Equipment List:

• Cookie sheet or sheet pan
• Parchment paper or aluminum foil
• Parchment paper or wax paper
• Dry measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Large mixing bowl
• Medium mixing bowl
• Hand mixer or stand mixer
• Rubber spatula
• Serrated knife
• Cutting board
• Rolling pin
• Cookie cutters
• Food coloring
• Whisk
• Resealable plastic bags
• Flat spatula
• Wire rack for cooling

Tips:

Fine salt:

• A fine salt, such as table salt, is the best for all-purpose baking.
• For baking, you need a salt with very small grains because it dissolves more easily.

Creaming:

Creaming is a basic technique in cookie making that involves vigorously beating together sugar and fat. It has the effect of softening the fat and rendering it capable of absorbing flour, and it also fills the fat with air. The sharp grains of sugar create little air pockets within the fat. When cooked, that air expands, resulting in a lighter, more puffed cookie.

Don't overbeat, or you will deflate the air bubbles.

Eggs and baking:

Eggs act as a binding ingredient.

The heat of the oven cooks the eggs in the batter, causing them to set, which holds cookies together and allows them to keep their shape.

Egg whites tend to dry out cookies; therefore, the amount of sugar has to be increased to compensate.

Recipe Rescues:

Cookies brown unevenly – Make sure to rotate the sheet pan 180 degrees halfway through cooking. Also, the cookie dough balls or shapes should all be a uniform size.

Burnt bottoms – Do not let cookies cool on the sheet pan; remove them to a wire rack to cool as soon as possible. Dark colored sheet pans also tend to result in darker-bottomed cookies.

Cookies spread too much – The cookie dough should be cold when it goes in the oven so cookies will maintain their shape better. For the Chocolate Chip Cookies, also check to make sure you used.