3 Tips For Perfectly Pretty Cookies
Baking cookies is kind of my thing. I love a cookie that has a crisp outside, a soft inside, and a texture that’s the right mixture of crumbly and tender. But, having the perfect cookie recipe is only half the battle. I have a few cookie recipes here on my blog that you should take a look at, but none of my cookie recipes include my top three tips for making cookies look pretty!
These tips for making pretty cookies are baker insider secrets, and they’re easy to do at home. Ever wonder how bakery cookies are always nice and round? I’ve got that answer for you here. Have you baked chocolate chip cookies and were sad to see that the chocolate chips sank into the cookie and didn’t appear on top? That mishap is answered here too! The secrets for perfect cookies aren’t really secrets - they’re just a couple of tips that I’ve learned through lots of trial and error, and studying the techniques of really great bakers.
Every cookie is beautiful in its own right, but if you’re hoping to bake cookies that are photo-ready each and every time, keep on reading!
Tip #1: Use a cookie scoop so your cookies are rounded and come out the same size
You may notice that many cookie recipes will call for you to scoop 1-2 tablespoon sized scoops of dough for each cookie. When I first started baking, I literally used a cereal spoon to eyeball these measurements and plopped those scoops on a baking sheet. The cookies tasted good, sure, but they always came out as lopsided shapes, and never round and pretty. Plus, each cookie came out a different size so they never looked nice and uniform the way they do in bakeries.
So, the tip here is to scoop your cookie dough using a cookie scoop or an ice cream scoop, this way the cookies are nice and perfectly rounded, and all the same size!
Tip #2: Press your mix-ins on top of the dough so they show up on the baked cookie
Now THIS is a tip that really impacts the look of your finished cookie. Many recipes do not call for this step, so you may wonder why sometimes the photographed cookies used in recipes have the chocolate chips melted right on top, or the sprinkles sitting nice and pretty on the finished cookie. That’s because the chocolate chips, or sprinkles, or marshmallows, or whatever is being used in the cookie is also pressed on top of the cookie before baking. This way, the ingredient shows up on top and makes the cookie look 100x better!
Tip #3: Smooth out wonky edges by gently rounding the fresh cookies inside of a large cookie cutter
Ok, this tip is absolutely life changing - and when I first saw an example of it I think my jaw fell off my face. It’s absolutely genius and perfectly explains why bakery cookies are always nice and round! Because no matter how perfectly scooped the cookies are before baking, they will sometimes spread out oddly and look a little wonky.
So here is what you do: as soon as the cookies come out of the oven, take a large cookie cutter (I actually use a tart ring because I bake big cookies) and place the cutter around the cookie. Gently shake the cookie around inside of the cutter to smooth out the edges and make a perfectly round cookie! Check out the video to get an explanation of how it’s done.
Are any of these cookie baking tips new to you? If you learned something today, let me know so I can share more tips with you!