7 Rules For Making Perfect Cookies From Scratch Every Time, Plus 1 Great Buttermilk Cookie Recipe

Making cookies isn’t an exact science, but it does require some basic tips and techniques to get the job done right. Take any cookie recipe you have (see below), apply these 7 simple rules to that recipe, and you’ll make perfect homemade cookies every time.

1) Use a good low gluten soft wheat flour.

2) Sift the flour once by itself, then sift it again with the other dry ingredients in the recipe. This will create the perfect lightness to your cookies.

3) The best textured and flaky biscuits are made when lard is used as the fat in the biscuit recipe. If you don’t feel right using all the lard for your biscuits, try using half the lard and half the shortening. But never use vegetable oils in any cookie recipe.

4) Cool the container and used fat, and work quickly to prevent the fat from melting. Each grain of flour should be coated in fat to prevent water from activating the gluten in the flour. If you turn on the gluten, you’ll end up with a hard, heavy cookie.

5) Buy a good cookie cutter that makes a nice, sharp cut. You also need to allow air to escape (an open top), which gives the cookies a chance to rise properly.

6) Pat the cookie dough just once. Re-rolling the dough will cause the gluten in the cookie recipe to stiffen the dough, making very heavy, dense cookies.

7) For even baking, turn the baking sheet once during cooking. If you bake more than one full cookie sheet at a time, change the positions of the sheets once during baking.

Before baking powder was invented, cooks always used buttermilk in cookies. This would help them get up. Although it still works today, people go more for the flavor the buttermilk provides than its ability to lift cookie dough.

Buttermilk Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups good soft wheat flour

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

3 tablespoons lard, very cold

2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, refrigerated

1 cup chilled buttermilk

Addresses:

Place the oven rack in the middle and preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a baking tray.

Sift in the flour, then sift all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Using a large fork or pastry blender, blend the lard and shortening together to form a complete meal.

Pour in the buttermilk and mix the ingredients until a sticky dough forms.

Flour your hands and a pastry board or counter. Scoop out the dough and knead it gently, just 4-6 times. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut the dough with a 2- to 3-inch round cookie cutter or round cookie cutter.

Move the cookies to the baking sheet, arranging them so they just barely harden against each other. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until they are puffed up and a golden brown in color (remember to turn the baking sheet halfway).

Serve the cookies hot and buttered.