I'm a full-time baker who has attended pastry school in France, completed a baking course in China, and worked in several bakeries in New York City.
Needless to say, I've made my fair share of cookies over the years.
Whether it's a matcha-flavored crinkle option or a take on a classic chocolate chip, I've learned what works and what doesn't.
Here are eight tips and tricks I've gathered along my baking journey for making the best cookies.
Using a kitchen scale instead of a measuring cup keeps my batches consistent.
Measuring cups are convenient, but the measurements themselves can vary depending on how tightly an ingredient is packed, how it's scooped, or even the type of cup being used.
This is especially true for ingredients like flour and sugar, where too much or too little can affect the final texture. Too much flour can make cookies dry, dense, or cakey, while too little can make them spread too much or feel greasy.
So, for the most accurate results, I like to convert all my measurements from cups to grams and use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients.
Measuring by weight gives me more control, reduces guesswork, and makes it much easier for me to recreate the same results every time I bake.
Bringing ingredients to room temperature creates a smoother dough.
Regardless of what kind of cookie I'm baking, I always make sure my eggs, butter, and milk are at room temperature before mixing the dough together.
This helps the ingredients combine more smoothly and create a more stable emulsion, allowing the fats and liquids to blend together evenly without the dough separating or appearing curdled.
A strong emulsion also allows the dough to aerate, creating a lighter, more even cookie texture.
I like to splurge on higher-quality butter for richer cookies.
One of the easiest ways to improve a cookie's flavor is to use higher-quality ingredients. In my experience, the butter I use is especially important.
Since butter typically makes up a large part of the dough, using one with a richer flavor can make the cookies taste that much more decadent.
Overmixing the dough can lead to a tougher texture.
Once the flour is added to the dough, I recommend mixing only until the flour streaks are no longer visible.
When the dough is overmixed at this stage, too much gluten is developed in the flour, resulting in a tougher final cookie.
Overmixing also incorporates extra air into the dough, which can cause a cookie to lose its definition and tender texture after baking.
When I'm using a stand mixer, I like to remove the dough and mix in the remaining flour by hand to prevent any excess stirring.
Resting the dough in the fridge is an important step.
Many recipes will call for chilling the dough in the fridge before baking. I know it can be tempting to just throw them in the oven, but I promise, they'll be worth the wait.
Resting the dough helps the flavors deepen and gives the flour time to fully hydrate, creating a richer, more developed cookie.
Additionally, chilled dough ensures cookies hold their shape and spread more evenly during baking.
But before the dough graces the inside of my refrigerator, I like to form it into individual-sized scoops, since it can be difficult to do so after it's chilled.
I recommend spacing out cookies on the baking sheet before placing them in the oven.
Once the dough is ready to go, I like to give each cookie scoop about 2 inches of space on the baking sheet, so that once they're in the oven, the heat can evenly distribute around each one — creating a crispy edge.
Another tip: I like to place the tray on the center rack of the oven so the cookies bake evenly on the top and bottom.
Underbaking is better than overbaking.
Nothing is worse than pulling out burned cookies from the oven. To prevent this, I like to take them out one to two minutes before they are fully baked.
Removing them from the heat slightly early will create lightly golden edges.
Even though the center may seem a little soft, the cookies will continue to cook as they cool due to the residual heat from the baking tray.
The result: a perfectly-cooked dessert that looks like it's straight out of a bakery.
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Allison Chen is a New York City-based pastry chef, recipe developer, and content creator. She has built an audience around ambitious desserts, storytelling, and educational baking content that makes complex recipes feel more achievable. Her work and expertise have led to features in Food Network, Business Insider, and as a guest judging the NYC best croissant competition in collaboration with the US French Embassy. Recently, Allison’s work has expanded beyond recipe development into entrepreneurship, including launching her own apron line and opening Kitsby, a baking event space.
