When Cookies Fail and amazing White Chocolate Chip Orange Deam Cookies

I made cookies with my daughter the other day. And it was a cookie fail.  Maybe even an epic cookie fail. So I thought about what I did and what went wrong. (I added to much liquid, I was trying to replace orange extract with orange juice) and it reminded me of a class I took at a conference (FACS teachers have amazing conferences) and I remember that the teacher shared some great ideas about cookies: These tips are from that class taught by Jolene Christian, 4-H Extension Agent Davis County UT.  With the cookie season in full swing I though I might share these tips and help you avoid a cookie fail of your own.

If you have a cookie recipe that you love, but aren’t getting the desired results, use these tips to get
your perfect cookie:
• Flat If you want your cookies on the flat side, you can do some or all of the following things:
Use all butter, use all-purpose flour or bread flour, increase the sugar content slightly, add a bit of
liquid to your dough, and bring the dough to room temperature before baking.
• Puffy For light, puffy cookies, use shortening or margarine and cut back on the amount of fat;
add an egg, cut back on the sugar, use cake flour or pastry flour, use baking powder instead of
baking soda and refrigerate your dough before baking.
• Chewy Try melting the butter before adding it to the sugars when mixing. Remove cookies from
the oven a few minutes before they are done, while their centers are still soft but are just cooked
through. The edges should be golden. Use brown sugar, honey or molasses as a sweetener. Let
cookies cool on the pan for several minutes after baking before transferring to cooling rack.
• Crispy For crisp, crunchy cookies, use all butter and a proportion of white sugar. Use egg yolks
in place of a whole egg. Cookies should be baked completely. Let cool on the baking sheet for one
minute before transferring to a cooling rack.
*Allrecipes.com
Tips:
• Larger cookies will be softer and chewier than small cookies. The edges will have a crisper
texture than the middle.
• Cool the cookie sheet between use. That will prevent the fats inside the cookie from melting to
quickly.
• Quality ingredients make quality cookies.
• Small changes in a recipe can create big results.

Here is the correct recipe for the cookies I was trying to make. I have made them before following the recipe and they are amazing.

White Chocolate Chip Orange Dream Cookies from Cristi Cragan Kirkham

2 sticks margarine

½ c brown sugar

½ c sugar

1 egg

¼ tsp orange extract

2 ¼ cups flour

2/3 tsp grated orange peal

½ bag white chocolate chips

3/4 tsp soda

1. Cream together margarine, sugars, and egg.

2. Add all other ingredients and mix.

3. Drop by large round spoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes, until edges are light golden brown.

5. Let stand on cookies sheet for 2 minutes cool before removing.