It's Not Magic: You Can Keep Christmas Cookies Soft and Chewy for Days
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Freshly baked cookies: Is there anything better when you want something sweet? They're almost instant gratification, which is hard to say about practically another other baked good. Layered cakes need assembly. Fruit pies need to rest and set up. Frozen desserts need to firm up for hours. Not cookies, though! They bake fast, cool fast, and probably disappear fast in your household.
But rarely do you see a cookie recipe that makes just a few cookies. Typically, they make dozens, which is good news when you want to snack on more over the next few days. But that's also bad news, because cookies can start to go stale and hard quickly. That is unless you know how to keep cookies soft!
There are tips to keeping cookies soft and chewy before, during, and after they're baked to help combat the inevitability of them going stale. These are great to keep in mind as peak baking season approaches. They will make the holiday cookie plates for friends and family last longer, even if you plan to ship the cookies. Hooray for no more wasted baked goodness!
Ingredients That Keep Cookies Soft
Cookies go stale because the moisture eventually evaporates out of them. So it stands to reason that the softer and chewier the cookie is to begin with, the more likely it is to stay that way longer. While altering an established recipe is risky unless you really know what you're doing, our suggestion is look for recipes that already have these characteristics for greater success:
Melted butter: Creaming room temperature butter with sugar creates air. When you use melted butter instead, less air is incorporated, lending to a chewier texture.
Darker and liquid sugars: Brown sugar has a higher moisture content than granulated white sugar. So, the higher the ratio of brown sugar will lend to a chewier, moister cookie like Ree Drummond's Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies. Liquid sugar like molasses in gingerbread and molasses cookies or corn syrup work similarly.
Egg yolks: Cookies that call for egg yolks rather than egg whites or whole eggs are usually chewier due to the added fat in the dough.
Fruits and vegetables: Bananas and applesauce are often used as substitutes for eggs because of their moisture content. They're also tasty in their own right (applesauce cookies for example). Don't forget pumpkin puree recipes or cookies featuring zucchini or carrots, too!
Baking Tips to Keep Cookies Soft
There are a few basic baking rules to keep in mind that can effect a cookie's texture and moisture content, no matter what recipe you use:
Measure your ingredients carefully. Baking is a science! If you add too much flour or skimp on the milk, your resulting cookie will not be as soft or moist.
Don't overmix the dough. Speaking of flour, if you overmix the dough, chances are you'll form more gluten which will cause a tough cookie.
Don't over bake your cookies. In fact, many bakers will tell you it's better to underbake by a minute or two as long as they are set than over bake, so you retain more moisture. Remember, cookies will continue to cook after you pull them out anyway.
Bake the cookies the same day. That doesn't mean you have to bake all the cookies at once. Rather it means it's okay to make dough in advance and freeze it until the day you're ready to serve.
Storage Tips to Keep Cookies Soft
Okay, say you did everything right until this point to troubleshoot cookies. Well guess what? They'll still go stale if you don't store them properly. As much as you want to put them in that pretty cookie jar, if it's not airtight, your cookies will be rock hard real fast. Once cookies are cooled, it's best to keep them in lidded food storage containers or a sealed plastic bag.
To further combat moisture evaporation or to soften cookies that you may have overbaked, try adding a slice of sandwich bread to the container or bag before you seal it. The cookies will actual steal the moisture from the bread, keeping them soft for an extra day or two. (Though that means the bread will go bad!)
Another trick? Try a brown sugar saver! The same way these terracotta cuties ensure that brown sugar doesn't go hard will have the same effect on cookies. Plus, they are reusable so you can keep them around for years for this purpose alone (though do have one on hand to soften brown sugar, too).
The Pioneer Woman 4-Piece Terracotta Sugar Savers Set
The Pioneer Woman 2-Piece Nonstick Aluminum Cookie Sheets
The Pioneer Woman Stoneware Cookie Jar
The Pioneer Woman Ceramic Mixing Bowl Set
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