15 Best Cookie Baking Tips!

If you’re looking for some tips, tricks and ideas for baking the best cookies, you’re in the right spot! I’m sharing 15 Best Cookie Baking Tips, all easy, practical and make sense. You got this you cookie baker you!

Whether you’ve been baking cookies for years, or you’re just starting out, these cookie baking tips work for all skill levels. Simple tips that make a big difference in the quest for the perfect cookie!

Use room temperature ingredients.

I know this is hard to do, especially when you decide to bake on a whim. But if you can, have butter and eggs at room temperature.

BUTTER: Room temperature butter creams much better with sugar than cold butter. Note that room temperature butter isn’t warm butter, it’s soft butter (soft enough to press your finger into).
EGGS: Eggs mix up better when they’re not cold. Cold eggs can also cause a separation of the creamed butter and sugar…you may have seen this happen when after you’ve added a cold egg to the creamed butter mixture and all of a sudden it all looks a little like curdled soup. If you have cold eggs, you can float them (whole) in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes before using them.

Use cookie scoops.

Have a set of cookie scoops in different sizes, depending on how big you want your cookies to be. Cookie scoops help to make perfect sized cookies and cookie batches all the same size which means more even baking. It’s all about consistency.

A tray of freshly baked Condensed Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chill the dough.

I almost never do this, but truthfully we really should. Cookie dough that has been allowed to cool and rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge, almost always results in better cookies. Better shape, better texture, better flavour. Chill the dough.

Add extra chocolate to the tops before baking.

After you’ve put the cookie batter onto a baking sheet, top each cookie dough ball with extra chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. This makes cookies extra chocolatey and they look really great too! These Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies are a great example!

Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Baking sheets should be lined with parchment paper. This will ensure that cookies come off the pan easily after they’ve baked. You can see my favourite parchment paper sheets in this post of my favourite kitchen dollar store items. Silicone baking mats also work.

Use parchment paper more than once!

And speaking of parchment paper you can use it more than once, there’s no need to toss it between batches. Yes! I reuse parchment paper for cookies over and over (at least 3 times if it’s not too greasy).

a top down view of a baking sheet filled with unbaked Cookies n’ Creme Stuffed Oatmeal Cookies

Bake 1 tray of cookies at a time.

If you try to put 2 trays of cookies in the oven at the same time to bake, chances are the cookies will over bake. Only bake 1 tray at a time. I know this takes longer, but trust me, it’s worth taking the time.

Use the middle rack in the oven.

Bake cookies on the middle rack in the oven. This position allows for the best heat and air circulation in the oven, which means more evenly baked cookies.

Don’t put cookie dough on a warm baking sheet.

When I bake cookies I usually have 2 trays going at once. One in the oven, one cooling. Warm baking pans will melt the the cookie dough and you can end up with cookies that spread out and don’t bake properly.

Preheat the oven.

Always preheat your oven first. That way it’s ready to go when you are.

Don’t over bake!

I like to under bake most of my cookies by a couple of minutes. So if a recipe says bake for 12 minutes, I usually bake for 9 or 10 minutes. Doing this makes for a more soft and chewy cookie. This is especially true for Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Bake a test cookie.

If you really want to know how a batch of cookies will turn out, bake a test cookie or two first. If the cookie doesn’t turn out the way you wanted, you can adjust the baking time, or chill the dough longer.

If using raisins, let them plump up in water first.

I swear by this cookie tip! Any time there are raisins in the ingredients I let them sit in warm water for at least 5 minutes before I add them to the batter (just make sure to drain all the excess water first). This makes the raisins more soft in the baked cookie, and the cookies are also much softer and more chewy after doing this. A great example are these Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Let cookies cool on the baking sheet.

Don’t try to take cookies off of the baking sheet too soon. Let them rest about 5 minutes before moving them on to a wire cooling rack. If you try to transfer them away too soon, the cookies will break apart.

You can freeze cookie dough balls.

Freezing cookie dough batter is a great make-ahead cookie tip! Once the batter is made, roll it into balls, place on a baking sheet, freeze for a few hours. Then place the frozen dough balls into a ziplock bag and put in the freezer for up to a month. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, you can bake them from frozen. If you bake from frozen, reduce the oven temperature in the recipe by 25 degrees, then bake for about 3 minutes less than required.