Use the following guidelines to prepare cookie dough if you have a list of ingredients but lost the instructions that go with it. Most cookie dough recipes use some type of fat, sugar, eggs, and flour. Salt and baking powder are not used as consistently but do appear in many cookie dough recipes as leavening agents. Butter is the most common fat used, but shortening is also used frequently. Butter creates crisper, thinner cookies, while shortening creates soft, cake-like cookies. Vanilla extract also appears in most cookie dough recipes. Note that ready-to-eat or safe-to-eat cookies doughs don’t contain eggs.
The butter should be soft enough for you to leave an indentation with your thumb. Do not let the butter melt, though. Softened butter and margarine are easier to combine with other ingredients. If running short on time, you can microwave the cold butter for 10-second intervals until softened. If using margarine instead of butter, make sure that the margarine contains 80 percent vegetable oil or more.
Even if your recipe only contains one or the other, you should still consider beating the fat with an electric mixture until smooth. Doing so removes any lumps and allows the fat to mix into the dough more effectively.
Cream these ingredients until the consistency and color both become lighter. This process creates air bubbles in the dough, thereby creating lighter cookies. Do not overbeat the dough, though, especially at this stage.
Beat until you remove all streaks of egg or extract. Consider leaving the eggs out at room temperature for 30 minutes before use. This makes it easier for the eggs to incorporate air in the batter, which creates lighter cookies.
Stand mixers can usually take the strain, so you may not need to do any stirring if using one. Hand-held mixers are less durable, though, and should be swapped out toward the end to prevent the mixer from burning out completely. Any chocolate chips, nuts, or similar ingredients should be stirred in after the flour.
Generally, you can wrap your dough tightly in plastic wrap and save it in the refrigerator for a week. Many cookie recipes bake around 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for 8 to 15 minutes.
The butter must be softened before you combine it with the other ingredients. For a lighter dough, beat the butter on its own until it becomes fluffy before combining it with sugars and vanilla extract.
Continue beating until the egg is fully incorporated. If doubling or tripling the recipe, add any additional eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Mixing the dry ingredients separately ensures that they are distributed evenly throughout the dough once added to the moist ingredients.
If the electric mixer resists toward the end of the mixing process, stir any remaining flour in by hand.
Consider double-wrapping the dough. Wrap it in wax paper first, then wrap a layer of plastic wrap around the entire thing. To make the dough easier to manage later on, divide it in half before wrapping it.
Thaw the dough to room temperature for best results. Place the dough onto a greased cookie sheet 1 Tbsp (15 ml) at a time, leaving roughly 2 inches (5 cm) of space in between each cookie. Bake in a preheated oven until golden brown. Cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.
This should take about 5 minutes. Make sure that the butter is softened before combining it with the sugar. For this recipe, it is not necessary to beat the butter by itself first. For this recipe, an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment works best. A standard mixer attachment may also be used, however.
If doubling the recipe, add each egg one at a time and beat well after each addition. Use a medium speed when adding these ingredients.
Use a low speed to prevent the flour from flying out as you mix it. Only mix until the flour has been incorporated. Do not overmix. If the mixer begins to slow and struggle, stir the rest of the flour in using a mixing spoon.
It may be easier to work with four portions later on, but two portions will also suffice.
Each portion of dough should be wrapped separately. Make sure that no air can touch the wrapped dough. If necessary, double-wrap the dough to secure it.
Note that even if you plan to use the dough immediately, it should still be refrigerated 2 hours before baking.
If using frozen dough, wait until the dough has dropped down to refrigerated temperatures. Roll the dough out on a floured surface until it is about 1/2 inch (1. 25 cm) thick. Cut into shapes and placed on greased cookie sheets to bake.
The butter and sugar should be fluffy and well-combined. Make sure to use softened, room temperature butter when starting. Mix the ingredients in a medium bowl.
Add the vanilla and salt to taste. Since there are no eggs in this recipe, you can add these two ingredients slowly and taste after each addition. Stop once you achieve a flavor you enjoy.
At this point, the dough will still be fairly thick.
Continue adding water until the dough reaches standard dough consistency. If you plan to add the dough in chunks to ice cream or other desserts, use less water for a stiffer dough. For a dough you can enjoy by the spoonful, add more water.
To save the dough, place it in a resealable glass or plastic container and refrigerate it for up to 1 week.
