Chefs Handbook
Chefs Handbook
Mostly the terms 'cookies and 'biscuit' are used interchangeably and generally substituted for
each other, but there are point that differentiate between the two items. A cookie is
commonly known so in the USA, while in the UK it is known as a biscuit.
For instance, the Dutch made small tidbits from leftover cake batters and called them koekje,
which meant little cake.
The word 'cookie' is understood to have derived from ‘koekje’ in North America. Biscuit, on
the other hand, is understood to have come from the Latin word ‘panis biscotus’, which meant
bread cooked twice.
Leftover bread or cakes were baked until crisp and eaten as biscuits. Even in France, biscuit
means to Cook twice.
A cookie is a product that is soft centered, usually made in the style of preparing cake batter
and is traditionally sweet. A biscuit, on the other hand, is crisp and hard like a cheese cracker,
which can be savory.
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TEXTURE
Some cookies are soft whereas some are crispy in texture, some cookies spread while baking
while some hold their actual shape. For understanding the texture firstly we should
understand the role played by ingredients that we use:
1. CHEWY TEXTURE
A chewy cookie needs a high moisture content, which can be provided by eggs and
other liquid ingredients. Eggs must be in higher proportions and fat should be low.
Brown sugar is also used to provide chewy texture. There must be some gluten
formation while mixing the dough.
2. CRISP TEXTURE
For a crisp cookie the dough must contain low moisture content. Size of the cookie
should be thin which will help them to dry easily when they are baked. It must be high
in sugar and fat content. It should not contain any hygroscopic (tendency to attract
moisture from air) ingredient like nuts as they can absorb moisture and soften the crisp
texture.
3. SOFT TEXTURE
The dough of soft cookies requires a high proportion of liquid and low of sugar and fat
content. They are generally thick and large in size. They usually contain corn syrup,
honey or molasses which are hygroscopic. These cookies are left slightly unbaked and
should be stored in covered container or else they will dry out.
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CREAMING
Creaming is a technique used in most of the baked goods. It is the method of mixing
ingredients with high fat content in order to incorporate air. It involves beating butter/
shortening & sugar together to give aeration to the product.
It can be done either mechanically (using stand mixers or hand beaters) or manually (using
spatula). During creaming fat is beaten with sugar with the help of spatula or hand beater
along the sides of the bowl, creating air pockets with every turn. The network becomes
strong as we keep on beating it.
When we start creaming fat and sugar, initially it is dense and looks like wet sand. When
we cream it for 1 minute it becomes a paste more like a clay. Another minute later it
becomes soft.
• Sugar crystals have sharp edges that ‘dig’ into butter when beaten together, creating
tiny pockets of air that are trapped in fat. The smaller the crystals, the larger quantity
of small air pockets there are, resulting in a very light and fluffy texture.
• This is the reason caster sugar is preferred as its crystal size is small and sharp enough
to hold more air pockets than granulated sugar & icing sugar.
• The air pockets created while creaming expand during baking giving a lighter and fluffy
texture.
• Air pockets expand when:
– subjected to heat.
– filled with steam created from liquid ingredients in batter.
– carbon dioxide released from reaction of chemical leaveners i.e. baking soda &
baking powder.
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• Initially when you start beating butter and sugar together, butter does not stick to
sides of the bowl. But when you keep on mixing it, it starts to stick to the sides and
becomes pale in colour. It also looks fluffier in texture. This is when you should stop
creaming, or else it results in over creamed butter.
Curdling is separation of fats and liquids. When curdling happens, it is a water in fat emulsion.
It usually happens when -
While adding eggs to creamed mixture, it is important to add them slowly. This is because yolks
(fat) in eggs coat air cells formed during creaming and help in their expansion enabling them to
hold liquid ingredients (egg whites or milk, etc.) without curdling. When we add eggs too fast,
yolks are unable to coat air cells properly resulting in lesser air cells capable of holding liquid
ingredients. This results in curdling of mixture.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
When creaming butter/ shortening, it is important to use these at room temperature i.e.
around 21˚C. This is because cold butter is not soft enough to entrap air quickly and warm
butter (24˚C or more) is too soft and air pockets formed easily burst due to friction
created by mixing.
Creaming using hand beaters or stand mixers should be done at medium speed as high
speed can burst air pockets.
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There are various ways of making cookies and biscuits which usually depends upon the type
of cookie that we are making. Some of the common methods of preparing cookies are
discussed below:
1. STRAIGHT METHOD
This method is also known as one stage method as it is one of the simplest methods in
which all the ingredients are put in bowl and mixed together until a uniform dough is
obtained. Mostly cookies that have no or very less moisture follow this method.
2. CREAMING METHOD
It is the most common method of making cookies or biscuits. In this method, butter and
sugar is creamed until fluffy and pale in color. Then the liquid ingredients such as eggs,
milk or cream are added gradually and mixed properly. Lastly the dry ingredients such
as flour are folded in.
3. SANDING METHOD
This method utilizes the technique of rubbing-in. The fat is rubbed with the flour with
fingertips until the fat is fully incorporated. The liquid ingredients are then mixed to
create a dough. This method is used for cookies with short texture.
4. SPONGE METHOD
This method of cookie making is similar to that of cakes. Eggs and sugar are whipped
together until light and fluffy and dry ingredients are then folded in to prepare batters.
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TYPES OF COOKIES
1. DROP COOKIES
Soft dough is used for making this type of cookie. The cookies dough is dropped with a
spoon or a piping bag. For making large cookies, one can use an ice cream scoop also.
Cookies should be spaced out appropriately to allow them to spread.
Examples: Oatmeal raisin cookies, Macaroon, Florentine.
2. PIPED COOKIES
In this method, the cookies are piped through a piping bag onto the baking tray. We
have to make sure that the dough is of right consistency as a thick dough would be too
difficult to pipe and a soft dough will spread too much. Different designs can be piped
by using different shapes of the nozzle. Examples: Jeera cookies, Savoiardi.
These types of cookies are usually made with a stiff dough which is easy to roll, such as
sweet paste dough, short crust dough. If the dough is soft, then it can be put in the
refrigerator to obtain stiffness. Hand rolled cookies are shaped into rounds between
the palms and then put on the baking sheet. Examples: Melting moments, Nankhatai.
These cookies are made by rolling the dough to a desired thickness and then cutting it
with cutters of required shape. These cookies are much more symmetric and look neat
as they are cut with cutters. Examples: Shortbread, bull’s eye.
5. BAR COOKIES
These types of cookies are shaped in bars or long ropes and then half baked. Then the
cookies are sliced to the desired thickness while the dough is still warm and placed
again on the baking sheets and baked until crisp. This type of baking is known as baking
twice or ‘Biscotti’ in Italian. We can also freeze the half-baked bar and use a knife for
cutting thin slices and then bake them.
Examples: Biscotti, Raisin spice bars.
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6. SHEET COOKIES
In this method, sometimes the dough is baked in sheets and cut later, while in some
cases, they are lined on a tray and the topping is spread onto the base before being
baked. Most of the popular sheet cookies are made by this method.
Examples: Almond Bars, Brownie.
In this the cookie is shaped into logs or square bars and sliced when frozen. Such
methods are adopted for various reasons such as the dough is too soft to handle or to
give it shape, or to save time of sheeting the dough when it is chilled, as this facilitates
cutting with cutter. Examples: Pinwheel, Chequered.
8. FESTIVE COOKIES
These cookies are mostly made during the western festival season or celebrations. We
have a wide variety of cookies being made especially for Christmas, Easter, Halloween
etc.
Examples: Gingerbread, Cinnamon stars.
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We always place cookies 3 fingers apart before baking. The reason we place the cookies apart
is that they do not stick to each other while baking, as they will expand during baking process.
Unlike other baked goods, we do not and must not bake cookie until whole cookie turns
golden brown. A good cookie should be baked just until it gets a nice golden color on sides and
is soft to touch. Cookies become hard during cooling process, so make sure that you do not
bake a cookie completely, it will result into a hard cookie.
Sticky, non-shapeable cookie dough are very common, during such situation the best thing is
to simply chill the dough in fridge for 15 – 20minutes. Chilled dough is easy to handle and
shape.
Baking time highly depends on the size and number of cookies. Small cookies will take less
time whereas if we increase the size it will take more time to bake. Always start from
minimum time mentioned and slowly increasing the minutes for getting perfectly baked
cookies always.
SIZE MATTERS
The size of cookie you are baking really matters. Do not place small and large cookies
together in the same tray or else small cookies will get burnt, while large cookies will just be
undercooked.
Ovens have heating points, to ensure even baking rotate your cookie tray after half baking
time.
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If your cookies get soft due to climate change or passage of days, simply bake the cookies for
3-4 minutes on the temperature the recipes says. Leave them to cool and you will end up with
crispy crunchy cookies ag
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Ans. Yes, you have to add in salt with unsalted butter but the amount of salt may differ
according to the amount of salted butter used in the recipe if you are replacing it with
unsalted butter.
Ans. The butter having 80% fat is suitable for baking, since we don’t know the fat
percentage of homemade butter, it is not recommended to use for baking.
Ans. No, we cannot make caster sugar at home because it is processed in such a way that
each molecule have sharp edges which helps in holding air molecule during the process
of creaming. If we grind table sugar at home it will attract moisture quickly and become
sticky.
Ans. We freeze cookie to make sure that the butter present in it is not too soft. The cookie
with too soft butter will spread very much and may loose it shape.
Ans. Yes, we can reduce the amount of sugar slightly but not too much as sugar helps in the
texture of a cookie. Too much reduction may cause in change of texture.
Ans. Yes, you can replace brown sugar with castor sugar in same proportions but there will
be a slight change in the texture of the cookie.
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BUTTER – Salted or unsalted, butter is the soul ingredient of cookie making. It dominates the
flavor and texture in a cookie. The reason many bakers use unsalted butter in their recipes is
so that they can control the level of salt in their cookies. The brand of butter you are using
must have at least 80g fat, if the fat content is less than 80 g, it won’t provide the same texture
and flavor.
STORING BUTTER – It should be wrapped and kept away from foods with strong odors,
butter will stay good for weeks in the refrigerator and for up to a year in the freezer.
FLOUR – There are a variety of flours used in cookie making like whole wheat, all purpose,
gluten free etc. Generally, the most used flour is all purpose flour (AP flour or simply flour)
due to the flavor and texture it gives to cookies.
STORING FLOUR –Always store flour in a clean air tight container. Make sure to sift flour in
every few months to keep it clean and lump-less. If your flour is being used once a month then
it’s better to store it in the fridge.
SUGAR – The three main sugars that are used in cookie making are caster, icing and brown.
Each sugar plays a unique role. They affect a cookie in three ways that is flavor, color and
texture. To make any cookie chewy and soft use brown sugar rather than caster and vice
versa. Whereas powdered sugar is usually used to make soft short bread type cookies.
EGGS – In cookie making, eggs must always be used at room temperature. This is because
eggs blend best when they are not cold. Pull the eggs out of the fridge about 20 minutes ahead
of time. If by any chance you miss this step, simply dip cold eggs in a bowl of warm water and
leave for 3-5 minutes. Using cold eggs can make creamed butter look curdled before dry
ingredients are added.
DRIED FRUITS – Dried fruits (raisins, sultanas etc. ) should be moist and plump when it comes
to cookie making. Hard shriveled fruits won't get better when they are baked and will simply
ruin your cookie. So, it’s always best to use soaked plump rather than dry.
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STORAGE
Cookies must always be stored only after they are completely cooled. Storing warm
cookies will result in very soft and muddy cookies. Use air tight jars/ containers for storing
cookies. A well stored cookie can me consumed for 1 – 2 weeks.
Cookies with high butter ratio will stay fresh for 3 – 4 days if they are stored properly.
Those cookies which contain jam will stay fresh for less time as jam will become rubbery
with time. If crisp cookie becomes soft, then you can revive it by baking it again for 3 – 4
minutes at the same temperature they were baked.
If your soft cookie becomes crisp you can keep a bread slice in the container you have
stored it in or you can refrigerate it overnight; this way it will regain its moisture.
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TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
GRATED STREUSEL
JAM
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NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked jammers 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
(without filling)
Baked jammers 4 – 5 days (in air tight box) -
(with filling)
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CASHEWS
PISTACHIO POWDER
COOKIE DOUGH
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NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked whole wheat cookies 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
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TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked oats & cranberries 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
cookies
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CORNFLAKES
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BREAKFAST COOKIES(EGGLESS)
FOR COOKIE DOUGH COSTING (in ₹) NO. OF PORTIONS:
3
INGREDIENTS QUANTITY WHOLESALE M.R.P. COST PER PORTION
(in ₹)
Flour 52 g 0.67 2.08 WHOLESALE
Caster sugar 25 g 1.45 3 ₹ 7.75
Butter 28 g 8.96 12.6
Milk 13 g 0.75 0.8
Baking soda 1/8 tsp 1 1 M.R.P.
Raisins (chopped) 30 g 6.6 10.5 ₹ 11.27
Vanilla essence ¼ tsp 1 1
Cornflakes 10 g 2.84 2.84
TOTAL ₹ 23.27 ₹ 33.82 INSTRUCTIONS
If the cookie dough
METHOD becomes too sticky,
1. Preheat the oven at 180˚C (OTG Mode: upper rod + lower then keep it in freezer
rod + fan). for 7 – 10 minutes.
2. In a bowl, using a spatula cream together butter and caster
OVEN
sugar, until light and fluffy. Then add milk, vanilla essence
TEMPERATURES
and mix.
OTG
3. In a bowl sieve flour and baking soda together and then add
180˚C (upper rod +
to the above mixture. lower rod + fan)
4. Then add chopped raisinsto it and form a dough. DECK OVEN
5. Divide the cookie dough into three equal parts and coat Upper temperature –
with crushed corn flakes. 180˚C
6. Place in a lined baking tray and press a little. Bake at 180˚C Lower temperature –
180˚C
(OTG Mode: upper rod + lower rod + fan) for 10 – 12
UNOX
minutes. 160˚C, Fan speed – 1,
Humidity – 0
NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough (without - 1 month
cornflakes)
Baked breakfast cookies 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
(egg/ eggless)
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TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked biscotti 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
(egg/ eggless)
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DESSICATED
COCONUT
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NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked occhi di bue cookies 4 – 5 days (in air tight box) -
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TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked herbs shortbread cookie 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
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CHOPPED WALNUTS
MILK COMPOUND
SHAVINGS
MELTED MILK
COMPOUND
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TRUFFLE NATION PREMIUM BAKING SCHOOL, 133A FIRST FLOOR, LANE NO.1, SAIDULAJAB, NEW DELHI – 110030
NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked world peace cookies 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
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DRY FRUITS
CHRISTMAS
GANACHE
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ASSEMBLY
1. We will need three cookies for one stack. Once the cookies cool down, pipe ganache
on two cookies and stack them over each other. Then place third cookie on the top
and pipe a thin layer of ganache.
2. Garnish the cookies with assorted dried fruits arranged in a circle on top, covering
the ganache completely.
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NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked cookie 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
(without ganache)
Baked cookie (with 4 – 5 days(in air tight box) -
ganache)
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HAZELNUTS
DARK COUVERTURE
CALLETS
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UNOX
150˚C, Fan speed – 1,
Humidity – 0
callets
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NOTE
Shelf life of Room temperature Freezer
Cookie dough - 1 month
Baked chocochip cookies 2 weeks (in air tight box) -
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COST REDUCTION
To reduce the overall for every type of cookie, use cookie shortening instead of butter. To
replace shortening with butter multiply the quantity by 0.8.
COST REDUCTION
1. WHOLE WHEAT COOKIES
Reduce the quantity of pistachio and cashews for garnishing or even omit them.
2. OATS AND CRANBERRY COOKIES
Use raisins instead of cranberries and make Oats and Raisins cookies.
3. NEW YORK CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Use compound chocolate instead of coverture wherever required.
Reduce the quantity of walnuts.
4. ORANGE AND ALMOND BISCOTTI
Reduce the quantity of almond and cranberries.
Use raisins instead of cranberries.
5. WORLD PEACE COOKIES
Use compound chocolate in place of coverture.
Omit using walnuts or use cashews instead.
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