How NOT to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anyone can make chocolate chip cookies. Making a GOOD chocolate chip cookie is another thing entirely. So, before you go firing up your oven and dusting off your mixer you will want to acquaint yourself some basic and vital techniques that will ensure your success. Avoid these baking fallacies and you are on your way to chocolate chip cookie heaven.

• "The recipe will tell me all I need to know." Yes, and at the same time a resounding no. For the most part recipes do a pretty good job of communicating how to mix all the ingredients properly. But few people will share with you detailed mixing and baking instructions that are crucial to a great end product. Chocolate chip recipes off the back of the bag are notoriously vague. For more mixing and baking tips.
  

• "Butter, Margarine, Shortening; they are all the same."No, they are not. When it comes to taste, nothing beats butter. So, if you are all about flavor in your cookie butter is your only friend. However, butter has water in it and margarine even more. So, when that water mixes with the flour you will get gluten and a crispy drier cookie. Shortening will make a tender thick cookie as it is all fat. For more information on chocolate chip cookie ingredients.

• "Order does not matter, just dump it all in." Uh, oh. Bad move. There is definitely a process and an order to make chocolate chip cookies; especially to make them good. You don't want clumps of this and pockets of that in your dough. Plus you want to ensure a smooth moist dough. Visit my cookie baking tips page to learn more.

• "Before you put the chocolate chips in, mix everything for a good long time." Stop! Mix until blended and nothing longer. I do not recommend mixing and over mixing your dough once all the ingredients are all in. You will end up with a tough cookie when you are really after a tender cookie. For more information.

• "As long as I have a no-stick cookie sheet the cookies will be fine." No-stick and Air Bake cookie sheets are great when you make chocolate chip cookies, especially if they are light in color. There is however, just one more thing you need that is a must have for a smooth bottomed cookie and I never make chocolate chip cookies without it. Visit my cookie baking tips page to learn more.

• "I do not need to preheat my oven." Ovens rise to very high temperatures quickly during the pre-heating process. This is not the time to have something in there cooking. You want an oven that is maintaining a constant temperature. If you are serious about how your baking turns out then you just need one simple tool to keep that oven temperature where it needs to be. For more information.

• "Cookies come out of the oven when they are golden brown." Only if you want really crispy and somewhat dry cookies. A golden brown cookie is pretty, but if they are golden brown right out of the oven they have been overcooked. You should take them out of the oven when.

• "You should bake the dough just as soon as it is mixed." You can if you are extremely anxious to get to those hot chocolate chip cookies. However, if you want a really great chocolate chip cookie experience you should follow the number one tip that most people don't know about and hold off on that hot oven for a while. As soon as the dough is mixed you should.