Chocolate Frosted Peanut Butter Cookies
- Melt chocolate chips or chocolate squares SLOWLY. If you use the microwave, heat at least 1 cup of chips for 1 minute and then stir. If morsels are not all melted, heat for 10 second intervals, stirring each time, until morsels are melted.
- Some chips are more delicate, including milk chocolate, butterscotch and white morsels. Melt those at 70% power in the same manner as above.
- Be prepared for special occasions, last minute gatherings or snack time anytime by keeping cookies or dough on hand in the freezer. Place cookie dough in freezer bags or storage containers and freeze for up to two months. Thaw the dough, sealed, at room temperature, and bake as usual.
- Freeze baked & cooled cookies for up to three or four months. For snacks, wrap two cookies, back to back, in freezer wrap. Or, freeze cookies in freezer bags or storage containers. Thaw cookies, sealed, at room temperature. For a fresh-baked taste, place thawed cookies on baking sheets. Bake cookies in a preheated 300 degree oven for a few minutes or until heated through. Serve immediately.
- For baking, it’s best to use butter or regular stick margarine. However, if you prefer using a lower-fat margarine, choose one with no less than 60% vegetable oil. Products labeled as spread and diet container less fat and more water and tend to produce a cookie that is more cake-like and less crisp around the edges.
- Grease baking sheets only when the recipe recommends it. Some cookies spread too much if the sheet is greased.
- Cool pans between batches of cookies. If you put dough on warm sheets, the dough will begin to spread and cook immediately.
- To prevent cookies from spreading too much on warm or humid days, spoon cookie dough onto baking sheets, then refrigerate sheets for a few minutes before baking.
- Use a cookie dough scoop to make uniform size cookies. If cookies are different sizes, they’ll cook unevenly.
- Bake cookies or brownies on the middle rack of the oven, one pan at a time, to prevent over-darkened bottoms and uncooked tops.
- Let most cookies sit on the baking sheet for 1 or 2 minutes to continue cooking and become firm enough to remove from the baking sheets. Then transfer to wire racks.
- Don’t stack cookies on top of each other until they are thoroughly cooled. If you do, you’ll have one giant cooked!
- Measure oats as you would flour by spooning the oats into a dry measuring cup, then leveling off with a spatula. If you use the scoop-and-shake method, you’ll use more oats than you should and that will result in dry cookies.
- When baking light, be sure to follow the recipe directions carefully. Lower-fat cookies are less forgiving than regular cookies because they have less of the fat that provides structure, tenderness and moisture and promotes browning. When margarine is specified, use regular stick margarine, not a “spread” or “diet margarine”.
- Once flour has been added to the dough, take care not to over mix the dough. Too much handling can produce tough cookies.
- Preheat the oven for 10-15 minutes before beginning to bake cookies. Also remember that oven temperatures vary. So check the cookies a couple of minutes before the minimum baking time.
- To quickly and easily cut rolled and chilled cookie dough, use your electric knife.
- For cookies that require balls of dough rolled in sugar, put a few balls in a covered container of sugar and shake to coat. It saves time and is less messy.
- Here’s a way to prepare cutout cookies that makes it simple for children to help. Very lightly grease a cookie sheet and roll the dough out on it. Cut out as many cookies as possible with a bit of space between them, then peel away the scraps from around your cutouts. This method also works less flour into the dough.
- If you only have thin, lightweight baking sheets, place one directly on top of the other to prevent cookies from over browning.
- If your drop cookies are spreading too much, chill the dough before baking and be sure to use a cool baking sheet. The next time, replace part of the butter in the recipe with shortening. If using margarine, check the label and make sure it contains 80% vegetable oil.
- When using cookie cutters, either dip the cutter in flour or spray it with cooking spray so the dough doesn’t stick.
- With its unique moist texture, brown sugar (granulated sugar combined with molasses) needs to be packed into the measuring cup with your hands or the back of a spoon for consistency in measuring.
- To make refrigerator cookie dough easier to slice, use nuts and fruits that are finely chopped – if they’re too large, the cookie dough may break apart when sliced.
- When cutting cookie dough that has been rolled and refrigerated, rotate the roll after each slice to avoid having one side that’s flat.
- When stacking cooked and cooled cookies in a storage container, place a piece of wax paper between each layer.
Was there anything on this list you didn’t know?
