The creaming method for cookies is the most common mixing method for making chocolate chip cookies, and many other varietiesof cookies. This method gets its name due to the process of creaming butter and sugar together during the first step of the mixing process.
The creaming method is a mixing method used for making many different varieties of cookies. This method is similar to the creaming method for cakes, but does differ slightly due to cakes requiring more liquid in their batters than in cookie dough.
The creaming method gets its name from the first step of the mixing process where butter and sugar is creamed together. The process of creaming butter and sugar together helps to lighten and leaven your cookies. This process also increases the volume of your cookie dough which equals more cookies!
What Kinds of Cookies are Made Using the Creaming Method?
Many different kinds of cookies are made using the creaming method. Chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies, and most other drop cookies are made using this method. Shortbread cookies and sugar cookies are also styles of cookies that utilize the creaming method.
How Long Does Creaming Butter and Sugar Take?
The process of creaming butter and sugar together serves to force air to get caught in a web of fat and sugar. You aren’t just mixing the two together, you are aerating the ingredients.
I suggest mixing the butter and sugar together for about 5 minutes at a medium high speed to properly cream the two together. You will also want to scrape down the bowl at least once during this process to ensure all of the mixture is getting creamed together.
Prep: Allow Ingredients to Come to Room Temperature
In order to properly execute the creaming method for cookies, you want to make sure your butter and your eggs are at room temperature. Butter should be soft but not greasy looking or starting to melt. I suggest removing them from the refrigerator about 1 hour before making your cookies.
If you are in a hurry, you can cut your butter into very small pieces and spread it out on a plate to bring it to room temperature quickly. I do not suggest microwaving butter to bring it to room temperature, because if it starts to melt you will not be able to cream it properly. Uncracked eggs can be placed in a bowl of slightly warm water to bring them to room temperature.
Step 1: Cream Together Your Butter and Sugar
Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer, cream together the butter and sugar for your cookie dough until they are light and fluffy. This should take about 5 minutes on a medium/high speed. Scrape down the bowl at least once about half way through the mixture.
Step 2: Add Eggs in 1 at a Time
After the butter and sugar is creamed together, it is time to add the eggs and vanilla extract. You want to add the eggs into your creamed butter and sugar mixture one at a time, and mix just until combined. This will ensure you won’t break your creamed mixture and you don’t want to beat any air into the eggs at this point.
Step 3: Add your Dry Ingredients & Mix as Little as Possible
The next step in making cookie dough using the creaming method is to mix in the dry ingredients. I prefer to add in my baking soda, baking powder, and salt first and mix those in completely before adding the flour. I find this helps with even distribution.
Once you add the flour into your dough, mix the dough as little as possible, just until the flour is absorbed. Over-mixing your cookie dough can develop the gluten too much and create tough cookies.
Step 4: Fold in Your Mix-Ins
The last step of the creaming method process for cookies is to fold in any mix-ins your cookie dough might have. You also want to be careful during this step to not over-mix the cookie dough.
Beat together both granulated and brown sugars with softened unsalted butter for at least 3-4 minutes. For best results, use a hand-mixer or stand mixer. The mixture will lighten significantly in color. This is essential for giving the cookies their chewy texture.
During the creaming process the sugar crystals cut into the butter making little pockets of air. Those little pockets of air are Magical! They expand in the oven and help with the rising process of the cake.
Cookies, like quick breads and cake batters, are made from a rich dough that is mixed using the creaming method. Most cookie doughs contain less liquid than other batter, you do not need to alternate your flour and liquid.
Over-creamed butter and sugar adds in too much air and alters the final texture – typically to be more gummy and dense. Sometimes over-creaming can produce cakes, cupcakes, or cookies that collapse upon baking or while cooling if the mixture is well and truly over-creamed (where it looks like curdled milk).
To properly cream butter and sugar, you want to start with softened butter. Chilled butter is too hard to break down and fully blend with the sugar. Overly soft or melted butter will whip up into frothy air bubbles, which eventually collapse into a greasy, wet batter and bake into a heavy and soggy baked good.
It goes like this: Using an electric mixer, you beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, then add the eggs one by one, followed by the liquid and dry ingredients. While creaming is a perfectly acceptable method for making cake, it can lead to overmixing, which can yield a dessert that's dense and tough.
The temperature of your butter is critical when creaming butter and sugar. Too cold, and your sugar won't properly dissolve into your butter. Too hot, and your cakes will end up flat and greasy. The magical temperature of softened butter is actually around 65℉, slightly cooler than the ambient temperature of your home.
If you don't cream for long enough, your mixture will appear gritty, yellow, and flat. If you cream for too long, the mixture will transition from smooth and voluminous to a greasy, separated, deflated puddle that sits at the bottom of the bowl. If you overmix your butter and sugar, start over.
Heavy and dense, the creamed butter will resemble a chunky, grainy spread that's the consistency of natural peanut butter. There's also little or no change in color. Properly creamed butter and sugar will be pale yellow in color, but not white (more on this later).
You may even want to consider setting it out over night. For instance, if you know you will bake cookies in the evening, set out the butter in the morning or after lunch. Butter will not spoil if left out on the counter for even days at a time.
It is commonly used in making chocolate chip cookies as well as several other cookies. It means to use a stand mixer or hand held mixer and cream the butter and sugars together for several minutes before adding the eggs and dry ingredients.
Soft – Dough that's “soft” or “runny” can be thickened by adding one or two tablespoons of flour to your mix. This will help keep your batch from “Spreading” and coming out of the oven looking like flat, not-so-cookie-like puddles.
It should also look uniform; if it looks grainy and you can still see the sugar, it needs more time. Likewise, it is possible to overbeat your mixture—if it starts to look soupy and oily, you've gone too far. This whole process typically takes between 2 and 5 minutes.
Most cookie recipes call for beating room-temperature butter. At a temperature between 70 and 72 degrees F, butter is soft enough to incorporate air, but not so soft that it will melt immediately in the oven and result in super-thin cookies.
I start by creaming the butter and sugar together for five minutes, until everything is light and fluffy, then add an egg and beat it for a minute longer.
Address: 787 Elvis Divide, Port Brice, OH 24507-6802
Phone: +9779049645255
Job: Senior Healthcare Specialist
Hobby: Cycling, Model building, Kitesurfing, Origami, Lapidary, Dance, Basketball
Introduction: My name is Sen. Emmett Berge, I am a funny, vast, charming, courageous, enthusiastic, jolly, famous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
