This morning I made cookies for what I think is the first time ever in my life. They were not a disaster BUT they were not great either. That said I definitely want to try and make more cookies in the future so I think I need the blogsphere`s help because obviously if I go at it on my own I will get cookies that look like the above.
The recipe I followed was somewhere off the net and I used mini m&ms instead of normal sized ones and also halved the recipe due to my tiny oven.
1 cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups M&M’S® Chocolate (reserve 1/2 cup for decorating)
Heat oven to 375°F (approx 190 degrees celsius). Beat sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Stir in 1-3/4 cup M&M’S® Chocolate Mini Baking Bits. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press several additional M&M’S® Chocolate Mini Baking Bits into each cookie. Bake for 9-12 minutes or until golden brown.
I made BIG teaspoons of the mixture and also I only beat the sugars and butter with a spoon and fork. So what do you think I did wrong? The edges turned out a bit burnt and crispy and the flavour of the cookies was not fantastic. I mean I will eat them (and I could probably force a few down Shun`s throat) but I was disappointed with how they turned out.
So I need cookie baking hints! Do you think it could also be due the fact I used a microwave oven instead of a normal oven. Most of you J-girls out there no what I mean since very rarely do any of us have a traditional oven like we find back home.
Please share your favourite cookie recipes for me to try!
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I am just a twenty something Aussie girl living in Chiba, Japan with my Japanese husband trying to make sense of the crazy Japanese world we live in! We welcomed our first son in December 2009 (Noah) and a second son in January 2011, 2 months premature (Shion). I am working hard at raising them to be confident, bilingual, happy kids!
hmmmmmmm Okay I have a regular oven and a smaller version of a regular oven and to be HONEST I always use my smaller version because it has more bells and whistles and it heats evenly.
With cookies, you have to take them out (I do) as they begin to brown, they will still be cooking even after you have removed them, it depends on what type of cookie you like.. soft and chewy or crunchy.
I just posted a no-frills-no-fail cookie recipe, if you don’t have any nibs ,you can just use a choco bar (Lotte) or Ghana are the best. Measurements for a beginning baker should be precise esp with sugar, as sugar allows the cookie to spread until you get used to your oven, keep a constant eye this way you can tell if you need to pull them out before time.
I would say the number one key rule is pulling them out as soon as the edges begin to turn in color. Did you use cookie flour?
I`ve had problems with cookies here also (the ones that weren`t in the instant mix bags from the US anyways). Definitely take them out of the oven before you think you need to, other than that I have no clue, might be why I just stick to cheesecake.
I’m not very good with giving advice on cooking. If the recipe I tried doesn’t work out for me I usually just throw it away… LOL!! Blame it completely on the recipe
The only thing I would suggest is possibly beat the sugar and butter with a mixer until it becomes light and fluffy – I remember doing that all the time with mum when I was little. It was one of the jobs that I was given because it was do-able for a child. Not sure how much difference it would make to the overall cookie though…
We can go through my recipe book when you come down and see if there are any recipes you want to try and maybe we could make them together? I have to admit, I haven’t made any cookies in Japan so it could get interesting
i hate cookies made with butter (always come out too flat and too crisp) so having said that…you really do need to cream the fat (butter) and sugars well. that is very important, to have them blended well. a hand mixer is great for that! also, regular japanese flour isn’t quite right for baking cookies. even the 中 flour isn’t that great. mixing the ‘weak’ (cake) flour and the ‘strong’ (bread) flour is best, one part cake to three parts bread. that will help with the flour. you can also add a bit of baking powder to your flour (maybe between 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) to help with rising (that’s different from baking soda). next, refrigerate your dough before cooking. you want very firm dough. then, bake at a lower temperature for a longer time. if it’s ten minutes at 190 C, try 12 minutes at 170 C. keep your eye on it and when they seem to be turning brown, take them out. but you don’t want to under-cook them, either. last of all, those measurements seem to be american, which is different than japanese. did you convert to metric? your ratios may have been off (cups are different, teaspoon/tablespoon is the same between the US and japan) and that may be why it doesn’t quite taste good.
i hope you get this all figured out and make awesome cookies in the future!!
Hey there,
I reckon extra beating is the answer… probably with a hand held electric beater. You need to get the butter and sugar really light and fluffy before you add the other ingredients. (You can prob get a beater at Don Quixote or similar for about ¥2000)
When I was in Japan I always used our mini-oven for baking and it was mostly fine. I didn’t even know there were different kinds of flour there! I just picked one randomly at the supermarket. I must have got lucky because everything turned out okay.
They look pretty good for a first attempt!
x
Hello!
First post from a lurker here
My favourite and very very easy biscuit recipe (with no flour necessary!) are peanut butter and dark chocolate biscuits:
1 cup (260g) crunchy peanut butter
1 cup (200g) brown sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 cup (185g) dark choc bits
Preheat oven to 200°C. Lightly grease two baking trays and line with non-stick baking paper. Combine peanut butter, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and egg in a bowl. Stir in choc bits.
Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls and place on the prepared tray. Press lightly with a fork. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until light golden. Leave to cool on the trays then place into an airtight container.
My oven takes EXACTLY 8 minutes to cook these and even a few seconds over tends to burn them – so they have to be watched carefully the first time you bake them and then timed precisely each time thereafter!
I love this recipe because it uses few ingredients, they are so quick and they are DELICIOUS!
Hmm I do like to bake cookies, though I have a full size oven here in the US. I normally do beat the egg and sugar with a fork or a whisk then slowly fold the dry ingredients in a little at a time until creamy and then continue adding more until it’s all folded in. It is also important to keep an eye to make sure they aren’t getting too crisp on the edges like others above have said.
I assume over in Japan you have a tini oven or is it just a microwave oven? Sorry for the question, would just make it easier for me to help
Thank you all for all of the hints!
I am definitely going to refer back to this post when I make my next bunch of cookies- hopefully they turn our much better!
I think I need a hand held beater so have added it to the list of things we need (along with region free dvd player and a thing for making nabe at the table!)
I have a website dedicated to cookie baking with lots of tips and advice that may help. Since cookies have so few ingredients, the quality of them is very important. US flour tends to have a higher protein content than that available in other parts of the world, which will definitely have an impact on the cookie’s texture and your picture looks like they cooked too long. Heavy aluminum cookie sheets lined with parchment paper helps prevent burning.
You may want to start with no bake cookies and cookies made from a cake mix which are surprisingly good.