Cookies Knowledge? [Butter,Sugar and other sweetener]

Butter

Unsalted (sweet) butter is best for making cookies

•  It has a sweet, slightly nutty taste and firm texture 

Temperature of Butter

• For rubbed in cookies, butter should be cold and firm but not to hard                                                  (Take it out of refrigerator 5 minutes before using.)

• To cream butter, it should be in room temperature if you forget to take it out from refrigerator in advance, you can microwave it low power for 10-15sec

• If using butter to brush baking tin(pans) or sheet. Use unsalted butter rather than salted, which tends to burn and stick

Storing Butter

Butter should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
It can absorb other flavour easily so protect it by wrapping

Salted butter can be stored in the refrigerator for about a month
Unsalted butter should be used within 2 weeks.
But all butter frozen in freezer can last up to 6 months

Other Fats

Margarine

• -This won't produce same flavour as butter but it is less expensive and can be use in same way
• -Block margarine are better for cookie-making
• -Soft margarine are better for creaming

White Cooking Fats(Shortening?)

• Made from blended vegetable oils or a mixture of vegetable and animal or fish oils. White fats are flavourless and create light, short-textured cookies. They work well in highly flavoured cookies, in which you won't taste the butter. Lard is an opague white fat made from rendered pork fat and features in some traditional cookie recipes. 

Oil

• This may sometimes be used instead of solid fat. Sunflower and safflower oils are preferable as they are light in colour with a mild taste. Olive oils has a distinctive flavour but may be added to savoury crackers

Sugar
 There are many different types of sugar, all of which add their own distinctive character to cookies

Refined Sugars

• Produced from sugar cane and sugar beet, refined white sugar is 99.9% pure sucrose

Castor/superfine sugar

• This is the most frequently used sugar for cooking-making. It has a fine grain so is ideal for creaming with butter. It is also used for melted mixtures, meringue toppings and sprinkling over freshly baked cookies.

Icing/confectioners' sugar

• This is fine, powdery sugar is used to make smooth icings and fillings and for dusting. It may also be added to some piped mixture

Soft Brown Sugar

• This is refined white sugar that has been tossed in molasses or syrup to colour and flavour it; the darker the colour, the more intense the flavour. It makes moister cookies than white sugar, so never substitute one for the other.

Unrefined Sugars

• Derived from raw sugar cane, these retain some molasses. They often have a more intense flavour but tend to be less sweet than refined sugars

Golden caster/superfine sugar/ Granulated sugar

• These are pale gold and are used in the same way as their white counterparts.

Demerara/raw sugar

• This rich golden sugar has a slight toffee flavour. the grains are large so it is only used in cookie doughs if a crunchy texture is required. it is good for sprinkling over cookies before they are baked.

Muscovado/molasses sugar

• This fine-textured, moist soft brown sugar may has a treacly flavour.

Storing Sugar

• Sugar should always be stored in airtight container. 
• If white sugar forms clumps, break it up with finger
• if brown sugar dries out and hardens, warm it in the microwave for 1 minutes

Other Sweeteners

Golden/light corn syrup

• Slightly less sweet than sugar, this produces moist, sticky cookies and it often used in no-bake recipes

Maple syrup

• Thinner than golden syrup, this has a distinctive flavour.

Honey

• Use blended honey in cookie doughs as the flavour of milder honeys will be lost.

Malt Extract

• This concentrated extract made from barley has a distinctive flavour, thick consistency and dark, almost black in colour

Molasses

• A by-product of sugar refining, molasses looks like malt extract but has a slightly bitter taste. 

Ref: The cookie Book by Catherine Atkinson and others