The Simple Mistake That's Ruining Your Cookie Dough

If you've ever gone to make chocolate chip cookies, or any other cookie recipe for that matter, and come across a recipe that says to chill the cookie dough, chances are you've been tempted to skip the chilling. After all, the faster you get the cookies in the oven, the faster you get to eat them! This, however, is a rookie raw cookie dough mistake. 

Although it might seem like an unnecessary step, chilling your dough can actually make for a better cookie, even when the recipe doesn't specifically call for it. That's because when you chill the dough, you wind up with chewier cookies rather than too crispy ones. At the same time you get a more flavorful treat with a beautiful golden color and perfect shape. You don't need to chill dough for long, either. Just 30 minutes should make a big difference. However, after about 24 hours of chilling, you won't see any major changes affecting your treats.

One of the main reasons to chill your cookie dough is that doing so helps the flavors meld and deepen as the dough dries out, leading to a tastier cookie once it's baked. What's more, while your dough chills, the flour in it starts to break down, which also gives you a dessert that tastes just a little bit sweeter because one component of flour is actually sugar.

Besides these flavors, chilling your dough can also get you a cookie with a better texture and mouthfeel. When you pop it in the refrigerator, it firms up and concentrates the sugar. These changes lead to a cookie that has a chewier center as opposed to a fluffy, cakey texture. At the same time, it gives the outer edges of your treat a crispy texture. The result is a dessert that tastes like something you'd pick up at your local bakery.

It's not just about the way the cookies taste, either. When you chill your dough, you actually get a cookie that looks better, too. For one thing, chilling the dough breaks down enzymes in the flour and causes the sugar to absorb moisture. That leads to cookies that get a gorgeous golden brown color on the outside, although they'll still have a chewy texture on the inside.

On top of that, when you pop your dough in the fridge for a while, the dough hardens, and the fats cool. Both these factors lead to less spreading when you place the cookies in the oven, helping avoid cookies that don't hold their shape, spread into one another, or flatten out. This can be especially important when you're using cookie cutters and want perfectly formed sugar cookies. So, although it might seem like a skippable part of your baking, chilling your dough is actually the most important secret for getting the best looking and tastiest cookies you've ever made!