With over 118 cookie recipes on my blog, it’s fair to say that I have learned a thing or two about the science of cookie baking. I’m going to share my pro tips for cookie baking with you today as I bake my way through my new current fave cookie, Coffee Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
These are a decidedly adult cookie, with deep notes of coffee and bitter-sweet toffee and chocolate. Intense but not too sweet, they are crispy at the edges, thick and chewy in the center and completely addictive.
Here are my top 8 pro tips for cookie baking.
1. Ditch the measuring cups and get a scale. The most important tip I want you to adopt it is, bake by weight not volume. If you have ever been on Weight Watchers, there is a scale lurking at the back of your kitchen cabinet somewhere. This is the one I use.
Professional bakers and pastry chefs use a scale. It leads to consistent results every time. Depending on how it’s scooped and leveled, a cup of flour can weigh anywhere from 125 grams (4.5 ounces) to 170 grams (6 ounces). This is a difference of 36%. That could make a huge difference in your baking. I take the time to test my recipes several times, using grams not cups. By weighing your ingredients, your baked goods will turn out like mine, almost perfect every time.
Baking by weight also means less dirty dishes and cups to wash. Everything gets added to one mixing bowl. After measuring each ingredient you “tare” the scale, meaning you push a button to take it back to zero weight. So if you put an empty mixing bowl on the scale and press tare, the scale will read zero and the weight of the bowl is not measured.
2. Use room temperature butter. It only takes about an hour for butter removed from fridge to reach room temperature (21°C/70°F). Butter sitting out on the counter all day will get too warm. You want to be able to leave a fingerprint in the butter and have the butter still feel firm and not greasy. If the butter is too soft, it won’t allow the sugar to aerate properly and you will have flat cookies.
3. Don’t use supermarket chocolate chips. Use good quality baking or couverture chocolate. In the video I used Lindt 70% dark chocolate bars that I chopped up. I also love these Valrhona Manjari feves.
Supermarket chocolate chips have stabilizers in them that allow the chips to hold their shape. They never fully soften, so you won’t get those melty pools of glossy chocolate on top of your cookies. Couverture chocolate has a higher cocoa butter content so that you get that melty, silky mouthfeel.
4. Use a spring loaded scoop to shape and portion your cookies. I like this one. Your cookies will all be the same size and bake evenly.
5. Chill cookie dough for at least 24 hours before baking. Practice patience. Chilling the dough improves both the texture and flavour of your cookies. While the dough is chilling the flour has a chance to hydrate, leading to a thicker and chewier cookie, better browning and a more even bake.
A second benefit to chilling is that the flavour of the cookie really intensifies. You get a more complex caramel-toffee flavour. It’s worth taking the time to chill. I recommend scooping the dough right after mixing, while it is still soft. It will be easier to scoop. Wrap the baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap before refrigerating to prevent transfer of fridge odours.
6. Add extra toppings halfway through the baking time. Hold back about 25% of your mix ins (chocolate chunks and toffee bits). After your cookies have been baking for about 5-6 minutes, pull them from the oven and carefully arrange the balance of chocolate and toffee on top of the cookies. That’s how you get those beautiful instagram worthy cookies.
7. Do the cookie scoot. The toffee bits will ooze out and create scraggly looking cookies. Use a cookie cutter slightly bigger than the cookie to reshape the cookies while still warm once they are done baking.
8. Finish with a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt. I love Maldon. There are several members of my family that vehemently oppose this, so if you’re in that camp, omit the salt. No judgement here.
Coffee Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 227 grams unsalted butter removed from fridge, 30 minutes before baking
- 50 grams granulated sugar
- 373 grams golden brown sugar
- 45 grams turbinado sugar
- 5 grams vanilla bean paste or extract
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 195 grams bread flour
- 250 grams all purpose flour
- 2 grams instant espresso powder
- 2 grams Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt or 1 gram Mortons Kosher salt
- 9 grams baking soda
- 280 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch chunks I like Valrhona Guanaja Feves
- 130 grams toffee Skor bits or homemade, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (recipe for homemade below)
- 2 Tablespoons flaky sea salt, optional I like Maldon
Instructions
- Place butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, turbinado sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Cream butter and sugars for 3-4 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
- Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add vanilla bean paste or extract and mix.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together bread flour, all purpose flour, instant espresso powder, salt and baking powder.
- Add the flour mixture to the cookie dough. Mix well, until no white streaks remain. Add chopped chocolate and toffee bits and mix until they are evenly distributed into the dough.
- Using a 2-inch ice cream scoop, (I used this one),scoop out mounds of dough. Each ball of dough should weigh about 45 grams.Place scoops on parchment lined cookie sheet. They can be right next to each other on the baking sheet for now, as you are just putting them there to chill. Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap to prevent cookies from absorbing unwanted fridge odours. Chill dough for at least an hour and up to 36 hours.
- About 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake cookies, set one rack in upper middle position and other rack in lower middle position of oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- Spread cookies out on two parchment lined baking sheets, making sure there is at least 2 inches between cookies. You should be able to get about 8-9 cookies on each baking sheet. You will need to bake in two batches.
- Bake cookies, two sheets at a time for 5 minutes.Switch position of cookies and bake for a further 5-6 minutes, until the cookies are lightly golden on the edges and a bit gooey in the center. Do not over bake! Remove sheet from oven and sprinkle tops of cookies with flaky sea salt if desired. The cookies may be a bit irregular looking, and not completely circular. While they are still warm, use a cookie cutter slightly bigger than the cookie to "scoot" the cookies (swirling motion to make cookies round again). Allow cookies to sit undisturbed on baking sheet until totally cool. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
Notes
Nutrition
Homemade Toffee
Ingredients
- 330 grams granulated sugar
- 339 grams unsalted butter
- 57 grams water
- 40 grams corn syrup
- 4 grams Diamond Crystal Kosher salt or 2 grams Mortons's kosher salt
- 14 grams vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
- 2 grams baking soda
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with sides with parchment paper.
- In a medium heavy bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar, butter, water, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until a candy thermometer registers 300°F. This will take about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and baking soda. Immediately pour the toffee onto the baking sheet and using a rubber spatula, spread it out into a rectangle roughly12 x 15 inches. It does not have to be a perfect rectangle. Allow the toffee to cool completely at room temperature. Do not refrigerate. Once totally cool, break into small pieces.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature. It will keep for 2 months.