Cream Your Way to A Better Cookie

The chocolate chip cookie intrigues me. While it is one of the most common, basic cookies out there, it has varying faces. Depending on the recipe and technique, the chocolate chip cookie can end up being soft, chewy, thin or crispy. There are many factors that help a cookie baker control its outcome and one such technique lies in the creaming stage (the process of mixing fat with sugar). I gleaned the following helpful tip from the book Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen:

The amount of creaming affects the texture of the cookie, the leavening, and the spread. Only a small amount of creaming is desired when the cookie must retain its shape and not spread too much. Also, if the cookie is very short (high in fat and low in gluten development), or if it is thin and delicate, too much creaming will make the cookie too crumbly.

Depending on how you like your cookies, whether it's chocolate chip or oatmeal raisin, you can control the outcome. So before you turn your mixer on high-speed, think about what you want your cookie to look like when it comes out of the oven!