Nobody wants stagnant cookies. Amping up your baking and saving game could assist you keep cookies soft and just-baked delicious for days after they leave the oven– and even let you preserve your baked goods for months if you choose for freezer storage instead.
Attempt these professional pointers from Pam Weekes, founder of Levain Bakery in New York City, for a little just-baked softness in your cookies that’ll last for days.
Pam Weekes, baker and founder of Levain Bakery in New York City
Tweak your cookie recipe
Start yourself on the best path for a soft cookie by tweaking your cookie recipe to change up the texture a bit. Egg yolks have more fat in them than the egg whites, so they will help your eggs have a softer and more wet texture.
The oven’s hot, dry air is a typical culprit for developing crispier-than-intended cookies– especially if your cookies are overbaked. To help prevent that, try baking the cookies at a slightly higher temperature and a shorter time than the recipe calls for– such as 375 degrees Fahrenheit in lieu of 350 degrees. Even if you stick choose to stick with the recipe’s baking temperature level, choose to underbake the cookies a little to assist them maintain their moisture
Seal out the air to seal in the moisture.
Air is the opponent of fresh baked items– and letting them sit out on the counter or in less-than-ideal storage will lead to dry and difficult cookies. To keep your cookies soft, Weekes recommends choosing an airtight container or for even more insurance coverage versus staleness, try covering the cookies individually in plastic wrap before storing them in an airtight container or resealable bag.
That super-cute cookie container on your counter might give your cooking area a vintage ambiance, but it’ll lead to dry and stale cookies in no time flat. Cookie containers generally do not have an airtight seal and do little to safeguard your cookies from moisture-stealing air.
If you purchase cookies from a pastry shop, take them out of that cardboard pastry shop box and move them into a much better airtight storage as quickly as you can to ensure that you can enjoy them for days longer.
Shop additional cookies in the freezer, not the refrigerator
It might look like a great concept to put leftover cookies in the fridge, but Weekes says that it’s generally the worst location to put baked products. “Do not refrigerate baked items– it just dries them out and makes them harder.”
How to Freeze Cookies and Cookie Dough for as much as a Year
For any cookies that you won’t be consuming in the next couple of days, wrap them separately in plastic wrap, and put them in a freezer-safe resealable bag– making certain you eliminate as much air as possible– for the deep freeze. Well-wrapped cookies can last in the freezer for anywhere from 3 months to a year, depending upon the kind of cookie. (More delicate cookies must be delighted in earlier.).
You can thaw frozen cookies by putting them on the counter for a couple of hours, or warming them up in a 325-degree oven for 5 to 10 minutes.
Attempt a fix for difficult or stale cookies.
If your cookies still wound up on the stagnant side, there are techniques you can utilize to soften the cookies up once again. The most frequently mentioned technique is to position a soft, fresh piece of sandwich bread in an airtight container with the cookies overnight. Slowly, the cookies will pull the moisture out of the bread, leading to soft cookies, and a rock tough piece of bread.
If you can’t wait on the bread trick to work its magic, you can microwave the cookies you wish to eat right now. Wrap the cookies in a dampened paper towel, and microwave for 15 seconds to help soften your cookie.
If both cookie softening strategies fail, you can still discover methods to recycle your cookies. Pop them in the food processor and utilize the cookie crumbs for a pie crust or swirl them into ice cream.
