Butter cookies aka Dutch biscuits are one of classic delicious and crispy Christmas cookies that are quick and simple to make. You can practice making these yummy cookies to munch or gift them to your family.
Not many people can make perfect cookies, especially for a beginner baker. Have you tried making butter cookies? If you haven’t, try these following guides to making delicious and perfect butter cookies to eat.
1. Mix the Ingredients Correctly
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The first guide to do is to mix and stir the ingredients well. Mix ingredients like butter and sugar into a mixing bowl. You can also use raw sugar. Besides that, you need to soften the butter.
If you put the butter in the fridge before, the butter should reach the room temperature first. The point is to make the ingredients well-blended, and it won’t make your dough tough.
2. Avoid Layering the Pan
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The next thing you need to pay attention when making perfect butter cookies is to avoid layering the pan with butter. If you layer the pan with too much butter, it will cause the cookies to spread into bigger ones.
You can try using a baking mat or a sheet of parchment paper as the best alternative. Another option is to replace your old pan with the new one because your pan may be encrusted with years of baking and cooking residues.
3. Let Butter Reach Room Temperature for 15 Minutes
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The next guide to make good butter cookies is by letting the butter reach room temperature. If you have already stored the butter in the fridge, you need to make the butter softened after you take it out from the fridge. Soften the butter for about 15 minutes. The purpose is to prevent the cookies from being dense and tough. Also, the butter won’t cream and blend properly with other ingredients when you want to make the dough.
In contrast, if the consistency of the butter is too soft, your butter cookies won’t hold enough air during the process of creaming. The results of the dough will be greasy and heavy.
4. Use Good-Quality Butter
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You must use a good-quality butter to make perfect and delicious butter cookies. The cheap butter contains about 19% water so that it will make the egg and butter harder to emulsify. In result, the dough will create an excess spreading.
It is recommended to use high-quality butter because it has a lower water content and tastes better. Your family will love the cookies because it will be crispy and chewy to munch.
5. Roll the Dough Gently
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When you roll the dough of the butter cookies, the cookies will be tough to eat. The more you roll the dough, the tougher the cookies are. The cause of the tough dough is because of the working of the gluten.
To lessen the tough dough, you can sprinkle the surface of the dough with powdered sugar instead of flour. If you use flour to the surface, it will make the cookies tougher.
Another option is to role the initial dough into desired shape. When you use the cookie cutters, take as close to the edge of the dough. It will also minimize the number of scraps of the dough to re-roll.
6. Avoid Rotating the Pan’s Position
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Another following guide to make perfect butter cookies is to avoid rotating the pan during the baking. Rotating your pans will cause an opened door of the oven so it will release the heat.
When you bake the cookies for about 10 to 12 minutes, open the oven will leave no time to the heat to build back up again quickly. In result, your cookies will not be baked pretty well. The color of butter cookies won’t be brown enough on top. The cookies may not be able to bake properly.
7. Use Cooling Rack
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To make perfect crunchy and chewy butter cookies, you can use a cooling rack to cool the cookies. Put the cookies on the cooling rack after they are released from the oven. If you let the cookies cool directly on the hot pans and continue using them for baking, the bottom of the pans will be over-browning.
Also, the cookies you bake will be uncooked and get soggy easily. To overcome this issue, you can move the cookies to a cooling rack after the cookies cool down for about 2 minutes to 3 minutes.
In conclusion, if you follow these following guides, you can make perfect butter cookies. Your cookies will be crunchy on the edges and chewy on the center. You can serve and enjoy these cookies accompanied by a cup of tea with your family.