My Baking Tips & Tricks

Around the Holidays, I feel like everyone at least attempts to put on a baker's hat and apron in hopes of baking an amazing Holiday treat. And hopefully I can add some help. Trust me I've definitely had my fair share of baking catastrophes and learned a few things over the years. The first time I ever attempted a cookie it turned out more like a muffin...horrible and now I try to avoid muffin cookies at all costs! Here's what I've found that helps.

1.) Soften your butter to room temperature before creaming it with your sugars. It's never really recommended to soften in the microwave so if you need to soften it quickly, you can cut it up or grate it and it'll soften much quicker. I always use butter for the flavor but sometimes when I want a really tender cookie, I add just a little shortening. Because shortening has no water, while butter does. Water can mix with the flour forming glutens that make a tougher cookie.

2.) I love love love chewy cookies! To make cookies chewier, try just using the yolk of an egg and not the whites, only using brown sugar and baking it a couple minutes less than the recommended baking time. Also, when you cream the butter and sugar, be careful not to cream it too much, incorporating a lot of air into the cookie. You can also use shortening, because it has a higher baking temperature, the cookie won't spread as much.

3.) Check the expiration date on your baking soda and powder. Yes they do expire. If they are expire, throw it away they won't be effective in baking anymore. And sift your flour.

4.) Pre-crack your eggs into a separate bowl, that way if you get shells in, it's a lot easier to pull out and if you get a bad egg it won't ruin your batter. Add eggs in one at a time and let it incorporate before adding the next egg.

5.) Pull your cookies out of the oven just when the edges are brown and the center still looks a little under baked. It'll continue cooking on the sheet. If your cookies look done in the oven, chances are they're over baked and will be dry and crispy.

6.) I like to chill the dough at least 1/2 hour before baking. It helps with the consistency of your dough and your cookies will spread less in the oven.

7.) Use shiny baking sheets, dark pans absorb more heat and can cause over browning.

8.) Make sure you're using a cool cookie sheet. If you're cookie sheet is warm, your cookies may spread too much.

9.) Any other questions? Feel free to ask. I'll help if I can! Happy Baking!

Can she do it?

It's been three weeks since the flurry of activity and whirlwind of emotions resulting from the success of the company re-launch on Kickstarter. Still overwhelmed by all the support I received, I'm starting to feel the pressure of success and the fear of failure settle in. This time there are so many more people invested, curious to see whether this time I'll do it or not. And that's hard.... but also encouraging that so many people do believe in me.

Re-launching The Cookie Chew should theoretically be a step by step process but I wasn't all together sure I was doing everything I should have been doing. I've begun the process to file for a LLC, contacted the state and county to ensure I have all the proper health and food permits, contracted with my old kitchen to bake in their facilities again, hired a baker and begun the process to obtain proper insurance. But is that everything? I wasn't sure...so I contacted the San Diego Food & Beverage Association to take them up on their offer of a free counseling session on "How to Open and Run a Successful F&B Business." http://www.foodnbeverage.org/index.html and met with President/ Founder Steve. We spent about two hours talking and chatting and listening to his years of knowledge wrapped in two hours of advice and though I don't think I learned anything truly new, it was nice to find confirmation that I was taking all the necessary steps to get started again. So now that I'm almost all back certified and legit....the only thing to do now....is just find sales. That'll be easy right?

We did it!!

Thank you so much to all my backers and all the support I received for kickstarter! It's incredible how quickly momentum can take over and create a whirlwind of activity. In the last 48 hours of my project I managed to raise over $2k! ( a whole $1k over my original goal!) I can't believe we did it! With that I'm ready to get back to baking and changing the world of cookies as we know it! Thanks again to everyone! I love you all!

VIP Backer Bag New Addition

Thanks to everyone who's been following my kickstarter project and have backed me! It's so amazing to see support from so many people! I've just perfected the new Cookies N' Cream truffie....white chocolate with chopped oreos and am excited for all my bakers to try them at The Cookie Chew re-launch party! Thanks again!

Over half way there....and other updates!

his is so cool! I'm getting so close and getting very very excited! Thank you to all my backers who have gotten me this far...but we still have the other half left. Please spread the word!! Tell your friends, your family, tell anyone you know who loves a good yummy cookie! I can't believe it's almost there! Thanks again for all your support. Many many cookies filled with lots of love are definitely headed your way! ;)

www.kickstarter.com/projects/1650956569/the-cookie-chew-changing-the-way-we-eat-a-cookie

Other updates that are very exciting for me:

1.) I entered a contest in Daily Candy to celebrate their 10 year anniversary to find the next best big thing in fashion, food and fun! One winner from each category will win $10,000, a trip to NYC for a business intensive and a party thrown in The Cookie Chew's honor! OMG!! This quirky fun filled e-newsletter alone is what transformed Bacon Salt (a flavoring that turns anything to tasting like bacon...ingenious!) into a $1.8m company! Wish me luck!

2.) I also just agreed to sponsor an event for Project Ethos (www.projectethos.com) as a VIP Buyer Bag Sponsor for their red carpet event in San Diego at Fluxx nightclub at the end of this month. Project ETHOS is an incubator for emerging fashion, music and art and will feature 8 new emerging designer's Spring 2011 lines. They also have two Project Runway Alumni (Jesus Estrada and Gordana Gehlhausen) headlining the fashion runway segment of the event and a Special Headlining Music Performance by Sophia Fresh, singers of the hot new song "This Instant" feat. T-Pain which is featured in the new STEP UP 3D Movie. It looks so cool and I'm stoked for it to happen. If anyone is in SD next weekend, you should look into going!

Pina Colada Cookie attempt number...well who's really counting?

This has been a cookie in the works for years now and I'm finally close....I think....attempt number...well who really knows is only a couple changes away.



I used canned pineapple which added great pineapple flavor with a little of the juice included but made the cookies kind of cakey, like a muffin top. I also only used a out a half of cup of coconut which I think I will increase to make the cookies a little chewier. I added a little coconut extract which I liked and might add some rum to the next batch. But I'll also use all brown sugar and dried pineapple instead of the canned and using any white sugar at all. For the topping I made a pineapple glaze which made the cookie way to sweet...even for me! For the next batch, I think I'll try white chocolate instead. It was also my first time toasting coconut and lesson learned, take it out the oven a little before you think it's done because it'll continue browning on the baking sheet. Stay tuned for the next trial! So close!!!