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    Home » Baking Tips & Tricks

    Tips for Baking Picture-Perfect Cookies

    Published: Jun 17, 2020 by Allison Ferraro · Modified: Aug 23, 2021 · Leave a Comment

    Impress your friends and family with homemade cookies that look as good as they taste with these tips for baking picture-perfect cookies!

    angled view of a salted chocolate chip cookie this Recipe
    Jump to:
    • Ground Rules
    • Scoop & Drop Cookie Recipes
    • Tip #1: Use a Cookie Scoop to Portion Cookie Dough
    • Tip #2: Space Cookie Dough Properly on Baking Sheet
    • Tip #3: Swirl Baked Cookies Inside a Cookie Cutter
    • Tip #4: Add Extra Mix-Ins onto the Cookies
    • More Baking Tips

    I'm a firm believer that taste trumps appearance when it comes to dessert. A beautiful cake or a show-stopping pie is great, but if it doesn't taste good then what's the point? But luckily, when it comes to cookies, we don't have to choose! These are my top tips for baking picture-perfect cookies, so that your cookies can look as good as they taste.

    Ground Rules

    This post focuses on how to bake pretty cookies, but of course there are important cookie baking tips to know if you want to bake the most perfectly delicious cookies. Most importantly: follow the recipe as it's written. One more time for the people in the back: follow the recipe as it's written. This means use room temperature butter, if the recipe says to. Measure your ingredients properly. If the recipe says to chill the cookie dough before baking, then chill the cookie dough before baking. All of the recipe's ingredients, steps, notes, and little details are there for a reason, and making any changes will change the outcome of your cookies. If you're an experienced baker and feel comfortable adapting recipes to suit your preferences then have at it! But for bakers of all skill levels, know that any tweaks to the recipe (even seemingly minor tweaks) will change the outcome of the recipe.

    Also important to note... the tips I'm sharing here are designed for scoop/drop cookies (like chocolate chip cookies), as opposed to slice-and-bake or roll-and-cut cookies. If you're on the hunt for some exceptional cookie recipes to try, here are some of my favorite scoop/drop cookie recipes...

    Scoop & Drop Cookie Recipes

    • Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
    • Chewy Chai Snickerdoodles
    • Old-Fashioned Molasses Crinkle Cookies
    • Blueberry Cookies with Streusel Topping

    Tip #1: Use a Cookie Scoop to Portion Cookie Dough

    Using a cookie scoop to scoop the cookie dough into balls before baking ensures that your cookie dough balls are evenly portioned. This is ideal for two reasons. First, uniformly sized cookies look pretty, and they stack neatly. And second, uniformly sized cookies will also bake more evenly in the oven, so you'll avoid over-baking smaller cookies while larger cookies on the tray finish baking. I love this oxo cookie scoop, which is available in three sizes.

    overhead view of cookie dough balls and a cookie scoop on a baking sheet

    Tip #2: Space Cookie Dough Properly on Baking Sheet

    Be sure to leave enough space between the balls of cookie dough on the baking sheet and also alternate the rows. This allows hot air to move around the cookies as they bake, allowing them to bake properly and evenly and avoids cookies spreading into one another.

    overhead view of cookie dough balls on a baking sheet

    Tip #3: Swirl Baked Cookies Inside a Cookie Cutter

    For perfectly round cookies, place a circular cookie cutter that's a bit larger than the size of the cookies over each cookie and swirl it around to shape the cookie into a perfect circle. This has to be done immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, while the cookies are still hot and pliable. (Be very careful not to burn yourself; I recommend holding the baking sheet with one oven-mitted hand while using the cookie cutter with your other hand.) Bonus: this helps to save cookies that may have spread too much in the oven, so that they'll stay thick and chewy. (I love this round cookie cutter set for shaping just-baked cookies. With 11 sizes, it always has just the right size cookie cutter for this purpose.)

    I first came across this tip when Erin from Cloudy Kitchen shared it on Instagram. She calls it "cookie scooting", and it's completely genius!

    overhead view of baked chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet with a hand holding a round cookie cutter
    • overhead view of baked chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet
      Before
    • overhead view of perfectly round baked chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet
      After

    Tip #4: Add Extra Mix-Ins onto the Cookies

    For chocolate chip cookies and other cookies that include mix-ins (like toffee, sprinkles, or raisins), reserve some of the mix-ins and press them onto the tops of the cookies immediately after baking and swirling them (see tip #3). This must be done quickly after removing the cookies from the oven, when they're still soft enough that the mix-ins can be pressed into the warm cookies, and will ensure that those beautiful mix-ins are front and center, rather than hidden within the dough. Be careful not to burn yourself, since the cookies and baking sheet will still be hot from the oven.

    overhead view of chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet with a hand adding chocolate chips on top of a cookie
    • overhead view of perfectly round baked chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet
      Before
    • overhead view of pretty chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet
      After

    Love this baking tutorial? Please leave a star rating and check out these other great baking tips linked above! And don't forget to subscribe to Always Eat Dessert for even more baking tips and simple dessert recipes.

    More Baking Tips

    Love these tips for baking picture-perfect cookies? Check out these other cookie baking tips!

    • How to Freeze Cookie Dough & Cookies
    • How to Cream Butter and Sugar
    • How to Measure Ingredients for Baking

    More Baking Tips & Tricks

    • How to Fix Flat Cookies
    • Baking with Toddlers: Tips & Recipes
    • How to Grate Carrots for Carrot Cake
    • How to Melt White Chocolate (Chips, Bars & Wafers)

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    Allison Ferraro headshot

    Hi there!

    I'm Allison, the cookie-obsessed baker, recipe creator, and food photographer behind Always Eat Dessert.

    Here you’ll find made-from-scratch recipes designed for busy people who love to bake. From cookies to quick breads, you'll discover detailed, easy-to-follow recipes for everyday life along with practical baking tips to help you whip up indulgent treats from scratch with confidence.

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