When giving away cookies as gifts, you should consider the following three factors:
One: The theme of the party or the occasion
Two: The flavor of the cookies
Three: The texture of the cookies: chewy or crunchy or in between.
Professional bakers are skilled at creating cookies in various textures, including chewy, semi-chewy and crunchy. However, most folks that try to bake their own cookies at home don’t know how to do this. What should be done to make a cookie crunchy, chewy or in between? Well, difficult as it may sound, the secret is in the sugar. Here are some simple cookie baking tips:
Cookies are laden with butter, shortenings and sugar. The first thing to do is to look at the recipe and see the measurements of the sugar and then note what kind of sugar is used. There should be two kinds: brown sugar and white sugar. It is in the type of sugar used that will totally transform the texture of the cookies.
Crunchy cookies will need white sugar and hardly any brown sugar. So if the cookie recipe is say, chocolate chip cookies, and the sugars used are both brown and white sugar, to achieve the crunchy effect simply put in more of the white sugar than the brown, or simply eliminate the brown and use all white. Example: if the recipe calls for 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar, to get the full crunchy effect use 2 cups white sugar plus 3/4 white sugars.
Semi crunchy cookies or semi-chewy cookies will again need a variation of the two sugar measurements. Again, if the original recipe calls for 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar make it 1 1/2 cups white sugar and 2 cups brown sugar. This will make the cookies not too crunchy and not too chewy - it will be just right!
For chewy cookies, another variation of the measurements between the two sugars will have to be done. If the original is again 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar make it 4 1/2 cups brown sugar. This will give the cookies the chewy effect that is so great with chocolate chip cookies.
Now, for a bonus: there are people who like their cookies gooey chewy. This is not impossible to achieve. Again for the 2 cups white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar original recipe, convert the measurements to 4 cups brown sugar and 1/2 molasses or honey. This will give the cookies a super gooey chewy effect.
Now for those who are curious why the sugars are considered the key, well it may take a lot of explanations but to simplify the process, it is the brown sugar that makes the cookies chewy. Also, the same thing can be done with cakes. More brown sugar will make the cake moister.