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40 Hacks to Help You Bake Like a Pro

By,
Gourmandize

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Chill Cookie Dough Before Baking

To get the optimal appearance and texture for any type of cookie, be sure to chill the cookie dough before baking. Aim for at least an hour, but ideally overnight. Doing this ensures your cookies won't spread out and flatten too much while baking, and they'll have that coveted chewiness to them. Actually, the longer you chill your cookie dough, the more flavor the cookies will have (it becomes more concentrated while drying out) and the darker in color they'll be (re: beautifully golden brown). 


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Ingredients

  • 2 large water or soda bottles (empty)
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 sticks butter
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 tbsp cocoa powder

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
  2. Ready 2 large plastic bottles, cleaned and dried.
  3. Add 1 cup of flour to each bottle.
  4. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to each.
  5. Melt butter, then add equal halves to each bottle.
  6. Add 6 eggs, 3 in each.
  7. Add 1/2 tbsp of baking powder to each.
  8. Add 1/2 cup of heavy cream to each.
  9. Shake the bottles thoroughly until the contents are well mixed.
  10. In one of the bottles only, add the cocoa powder.
  11. Beginning with the cocoa powder mixture, add a dolop of batter to the center of a circular
  12. baking tin. Do the same with the other mixture, placing the dolop directly in the center of the previous one.
  13. Continue with alternating additions of each mixture until all batter is used and the tin is full.
  14. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
  15. Serve and enjoy!