Cookies: Tips, Tricks & Allergy Friendly Replacements

Who doesn’t love cookies?! Chef Sam is in the house, with all your cookie necessities.

Nothing is better than sitting down and enjoying a nice, warm cookie. All year round, the versatile treat is enjoyed by little kids and adults alike. Everyone has their own idea of the perfect cookie.

I love a chewy center with crispy edges.

My holy grail is Bon Appetit: Brown Butter and Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie - highly recommend. Just like every baked good, there is some science behind forming this perfect treat.

Here are some great tips and tricks to provide the perfect cookie at home!

It starts with your ingredients:

It’s a good idea to let all your cookie ingredients like the milk, butter and eggs to come to room temp. This helps with the emulsification of the fats & sugar during the creaming process.

It is equally important to make sure that the fat and sugar are fully mixed. (No grainy cookies, please!)

The creaming process forces tiny air bubbles to occur and creates the structure of the dough, providing a beautifully risen cookie! Typically, the next step of the process is adding the eggs. This should be done one at a time to allow them to fully emulsify with the fat.

Next:

Add the dry ingredients in batches. Adding all the flour at once will make the dough stiff & difficult to mix. The more it's mixed, the more gluten develops, producing a dense cookie.

Pro Tip: Use an ice cream or cookie scoop to give uniform cookies that bake evenly. Don’t have a scoop? Hakuna Matata! Two spoons of similar size or even a measuring cup are a good substitute.

Drop the cookies out onto a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet for quick clean up and easy removal when the cookies are cooled. If you don’t want to bake all the cookies right away, freezing the dough is a great way to have some delicious cookies on standby. You never know when a cookie crisis will present itself!

Roll the dough into balls and freeze in an airtight container for up to three months. When you are ready to bake them, no need to thaw the dough. Pop the frozen pucks (chef lingo) onto a baking sheet and into a preheated oven. Just add an additional 1-2 minutes to the bake time.

If all this sounds like too much, that’s what we are here for! Book a consult and get hooked up with one of our amazing chefs.

Have an allergy? Here are some great replacement ingredients to allow you to enjoy cookies as well.

Flour: Go for nut flours. Almond, hazelnut or even pistachio flour are great options.

Dairy: Vegetable shortening can be swapped out for butter, and oat milk for regular milk. Other substitutes for fat include, vegan butter and coconut oil.

Egg: Surprisingly, applesauce and silken tofu will do the trick every time.