It doesn't matter what flavors you use or how you get from flour and sugar to baked treat, just make sure your cookies are good and chewy! We'd love to know all your tips and secrets that lead to an exceptional cookie.
These are not your usual contests. We have a slightly nutty
system but it works. Together, the Food52 community has created two
cookbooks this way -- there's no stopping us now. Read about it
Mrslarkin combines three kinds of sugar in her cookies: granulated, light brown and turbinado.
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As with most cookies, the butter and sugar and creamed first.
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Ready to go!
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Merrill measures carefully, running the straight edge of a knife across the top of the measuring spoons for accuracy.
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Next up: vanilla extract.
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Then a lone egg.
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After mixing in the flour and baking soda, we pause for an important decision: who gets to taste the dough first?
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It was so hot in New York we decided to briefly chill the dough to make it easier to work with. Then we lined it up next to the turbinado sugar (for rolling) and a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Vanilla seeds give these cookies a lovely fragrance.
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Sugar, nutmeg and vanilla go in the mixer to blend together -- when we did this, a delicious puff of vanilla-scented sugar dust floated up from the mixer.
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Lots of butter and a teensy bit of shortening.
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Thirschfeld says the creamed butter and sugar should look like freshly scooped ice cream.
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Amanda catches some stray honey after she adds some to the mixing bowl.
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Whisking cake flour is a must -- otherwise, it can be lumpy.
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The dry ingredients get added in three additions, so that they don't fly out of the mixer.
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Our dough was quite soft (it was 80 degrees and muggy out), so we chilled it for about 20 minutes before rolling it into balls.
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Make sure to roll the dough gently -- think of it as a delicate flower.
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A light dusting of sugar...
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and a gentle press with the tines of a fork, and they're ready to go into the oven.