A cookie is a baked dough or batter that produces a flat, firm, and sweet baked goodie. The batter or dough is relatively drier than that of cake due to less liquid content. Cookies can have a variety of textures from soft, to chewy, crisp, light, dense, hard, or brittle and can be made with infinite flavour combinations. According to culinary history, small portions of cake batter were baked to gauge the oven temperature. The word cookie originates from the Dutch word koekje, which means “small cakes”. The earliest recorded history of cookies dates back to 7th century AD Persia. Sugar spread across Persia and the Mediterranean into Europe through Muslim invasions. Through centuries, cookies became an ideal travel food for sea explorers for their long shelf life and portability.
Characteristics of a cookie
Every cookie has desirable characteristics based on usage, shape, ingredients, flavour, and texture. While some cookies are preferred crisp, others could be soft. Some cookies that are cut using a decorative cookie cutter are required to hold their shape, while others can be expected to spread out. Cookies with a long shelf life or the ones that are traditionally dipped in tea are generally hard. The manipulation of these characteristics enables a baker to produce an endless variety of cookies. Factors affecting the characteristics of a cookie are:
Selection of ingredients
Proportion of ingredients
Moisture content in the dough
Moisture content in the environment
Mixing method
Portion size
The thickness of the cookie
The temperature of the oven
Baking time
The texture of cookies plays an important role as each defined texture leads to the characteristic behaviour of the cookie and then to its respective mouthfeel. The following are the defined textures of cookies:
Crispness
Crispness is achieved by controlling the moisture content of the dough. They are made of stiff dough as less quantity of liquid ingredients is used. To balance the recipe, a low or very high amount of fat and granulated sugar is used in the dough. While low sugar content yields a crisp cracker-like cookie, the recrystallisation of a large quantity of sugar adds crispness to sugar cookies. However, sugar and the use of other hygroscopic ingredients can cause crisp cookies to become soft in the presence of moisture in the environment.
Shaping cookies thin and small also helps in drying them out thoroughly and evenly during the baking process. A lower oven temperature and longer baking time allow the moisture to evaporate slowly without burning the cookies. Twice baking, as in biscotti, also results in excessive crispness. Proper storage in an airtight container is useful to retain the crispness.
Soft or cakey texture
These cookies are made with dough containing a high proportion of liquid ingredients and fat that keep the cookies tender. Humectants such as honey, molasses, glucose, invert sugar, and corn syrup can be used to retain moisture. Using weak flour also contributes to the softness of the cookies. Shaping cookies large and thick or under baking them at high temperatures for a relatively short time will preserve the moisture in the cookie. Proper storage in an airtight container will prolong the shelf life and prevent them from drying out.
Chewy texture
Chewy cookies require a fine balance of ingredients to achieve the perfect chewiness. They are generally soft cookies with high moisture content. Using a high proportion of eggs, high-gluten flour, high sugar, and high fat such as shortening in the recipe increase the chewiness of a cookie. A longer mixing time can increase gluten content in the dough and contribute to the chewy texture. Chilling the dough before baking also increases chewiness. Baking at a high temperature for a shorter time or under baking will prevent drying out of the cookie and preserve the chewiness.
Sandy texture
Sandy and crumbly texture is achieved by using the sanding mixing method to produce a dry but tender dough. The flour is coated with a high content of fat by lightly rubbing the fat and flour together and adding whole eggs or egg yolks as a binding agent and liquid ingredients.
The dough contains less sugar and liquid to control gluten development. Over mixing may lead to extremely tender cookies prone to breakage.
(The author is India’s leading pastry chef based in Bengaluru who exudes the vibe of a guru — calm, peaceful and funny. A pandora of knowledge, he is Master Shifu in disguise — a modern teacher who imbibes the art & science of baking. He’s an avid reader and a tabla player who loves to sway to his own tunes!)