How Superfine Sugar Can Transform The Texture Of Your Cookies

Baking cookies from scratch is a noble balancing act not for the weak. Nailing the perfect cookie texture, whatever that means to you, means understanding the way all ingredients work in cookie dough and how manipulating any of them can affect your final bake. Chewy, crispy, or cakey, there are hundreds of great cookie recipes. For a delicate and light cookie texture, superfine sugar is the answer.

Sugar wears many hats in baking -– leavening, browning, and sweetening (obviously). When considering its role in defining the texture of a bake, especially cookies, sugar makes all the difference. Granulated sugar has a profound effect on the baking process, helping the dough to both rise and crisp as it bakes. Superfine sugar, also known as caster sugar or baker's sugar, reacts a little differently during this process and is a key ingredient to consider in your next cookie bake for a uniquely delicate melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Superfine sugar is granulated sugar that's been ground down to a finer texture. The granule size of superfine sugar falls between that of granulated and confectioner's sugar, making it a nice middle ground for certain baking projects. This small particle size means that superfine sugar dissolves quickly. The rapid dissolving allows the sugar to be evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough, resulting in a bake that is tender and delicate.

Superfine sugar can also help prevent cookies from spreading too much while they bake. When granulated sugar is used in cookie recipes, the result is a cookie that's thinner and more crispy. This is because the granulated sugar takes longer to dissolve, which can cause the dough to spread out more as it bakes. Superfine sugar, on the other hand, is much easier to dissolve, which can help the dough hold its shape and result in a lighter, more substantial cookie.

Transform your cookies by using superfine sugar in your next bake. While many bakers may be familiar with using granulated or powdered sugar in their cookie recipes, superfine sugar is just as much to be considered. Using superfine sugar in your cookie recipes is easy to do. It can be substituted for granulated sugar at a one-to-one ratio, just be sure you are doing so by weight and not by volume. If you prefer a thicker, chewier cookie, you may want to stick with granulated sugar.

The Washington Post recommends processing granulated sugar in the food processor until it's more finely ground if you can't find superfine sugar on shelves or don't want to buy it. Be sure not to process too much, or you'll end up with something more like confectioners' sugar. Try using superfine sugar the next time you make delicious cookies like cardamom sugar cookies or classic chocolate chip cookies.