The type of flour and sugar used to make a cookie dough will have a great effect on the baked cookies.
Flour contributes a major part of the structure. I recommend bleached all-purpose flour in most of my recipes because it possesses just the right protein content needed to create the ideal texture and flavor. Unbleached all-purpose flour and bread flour contain higher amounts of protein and produce cookies that are browner, flatter, and more chewy. Higher protein absorbs more liquid, forming gluten, which is tough and leaves less available liquid in the dough to turn to steam and aerate the cookies. Cake flour contains less protein, so because less water is tied up by the flour, the water turns to steam and makes the cookies puffier. Less gluten forms as well, which makes the cookies more fragile. The cookies brown less because protein is largely responsible for browning.
A great tip from my generous friend Maria Menegus, who got it from her friend Jean Seaver, discovered by her grandmother Nanny, is to roll cookie dough in buckwheat flour. The flour is very fine so it rolls beautifully and gives a lovely, crisp texture to the outside of the cookie. It also darkens and adds an interesting effect and subtle, pleasant flavor.
Sugar raises the setting point of the dough while it bakes, so cookie dough with a higher amount of sugar can spread more before setting, resulting in a thinner, crunchier cookie.
The finer the granulation of the sugar, the less cracking in the surface of the dough during baking. Fine granulation results in a finer crumb and lighter texture because, with its smaller crystals, more surface area is available to trap air. In the mixing or creaming process, the sharp or angular surfaces of the sugar crystals catch air. If the surfaces of the grains of sugar were smooth, as they are in powdered sugar, the grains would clump together and not allow air in between them. The more crystals there are, the more air will be incorporated. Finer sugar also dissolves more easily and makes lighter, more delicate meringues. Powdered sugar, however, does result in a delightfully fragile cookie, such as the Kourambiethes.
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