to chill or not to chill?

#1

Do you chill (fridge or freeze) your cookie dough before baking?

This might be a little controversial, but from my personal experience, chilling the dough doesn’t make a whole lot of difference in the end result. What difference it does make is that (1) it makes the cookie dough cookie more unevenly and increases baking times (although you can make up for the uneven baking by baking at a lower temperature, but this increases baking times even longer) and (2) it slightly decreases spreading (but not as much as adding more flour and subbing shortening for butter).

I personally feel that chilling the dough is a waste of my time, so I never bother with that step. (That said, I can see it being useful if you’re mixing on day 1 and baking on day 2 to spread the work around.)

What does everyone else think? Do you swear by chilling the dough? Or do you not bother with it? Or does it depend on the recipe and the circumstances? Have you tried it both ways?

#2

I’ve found my cookies spread less when I freeze the dough. Though, given the sheer quantity of dough I’m making, it’s significantly easier for me to start making the dough, well, tonight, and then unthaw it a month later when I’m ready to bake it. Doing both the mixing and the baking is certainly possible and I’ve done it for both PAXes I’ve done so far, but this time around I figure why not give myself some more time.

#3

Depends a lot on the cookie. I use butter and not shortening so it’s more tempermental. I notice it a lot more with pie crust. The dough becomes too fragile when warm. I imagine with sugar cookies it’s similar. That being said the reason I’m freezing is strictly a matter of supply chain and work load.

#4

The only cookies I chill are rolled sugar cookies, just makes it way easier to deal with. Unless I’m premaking dough, then I will freeze it to bake later, like I’m currently doing for Prime. :slight_smile:

#5

My chocolate chips dough I chill for 24 hours then let them thaw. My sugar cookie dough I just chill overnight. I agree with Ransim, it’s so much easier to work with.

I have never frozen my dough. One, I don’t have the space and would be too afraid of freezer burn on the dough.

#6

[quote=“kintyre, post:3, topic:1351”]
I notice it a lot more with pie crust. The dough becomes too fragile when warm.[/quote]

Yes, but that’s because when you make pie crust correctly, you don’t fully incorporate the butter into the flour, but when you make cookies, you cream the butter and sugar together.

#7

Chilling allows the gluten to “relax”. Developed (overmixed), unrelaxed glutens are rubbery. Also the fats need to harden up so dough doesn’t spread quickly on the pan before it bakes fully. Also, chilling means the staches in the flour more fully absorb liquid (which is what they probably mean by “developing the taste” as it is said this leads to a better taste and consistency). 4 to 8 hours is usually enough for this. The time has a lot to do with thickness of the block of dough and surface area. I have heard that too long chilling (2 days or more) leaves it with an unfavorable “oily” flavor. I’ve also heard that the longer they chill the more developed the flavor (NY times wrote on this) so really, it probably comes down to taste.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?scp=1&sq=ruth%20wakefield&st=cse&_r=0

Some random person’s quote in case it explains some things better than I:

"The rest period hydrates the starches in flour, giving the dough a firmer and more workable texture (there is some very minor gluten development, but its mostly the expansion of the starch bundles with water). In many cookies, the flavors will also mature and improve, especially with cocoa in the recipe.
In many recipes, the cooling from refrigeration is itself part of the point–doughs may be easier to roll and cut when they are cool due to chilling of the fat. Most dietary fats are waxy, which means they don’t have a single set freezing/melting point, but rather get more viscous or eventually firmer then hard as temperature drops.

#8

Suddenly, I feel like I’m working with an entirely different recipe or type of cookie than everyone else. I never roll or cut my cookie dough, and spreading is a feature for me, not a bug.

#9

[quote=“Viltris, post:8, topic:1351”]
Suddenly, I feel like I’m working with an entirely different recipe or type of cookie than everyone else. I never roll or cut my cookie dough, and spreading is a feature for me, not a bug.[/quote]

Well rolling is necessary for fancy shaped sugar cookies but yeah if I do drop cookies I generally just make and drop without chilling.

#10

Spreading is a feature as long as they’re still thick enough for durability. I sucked it up and used half shortening/half butter in my chocolate chip dough in order to get a sturdier cookie for PAX. At home it’s all butter all the time.

#11

I roll my sugar cookies a bit thicker for PAX so they’re more sturdy.

#12

I know with my cookies I have to chill the dough or else they spread way too quickly and become a thin crunchy mess (still tasty, they just don’t look nearly as good… which for me is part of it). There are certain versions of cookies I’ve done that don’t require the chilling to be perfect, but for me they don’t taste as good or have the same mouth texture as my “go-to” recipe. I do probably need to do a few experiments though to see about creating a sturdier cookie for future Pax’s.

Like others, I tend to make and chill the dough as part of the manufacturing process though. It’s just easier to keep mixing batches of dough one after the other for me, then move onto the baking process. Oh, and of course it’s kind of necessary for rolled/cut cookies just so you don’t go insane trying to shape the dough correctly :slight_smile:

#13

[quote=“Viltris, post:8, topic:1351”]
Suddenly, I feel like I’m working with an entirely different recipe or type of cookie than everyone else. I never roll or cut my cookie dough, and spreading is a feature for me, not a bug.[/quote]
If you make buttery sugar cookies and don’t chill then they spread out and the edges become way too thin and burn (and also they don’t maintain their pretty shape.
As for chocolate chip and other “drop” cookies, this isn’t an issue, but yes, there is subjective data that says it tastes better if it’s had time as stated above, so it’s probably a personal taste issue.

#14

[quote=“Terenos, post:12, topic:1351”]
I know with my cookies I have to chill the dough or else they spread way too quickly and become a thin crunchy mess (still tasty, they just don’t look nearly as good… which for me is part of it).[/quote]

For drop cookies or sugar cookies? From my experiments with drop cookies, if your cookie is spreading way too quickly and becoming a thin crunchy mess, you either have too much sugar or not enough flour.

If you’re making the other kind of cookie, disregard.

#15

[quote=“emimonster, post:13, topic:1351”]
As for chocolate chip and other “drop” cookies, this isn’t an issue, but yes, there is subjective data that says it tastes better if it’s had time as stated above, so it’s probably a personal taste issue.[/quote]

I’ve tried it both ways, and I couldn’t tell the difference. Of course, ideally you’d want to do a side-by-side blind taste test, but that’s a bit difficult to set up. Not to mention the baking times for a chilled dough vs a non-chilled dough are different, which also means they come out looking different.

But like you said, it’s probably a matter of personal taste.

#16

Defrosting, few days in the fridge or left on the counter?