You are probably starting to decorate your house – inside and out – and looking for the best bargains to put under the tree…. And you also may be thinking about doing some special holiday baking.
I start my baking about 2 weeks before Christmas – it is a good idea to start with cookies that can be safely kept in cool place. You need to place them in a sealed container – plastic or glass food storage one will be the best – since it will not have too much air in it.
I have put together the very basic rules for baking cookies and I will be adding lots of recipes for you to choose from!
How to Bake Cookies:
- Always use a room temperature butter – it will help you get smooth and lighter dough
- Unsalted butter gives better tasting baking results than salted butter
- Beat butter and sugar together really well – you can’t overdo it
- After sugar and butter are well mixed, add remaining ingredients, then simply stir together with wooden spoon until well blended. If you use nuts and chocolate, make sure they are well distributed. At this point, you will not want to overbeat the dough – it would make it tougher
- Put cookies on cool baking sheets – if you baking sheets are warm, your cookies will spread too much
- Cookies can burn easily – especially if there is quite a bit of butter in the recipe. If you find that, you can do couple of things: bake on the top rack and lower the temperature a bit
- Most cookies will keep well in room temperature for several days. If you store them in the refrigerator, they will keep for several weeks – you can also store them in the freezer for several months. Just a little note: do not freeze shortbread – it will alter the texture.
- When you store your cookies in airtight containers, divide the layers with waxed paper to prevent sticking when you are taking them out to serve them.
- That is pretty much all you need to watch out when you are doing your holiday baking – other than following the recipes carefully – you are ready to go!
Have fun and happy baking!
P.S. If there is a specific recipe you are looking for – let me know – I have hundreds here and will be happy to post the one you want!
