If you have ever struggled with baking cookies, then learning how to make cookies from scratch can sometimes seem like a daunting task.

There are many key elements that you should consider before you ever consider baking a batch of cookies from scratch.

Chewy, crispy, frozen cookie dough. All of these things can be mastered, if you follow these simple steps outlined below.

It doesn’t matter if you are a novice, or an expert, the key to the perfect cookie is being sure to perfect EVERY single step in the cookie-making process!

Here’s How To Make Cookies From Scratch

To make things easier, you should always first gather your cookie utensils, bowls, and baking pan.  As well as other items that you will use while preparing your cookies.   You will then need to prepare a clean work surface, and preheat your oven to the required temperature.   Next, gather your ingredients, and get ready to bake!

Your Ingredients Should Always Be At Room Temperature

Your ingredients most likely include items that are typically stored in the refrigerator.  When using these ingredients, you should always let them get to room temperature before mixing them into your cookie dough.

Chilled ingredients can drastically affect the end result of your delightful cookie, so it’s always best to be sure that these ingredients are room temperature warm.

This can affect the taste, texture and even appearance of your baked goods.

If you are baking cookies to sell for profit, then you most certainly want to ensure that they look and taste their very best!

The Eggs Should Be Left Out For At Least 30 Minutes

Eggs are a chilled ingredient that can wreak havoc on your recipe if you try to use them when they are still cool.  Never use eggs straight from the refrigerator when you are baking cookies.

Cold eggs can re-harden your fat (butter) which can cause curdles in your batter.  This can affect the texture of your batter in a very negative way.

The eggs can cause your room temperature butter to harden, which will then cause a lump” of butter in your batter.  When you bake your cookies, these “lumps” will then melt.  This consequently “fry” (instead of bake) the inner edges of the holes the lumps created.

Not only can this create a texture that is not as pleasing to the palate.  It can also cause your cookies to have a hint of “burnt cookie dough” taste.

Consider This Greatly If You Wish To Learn The Main Method On How To Make Cookies From Scratch

Consider this, if your butter is room temperature, then it is going to be smoother and creamier than cold or chilled butter.  This alone can cause a great recipe to go from great to disaster within a few seconds!

You should always use butter that has gotten to room temperature.  It will blend more smoothly into the batter causing it to bake evenly with no lumpy, crispy burnt tasting holes in the dough.

To help your butter warm quickly, cut the sticks of butter into smaller cubes.

Butter should be left out for 30 minutes to one hour.  Any less than this will cause your butter to be too cool.

Anything more will cause your butter to be too soft.  Resulting in a consistency that will not whip up very smoothly.

What Other Cold Ingredients Should Be Left out To Get Room Temperature?

Anything cold will probably need to be left out to get to room temperature.  Things like milk, cream, cream cheese etc.

If you use anything chilled, then it too can cause the other ingredients to react negatively.

Cold milk can chill eggs and butter, causing lumps of fat, and bits of cooked egg to be in your batter.

Imagine the horror of someone biting into one of your cookies, and finding a white piece of cooked egg that had not been blended fully!  That can certainly cause someone to never desire one of your cookies again!

To be on the safe side, if it’s a “chilled” or “cold” ingredient, leave it out for at least 30 minutes so that it can warm up a bit.  If it needs to be used chilled, then the recipe you are following will state this.  If it’s not stated, then always warm those ingredients to room temperature!

Step-By-Step Instructions That Explain How To Make Cookies From Scratch

Step One:  The first thing you should always do, is to preheat your oven.  You never want to put cookie dough in a cool oven, so turn it on before you even begin gathering your ingredients.

Step Two: Gather your ingredients together, and allow the cool ingredients to sit out to get to room temperature as your oven preheats.

Step Three: As you are waiting, you can sift all of your dry ingredients (excluding sugar).  This will help produce a smoother texture, and remove any lumps in your flour.  This will also result in a fluffier, more yummy cookie!

Step Four: Cream your butter and sugar.   This step is hard to explain in text format, so please enjoy the video below.  It shows exactly how you should cream the butter and sugar, to create the fluffiest cookie imaginable! https://youtu.be/bV3OB7IxzH0

Step Five: Beat the eggs into your sugar and butter mixture. Add one egg at a time, blend it in well, and then add another.

When cracking your eggs, be sure to crack them in a separate dish and not directly into your butter mix.  This will ensure that no shells fall into your batter, and lets you check the egg to be sure it looks “good” and not rancid or bad.  This step is very important if you use fresh eggs!

Step Six: Add the dry ingredients that you sifted earlier and gently fold this into your mix.  Do not beat it, or it will overwork it making for a hard, tough cookie.

Step Seven: Fold in other ingredients like nuts or chocolate chips.  Do this gently as well, so as not to overwork your cookie dough.

Shape Your Cookies Or Freeze Your Dough!

Once you have your cookie batter mixed, you can shape your cookies, or simply freeze the cookie dough to be used at a later date.

Shaping your cookies can be quite easy.  You can chill your dough, roll it into a log and then cut slices from the log.  One can use a melon ball scoop to make small cookie dough balls.  You can also roll your chilled cookie dough and cut shapes using cookie cutters.

If you are selling cookies for profit, then you will need to ensure that your cookies are uniform both in shape and thickness.  Click here to learn the method I use to ensure that all of my cookies turn out to be uniformly even on all sides.  Just like like those large cookie corporations do!

You can freeze your cookie dough as a log if you wish.  But this makes a bit of a mess when trying to shape the dough for cooking later.  It’s best to shape your dough first, freeze it, and then properly store it.