holes in the fat structure, creating air pockets. It's this air that gives cookies most of their lift.
To do this properly, all of your ingredients will need to be room temperature. This way the butter is just soft enough to be beaten but still hold its shape. Beat the mixture until it just starts to get fluffy. If it's beaten too much or the butter gets too warm, the air pockets will collapse in the oven, creating flat cookies.
Next, beat in the eggs. Follow this by adding the dry ingredients. Large ingredients like nuts and chocolate chips are added at the end.
Refrigerating the dough before baking will help set the fat, decreasing the chance of your cookies falling flat. Most doughs can be frozen for use later.
A heavy baking sheet will help the cookie bake evenly. There are stonewear baking sheets on the market that are supposed to help, but I find a foodservice pan from a restaurant supply store works just as well, and is a lot cheaper. Pans should not be greased so the cookie can grip to the pan and expand upwards instead of outwards. Once fully baked, the cookies should slide off the pan with ease.
When you're finished baking, place your cookies on a cooling rack: placing them together when they're still warm will hold moisture, softening them.
 Posted 5401 day ago
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