Cookies are a treat many of you love: delicious, sweet, fragrant and great with just about anything. Today we want to share some fun facts about cookies. Let's take a look.
A cookie is sometimes also called a biscuit, and in fact there is no real difference, only where the name comes from: "cookie" is the American term, while "biscuit" is the British one. In Thailand most people call these treats cookies, but calling them biscuits isn't wrong either. Cookies are easy to bake, can be found everywhere in the market and are hugely popular. Let's start with the basics.
Types of Cookies
There are many kinds of cookies, depending on their shape and the type and texture of the dough used. Cookies can be divided as follows:
- Drop cookies: The dough is moderately soft and can be dropped onto the tray with a spoon or piped from a bag.
- Rolled cookies: The dough is stiffer and drier than drop cookie dough and must be firm enough to roll out without sticking to the surface. It can be cut into various shapes and dusted with icing sugar or decorated as you like.
- Bar cookies: The batter is runny enough to pour into a tray, bake and cut into any shape you like. Some are cake-like, while others are crisp.
- Pressed cookies: Made by pressing dough through a cookie press into various shapes. The dough is high in fat and fairly soft.
- Molded cookies: Very high in fat, which keeps the dough from becoming tough and makes the cookies softer. The dough is shaped into balls or logs by hand, then pressed flat.
- Refrigerator cookies: The dough must be firm enough to shape into a log, which is wrapped in baking paper or cloth and chilled in the fridge to firm up, then cut into slices.
Baking Cookies
- Small, flat cookies need only a short baking time.
- The ideal baking temperature is 180 to 200°C.
- Take cookies out of the oven as soon as they are done; you can tell when the top and bottom start to turn brown.
- Drop or shape the dough into equal-sized pieces so they all bake at the same rate.
Storing Cookies
All cookies except bar cookies should be removed from the tray straight away while still warm and left to cool on a rack. Don't stack them, or they may stick together and lose their shape. Cake-like cookies such as bar cookies or brownies should be stored in a tightly sealed container, while crisp cookies should be kept in a container with a loose-fitting lid. Cookies that have lost their crunch after being stored for a long time can be re-baked at a moderate temperature of about 150°C, but don't bake them too long or they will burn.
And those are our fun facts about cookies.
