Gingerbread Cookies: Molasses Dough, Spice Blend and How to Make Them Soft or Crisp
Gingerbread dough is a molasses-sweetened, spiced cookie dough that rolls and cuts well. Thickness and bake time decide whether the cookies come out soft or snappy.
Category: Cookies & Bars
Cookies, brownies and bars: chewy vs crisp, spreading, chilling dough, holiday cookie basics and how to store and freeze them.
How to Ship Holiday Cookies: Which Cookies Travel Well, How to Pack Them and When to Mail
Sturdy, dry cookies packed snugly in a tin, inside a cushioned box, mailed early in the week, arrive in good shape. Check your carrier's holiday cutoff dates before you bake.
Why Do My Cookies Spread So Much? Causes and Fixes for Flat Cookies
Thin, greasy cookies that run together on the sheet are almost always a fat-temperature or measuring problem. A short chill and a cool pan fix most batches.
Oatmeal Cookies With Raisins or Chocolate: Which Oats to Use and How to Control Spread
One standard dough makes chewy oatmeal raisin or oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. The type of oats and the dough temperature decide how much they spread.
Chewy vs Crispy Cookies: The Ingredient Levers That Control Texture
You do not need a new recipe to change cookie texture. Sugar type, butter state, flour, eggs and bake time each push a cookie toward chewy, cakey or crisp.
Fudgy vs Cakey Brownies: Cocoa or Chocolate, Pan Size and How to Tell When They Are Done
The difference between fudgy and cakey brownies is mostly the ratio of fat to flour and how long they bake. Here is a standard fudgy recipe and how to shift it.
Cut-Out Christmas Sugar Cookies That Hold Their Shape: Chilling, Rolling and Baking
Sugar cookies keep sharp edges when the dough has enough flour, little or no leavening and is rolled and cut while cold. Here is the method step by step.
How to Plan a Christmas Cookie Exchange: Quantities, Packaging and Allergen Labels
A cookie exchange is simple math plus a few house rules. Decide how many cookies each guest brings, ask for allergen labels and pick cookies that survive a car ride.
Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies: Standard Recipe, Chill Time, and How to Make Them Chewy or Crisp
The classic creamed-butter cookie dough is endlessly adjustable. Chill time, sugar balance and bake time are the three levers that move it from chewy to crisp.
How to Freeze Christmas Cookies: Dough vs Baked, How Long They Keep and How to Thaw
Freezing lets you spread holiday baking over weeks. Most doughs and most plain baked cookies freeze well; the trick is airtight wrapping and thawing in a closed container.