Your Refrigerator Is the Secret to Perfect Cookies

Here’s a scenario familiar to many home bakers: a craving for cookies hits, so you dive into a recipe. But, halfway through, the directions say to chill the dough for anywhere from an hour to overnight. While you might be tempted to skip this step, a little patience can mean the difference between flat, brittle cookies and thick, chewy ones.

What Is the Purpose of Chilling Cookie Dough?

Chilling cookie dough achieves three main results: thicker, chewier, and more flavorful cookies. But how does it work?

It Cools Down the Butter, Preventing Oven Spread

The process of mixing cookie dough together generates heat and causes the ingredients to warm as they combine. Whether you started with room-temperature butter or melted, putting the cookies straight into the oven from mixing will cause the butter to melt rapidly and the cookies to lose much of their structure. Allowing ample time for the dough to cool down in the fridge means that when you bake the cookies, the butter in the dough will be more solid, helping the cookies keep their shape. This is especially important for recipes like these cut-out sugar cookies or gingerbread cookies, which will melt together in the oven if not adequately chilled before baking.

It Hydrates the Flour, Creating a Chewy Texture

Even after you have made the dough, the ingredients can gel together even more as they sit in the fridge. During this time, the flour continues to absorb moisture from the wet ingredients. If you’ve ever made pie crust or another type of pastry, you may know that an overly hydrated dough leads to a chewier and less flaky result. If you like chewy cookies, that’s a good thing—the finished product will be softer and less likely to fall apart.

It Develops Flavor

Think of marinating meat or vegetables or letting a big pot of sauce simmer for hours. The longer you can let the dough sit undisturbed in the fridge (up to about two days), the more the ingredients can fuse together to form a more satisfying and homogenous flavor.

Can I Freeze It to Speed Up the Process?

Yes and no. While this does achieve the goal of cooling the butter before entering the oven, the freezer is too cold to properly hydrate the dough. Because butter contains about 16% water, chilling the dough in the freezer causes ice to form and inhibits the hydration that would occur in the fridge. Freezing the dough also forfeits much of the flavor that develops over an extended period of time.  

You can, however, make cookie dough, refrigerate it for the recommended amount of time, and then shape it into balls to freeze for later. This way, when that craving for cookies hits, you can bake a few right from your stash in the freezer without thawing.

Are There Any Cookie Recipes That Don’t Require Chilling?

Yes! Certain cookie types, like snowballs and shortbread, are purposely unchilled to achieve their classic crumbly textures. Other cookies that contain ingredients like molasses or peanut butter may not require as much chill time since the doughs are thicker. Or, go for brownies or blondies to get your sweet treat fix without the wait time.

Additional Tips for Cookie-Baking Success

Use a Cookie Dough Scoop or Kitchen Scale for Uniform Cookies

Making sure your cookies are the same size means they will bake more evenly, ensuring more consistent bake times and textures across the batch.

Use Parchment Paper or a Silicone Baking Mat

Baking your cookies on one of these surfaces, rather than directly on the pan, helps to further reduce oven spread and prevent sticking once the cookies have cooled.

Be Prepared to Adjust Baking Times

Everyone’s oven is a little bit different. Your oven is likely a little off from the temperature it says on the screen, and from the temperature the recipe author used. Because cookies generally have short bake times, keep an eye on the cookies as they bake and use sensory cues, like browning around the edges and the intensity of the smell, to gauge when they are done.

Store Them Properly After Baking

To enjoy your freshly baked cookies for as long as possible, keep them in an airtight container. Use a sealed container on the counter or store cookies in the freezer (not the fridge!) to keep air out and prevent them from going stale.