Ways To Keep Cookies Both Tasty And Healthy
Baking cookies can be easy, fun and healthy. Most restaurants add extreme amounts of butter and shortening to almost any food, and cookies are no exception. The average restaurant cookie has between 6g and 47g of fat. Most of that is from butter. The cookies provided in some popular fast food chains contain as much as 50 percent of the daily saturated fat requirement in a single cookie. The world has a shortage of healthy cookies!
There are a few easy steps any cook can take to make delicious, restaurant style cookies without giving up on taste. This isn’t some ancient recipe or family secret. These are some simple replacements that can make your recipes healthier. So, grab that recipe book and prepare to scribble some notes.
First off, there is the classic butter for margarine trade off. Margarine is made from vegetable oil. That means it has no cholesterol, a highly saturated form of fat. Not all margarine is healthy. Try to find margarine that is lighter in color. This means there is less dense fat in the spread. Margarine for butter is a one for one trade that can reduce saturated fat in a cookie by over 80%. The biggest complaint with this method is that cookies lose their fluff. This happens because margarine contains more water than butter. There are two simple ways to solve this dilemma. First, trade all white sugar in the recipe for brown sugar or powdered sugar. This should remove some of the water while the cookies are baking. Alternatively, an extra little bit of egg goes a long way. If neither of those methods work to fluff up your pastries, try using margarine shortening. While a little less healthy, it is usually better than butter.
Another easy method for making healthy cookies is elimination of high fat elements altogether. Just look at your recipe and circle each high fat item. Butter can be completely replaced with apple sauce or plain yogurt. Your favorite jam can be used to replace sugar. Peanut butter can be exchanged for low fat peanut spread. Substitutions like these can dramatically reduce the fat content of a cookie without compromising taste. Avoid or replace the big calorie items like shortening, butter and lard. Most of all, don’t be afraid to experiment. Try to think of something that would give your cookie a unique taste and substitute for something unhealthy.
A few simple changes in your favorite recipe can make a world of difference to overall health. Plus, you get the benefits of avoiding fat saturated restaurant cookies. Finding the perfect mixture is adventure not science. There are always ways to keep cookies tasty and healthy.
Baking cookies for kids can be a challenge because there are so many different types of cookies, and kids can be picky about what they like or will eat. There are a few favorites that make great cookies for kids and anyone could enjoy. When it comes to pleasing kids by baking cookies, you don’t want to go with anything too different, especially with lots of different kids to please. If baking for many kids, you will need to pick a recipe that any kid would enjoy. The three types that are hits all over the country would be chocolate chip, peanut butter, and sugar cookies.
Chocolate chip cookies are pretty easy to make, and very delicious. They are standard light cookies, with chocolate chips baked in for that sweet flavor that kids all over the country love. These are typically made with eggs, flour, sugar, salt, brown sugar (for coloring), and milk chocolate chips. Kids everywhere love chocolate, and the chocolate chip cookie is a fantastic cookie for people of all ages. They are sweet, and kids and adults everywhere are fond of this all American classic. Like the apple pie, chocolate chip cookies never fail and are one of the most popular cookies anywhere.
For those looking for something different but still great cookies for kids, you can also try peanut butter cookies. Peanut butter cookies are made in much the same way as chocolate chip cookies, but have a very different flavor. Kids love peanut butter, and when baking cookies, peanut butter cookies are a great option. They have that awesome peanut butter flavor that so many people love. Kids especially like these because they are very sweet, and have that taste that can remind them of lunch time. Peanut butter cookies may be less commonly made than chocolate chip cookies, but are just as tasty.
The last of the three types of cookies virtually any kid would enjoy is sugar cookies. These Christmas classics are scrumptious all year long. Sugar cookies make great cookies for kids. One of the best aspects of baking cookies is having a cookie that can be frosted and decorated. A person can frost the other two types, but people generally don’t. Also, sugar cookies are very tasty and are often made in shapes. This is why they are such a common Christmas cookie, the cookie cutters in shapes of things like trees and reindeer. The frosting and cookies themselves make for a delicious treat all year round.
With any of these three types of cookie, you will be sure to impress any kid you want. Most people love sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and the classic chocolate chip. Enjoy!
How To Ensure Cookie Freshness For Days After Baking
Like alchemists, chefs meld unassuming elements – flour and sugar rather than lead and aluminum – into a golden gastronomic delight. But as gold tarnishes, so cookies decay and lose their unsullied sweetness. Keep fresh cookies soft and delicious for days after baking cookies with a few simple tricks.
It starts in the cabinet. Cookies with a high butterfat or margarine content stay soft longer than low-fat products. Low-fat foods also do not freeze as well as high-fat victuals. When baking cookies for a weekend getaway, choose – dare it be mentioned – high-fat cookies. They may wreak havoc on the stomach but the tongue will be in ecstasy.
After baking cookies, let them cool for a few minutes so they do not stick and then transfer them to a rack until they cool completely. Do not store hot cookies; warm desserts retain too much moisture and will become soggy and clammy, crumbling into a hodgepodge of desecrated dessert.
Select a shallow tin or plastic container. If a tin or plastic container is unavailable, use a Ziploc bag. Give each type of cookie its own jar, pan or bag; do not mix different types of cookies. Place a layer of wax paper, Saran wrap, aluminum foil or a paper towel between each layer of cookies. Do not stack the cookies too high, or the bottom pastries will be crushed.
After distributing the cookies evenly and completely throughout the container, lay a final sheet of material on top and then crown the batch with a freshly cut apple slice or piece of fresh bread; this tidbit of information is the Philosopher’s Stone of cookie crafting. The moisture from the apple or bread evaporates within the container and moisturizes the cookies. As days go by, add an apple slice or bread piece as necessary.
Fresh cookies may be stored at room temperature or frozen. Frozen food products typically last longer. Cookies with a high level of dairy products, such as cream cheese or custard, or other perishable products, should be refrigerated and wrapped in Saran wrap or tin foil. Most other cookies can also be frozen, with the exception of low-fat foods, gluten-free foods and Meringue. Fresh cookies should be tightly sealed in a container, or else the odors and taste of neighboring foods can seep into the desserts.
Has the experiment gone awry? Are the cookies too soft? Fear not – simply bake them at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for three to five minutes until crisp.
Open the refrigerator four days later. Snatch the cookie container and gently lift the lid, and usher a symphony of melodious sweetness into the nostrils. Thanks to a few homely tips, the cookies are still soft and just as scrumptious.
When baking cookies, jazzing up your cookies with add ons can add flavor, color and texture to any basic cookie recipe. Aside from the common cookie add ons used to decorate sugar cookies such as royal icing, sprinkles and glaze cookies can now be embellished with edible products that enable you to create a more artistically pleasing cookie. Edible glitter, dusting powders and sanding sugars, available in a variety of colors and flavors, can add a nice shimmer to your cookie design. Food color pens allow you to add detail and outline to your cookie creation.
Cookie add on products can be purchased at your local baker supply and craft stores or at online sites specializing in gourmet baking products. Tiny molded sugar decorations, made from finely granulated sugar that is molded into fun shapes can also be purchased for your cookie decoration project as well as fondant, sugar pearls and a wide assortment of sprinkles.
Artistically inclined individuals wishing to create a more personalized cookie might consider the process of transferring a photograph or artwork onto the cookie itself. This can be done by shrinking the selected image and duplicating it onto edible paper using a printer with edible ink. Once dry, the image peels away easily from the baking sheet and you are presented with an edible piece of fine art, almost too pretty to eat.
On a much more basic level cookie add ons can take the form of basic ingredients that are baked directly into the cookie batter or placed on top of a cookie as it is cooling. Candies, nuts and chocolate are common ingredients that blend work well with most cookie recipes. Toffee, dried fruit, peanut brittle, coconut, candied ginger or mini marshmallows will add sweetness and texture to your recipe. For a more visual effect, these add ons work nicely to top off your cookie creations: Hershey’s kiss, peanut butter cups and candy cane pieces.
Stained glass cookies can be created by melting hard candy inside a cookie frame. Flatten a sugar cookie into a basic shape and insert a small cookie cutter in the center. Remove the excess dough formed from the cutter and insert a hard candy in the center. Non edible items can also be added when baking cookies. Turn your cookie into a lollipop by simply inserting a paper lollipop stick into the batter when baking. Another fun and festive way to decorate your cookie is to add miniature birthday candles and umbrellas as your cookie is cooling. Better yet, you can make your own customized decorations to celebrate holidays and special occasions using toothpicks, stickers and colored paper. Insert your creations into your cooling and you’re done.
Three Ways To Make Cookies Stand Out From The Crowd
Whether you are making cookies for a birthday party or providing them for a wedding reception, there are a few things you can do to make them stand out from the crowd. Bakeries are raising the bar by using increasingly creative ideas and ingredients. Especially if you look online, cookies are being made to higher and more imaginative standards than ever before. So what can you do to make yours stand out? Follow these simple suggestions and you will soon have people talking about your cookies as if they were the life of the party!
The first thing you can do to when making cookies memorable is to use unique ingredients. There is no need to reinvent the recipe, but by tweaking various ingredients, you can easily create something new and delicious. For example, try adding dried fruits such as apricots or cherries to oatmeal cookies rather than plain raisins. Experiment with adding different nuts to give new life to chocolate chip cookies. For those who want to give their cookies some kick, you can even consider adding some spicy chili powder to the mix when making chocolate cookies. By working in new ingredients, you provide people with a unique flavor experience that will intrigue them!
Another way you can dress up your cookies is by making them colorful. Food dye can be added to sugar cookie recipes, and colored icing always makes a bright statement. Colored sugar crystals can also be purchased and are a beautiful way to dress a cookie for a special occasion like a wedding or holiday event. Alternatively, there is a limitless variety sprinkles in different colors and shapes available for purchase online. Cookies with fun sprinkles will always stand out against a table full of brown, beige, and otherwise colorless companions.
Finally, a great way to make your cookies stand out is to present them in a fun manner. Rather than stacking them haphazardly on a paper plate, give life to your presentation. Placing cookies on a tiered cake or appetizer stand instantly adds dimension and interest to your display. This works especially well if you have multiple types of cookies to display. Another option is to use a beautiful basket or a brightly colored bowl to hold your cookies. Adding colored tissue and ribbon can also help dress up the container and makes an inviting display. Alternatively, bring your holiday cookies to life by stringing them on a piece of ribbon and hanging them from a small tree like ornaments.
By taking the time to address a few simple things like the ingredients, color, and presentation of your cookies, you can ensure they will stand out from the crowd at any gathering!
Three Ways To Help Keep Your Cookies Moist After Baking
There is nothing quite like the taste of moist, freshly baked cookies right out of the oven. If you’ve ever made a batch of deliciously moist cookies only to have them harden up into cookie fossils, you’re not alone. The good news is there are three ways to help keep your cookies moist after baking and these little gems of information will ensure the great taste and moistness are retained for days or even weeks after they come out of the oven. This even includes cookies online.
Here is one way to ensure the softest, freshest cookies. Try adding one package of vanilla pudding to the mix when you make them. The ingredients in the pudding will help retain moisture and make some of the softest, moistest cookies you’ve ever tasted. Not only will your cookies taste great, they’ll also have a moist and soft texture that will last for twice as long as any mix without the pudding added to it. So go ahead, try it in your next batch and you could find the missing link to having moist cookies.
Another great way to keep your cookies moist after baking involves a piece of bread. Immediately after baking, allow your cookies to cool completely. Then place them in a plastic sealable container and separate the layers of cookies with wax paper. On the last layer add another piece of wax paper and place a single piece of bread on top. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread and will stay moist for much longer. Do not place the piece of bread directly on top of the cookies without wax paper in between or they will become mushy. Replace the bread with a new slice when it becomes stale or hard.
The third way to keep your cookies fresh is to put them in an airtight container, like Tupperware, after they have cooled. Then, place a moist paper towel into the container with the cookies (but not directly on them) and seal the container with a lid. Much like the bread, the cookies will suck in the moisture from the paper towel and will stay moist for much longer. When the paper towel becomes dry and assuming you still have cookies left, go ahead and replace the paper towel with another one that is moist.
Any one of these methods will guarantee your favorite cookies will taste better and stay moist for a long time. Serve them to your guests and discover how long those freshly baked cookies will last, then share your experience with keeping moist cookies online so others can see if it works for them as well.
The use of dark chocolate in baking, especially for homemade and online cookies, is gaining in popularity. Cookies and cookie bars made with dark chocolate, reduced trans-fats, and less sugars, appeal to individuals seeking a healthier diet. The chocolate provides the cookies with a deep, rich flavor while providing heart-healthy benefits.
Chocolate comes from the cacao bean. It has an ancient history, beginning with the Mayans and Aztecs around 600 B.C. The seeds of the cacao beans were roasted and ground into a paste, which was then incorporated into a hot drink. It was brought back to Spain in 1502 where its use in beverages and food grew into today’s wildly popular flavoring and snack item.
Today’s version of chocolate comes in a range of flavors—from unsweetened to milk chocolate—and in a variety of forms—from unsweetened powder to dark chocolate bars and chips. The quality of chocolate is determined by the quality of the cacao beans and the amount of cocoa butter and cocoa solids the chocolate contains.
Dark chocolate contains no milk fat solids, but it does contain cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar. Chocolate manufacturers produce dark chocolate in a variety of flavors and forms. At the far end of the spectrum is sugarless bitter chocolate, usually created as an unsweetened powder for cooking and baking. Dark chocolate falls within the bittersweet to sweet range with a minimum of 35% cocoa solids and added cocoa butter and 30% to 60% sugar. It comes in chips, bars and powders to add to baking and cooking.
Bakeries of all types recognize the heart-healthy benefits of using dark chocolate in cookie products. While dark chocolate chips and enrobing chocolate add a deep, rich flavor to the cookie, it also provides a small reduction in the amount of added sugar to the product. Dark chocolate also contains natural compounds and antioxidants that help repair cell damage and improve cholesterol levels, providing more benefits than a large, milk chocolate candy bar.
Specialty online cookies made from all-natural products, that are gluten- and allergen-free and containing antioxidant-rich ingredients, such as dark chocolate, are gaining a significant following among older adults and individuals seeking healthier diets. Specialty bakeries feature a number of popular varieties including triple chocolate chunk cookies with dark chocolate chips as one ingredient and chocolate cookies made with a dark chocolate powder. Brownies made from dark chocolate also enjoy high demand.
Cookies are not just for children. Adults who enjoy snacks made from high-quality ingredients are seeking out their childhood favorites created with more sophisticated flavors and varieties, including cookies incorporating dark chocolate. Dark chocolate chip cookies top the list of most adults’ favorites.
These days, people are paying more attention to eating healthier by reducing fat in what they eat. This is a good thing, but can be problematic when trying to reduce fat yet still have a tasty and delicious meal. Butter is one of the main culprits when it comes to foods that have high fat content yet are indispensable for many dishes and recipes. Fortunately, there are butter alternatives for a variety of situations, such as online cookies recipes, desserts, and other dishes. This article will offer a nice selection of alternatives for butter in everyday cooking.
First, it helps to learn about the nutritional content in butter itself. According to the FDA, a standard serving amount of 1 tablespoon of butter has 100 calories (64% come from fat), 11 grams of fat, 0 grams of carbohydrates and 0 grams of protein. Considering that many people use more than 1 tablespoon of butter in several dishes – such as desserts and entrees – the amount of fat can add up quickly.
One of the more common butter alternatives today is vegetable oil spreads, which can be found in supermarkets everywhere. Vegetable oil spreads have mild flavors and can be used in baking as well as other types of cooking. How does this alternative stack up to the real thing? One tablespoon of vegetable oil spread has approximately 45 calories and just 5 grams of fat – over 50% of what is in an equal serving of butter.
For those who enjoy baking and need a low-fat alternative to butter, there is actually a surprising choice that not many people know about: fruit puree. Taking a fruit puree butter made from dried plums and apples drastically cuts down the amount of fat and adds more nutrients. Moreover, one only needs a half-cup of fruit puree to replace one full cup of butter. A one-tablespoon serving of puree has 35 calories and 0 grams of fat.
Oils also make good alternatives to butter in a variety of dishes, particularly in baked goods but also with vegetables, breads, and other foods that usually are cooked with or accompanied by butter. One of the most popular and tasty substitutes is olive oil which is famous for being one of the healthiest cooking ingredients around. Olive oil, especially extra virgin oil, has been linked to reducing risk for heart disease and colon cancer. One tablespoon of olive oil has 14 grams of fat but in contrast to butter, the fat contained in olive oil such as omega-9 fatty acids, is actually good for the body.
Cooking with any of these butter alternatives is sure to lower fat and make healthier dishes that are just as tasty.
Where To Find The Best Selection Of Pecan Cookies Online
For one of the best selections of pecan cookies online there are a number of options. Depending on what extra features the cookie will have, the choices are tantalizing. There are a great many recipes with pecans in the cookie and yet another choice to consider is the container that the cookies come in. If chocolate and pecans sound delicious a great choice to make is a delicious chocolate and pecan cookie. Ordering a minimum of 2 dozen is required from some websites. The chocolate and pecan cookie is made with from an original chocolate chunk cookie with the main ingredient, mammoth sweet pecan halves being added in. To top off this scrumptious delivery of pecan cookies, upgrade your purchase with a decorative and festive tin.
If having the best selection causes too much temptation and fears of putting on too many extra calories, there is a low calorie alternative to consider, if one must have these snacks, in the sugarless pecan chocolate chip cookies. In fact, some websites specialize in baking ‘Lite ‘cookies. They make these pecan cookies without sugar so they are safe for diabetics. These cookies come in an 11-ounce bag and are a good value at a reasonable price. There are special offers available to purchase them. They can be found on the various large vending websites. It is possible to type lite cookies into a search engine and find them quickly and easily. There are two varieties to choose from of these cookies: sugar free pecan chocolate chip cookies and lite cookies sugar free oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with pecans in an 11-ounce bag.
Now for the very best selection of cookies with pecans and other decadent ingredients that can be purchased online, all you have to do is a little research. Deluxe chocolate petites are available at a number of websites. Each year companies make the best deserts, fruitcakes, pies and cookies with none other than Texas pecans. These are bite sized petite cookies covered with milk chocolate. Inside are pineapples and papaya mixed in with Texas pecans. These fancy and moist pecan delicacies are the ultimate in party delights and most would find them to be the very best selection.
By searching online, it is easy to purchase pecan cookies of all varieties. Another option to go with these cookies that are available on is rich gourmet Costa Rican coffee. What a perfect combination to go with these delightful cookies. There are three more varieties of the petites to order if pecans are the theme: fruitcake petites, deluxe petites and pineapple petites.
