How to prepare the perfect cookie with advice from Zoë François

She taught us how to make artisan-quality bread in five minutes a day and guided us through the pitfalls of baking cakes. Today, cookbook author and television presenter Zoë François, of Zoë Bakes, returns to her own story and that of her family to bring us her most personal book to date, Zoë bakes cookies.

Zoë bakes cookies contains 75 basic recipes for cookies, brownies, and bars, all of which will make you wish you had softened butter on hand. But the real genius of the book lies in the sixty-plus pages leading up to the recipe, particularly the section called “Cookie Academy.” In it, François details every step of the cookie-making process, from collecting ingredients to shipping cookies to nostalgic students, to empower his readers to not only achieve recipe success, but define success. on their own terms.

“Cookie Academy is my favorite part of the book to write,” says François. She knows that baking can seem intimidating, even stifling, with the emphasis on strict adherence to the recipe. But this is not necessarily the case. “Especially with baking. , people have the impression that there is no room to fit in or to do it as they wish,” argues François.

But “if you just give people (the right) information, they’ll feel emboldened to play with the recipe and not feel so nervous about it.” »

Experiment with ingredient proportions

To illustrate how readers can modify recipes to reflect their own tastes, Zoë bakes cookies includes the results of Francois’ experiments with his famous chocolate chip cookies, accompanied by side-by-side photos that show exactly how the cookies change as you increase and decrease each ingredient. “What is perfect for me may not be perfect for you or others,” explains François. So she decided to give her readers the knowledge and confidence to customize not only her recipes, but also family favorites that may contain outdated ingredients (hello, oleo!) or idiosyncratic instructions.

Start with a small batch

François has one crucial tip when it comes to customizing recipes: start with half a batch in case you don’t like the results. Of course, halving recipes is much easier if you measure ingredients by weight rather than volume. And things are going very well with François. “I’m on a crusade to get everyone to cook with a scale,” she says with a laugh. (Same girl, same.)

Mix like a pro

Although you may never have thought of it this way, cookie dough is an emulsion, similar to Hollandaise or salad dressing. So even though creaming butter and sugar doesn’t affect the texture of cookies as much as creaming a cake, it’s still important to have a smooth, fully incorporated mixture before adding liquid. To that end, François devotes a surprising amount of space to the topic of scraping the mixing bowl. (The bottom line: Do this every time you add something new to the bowl and don’t rely on your stand mixer to do all the work; scrape by hand between additions.)

Add the ingredients slowly

And yes, how you add the eggs makes a difference. “There East This is why we only add the eggs one at a time,” emphasizes François. Slowly introducing liquid into the emulsified butter and sugar helps keep them from separating. But if an excited sous chef adds all the ingredients at once, as happened to François during a recent TV appearance, don’t panic. “Cookies are forgiving,” she reassures.

Perhaps the Cookie Academy’s most surprising tip is to add zest and extract when creaming the butter and sugar, not at the end, as most recipes call for. “When I was at culinary school, (I learned) that fat brings flavor,” says François. “So it made sense to get the flavor into the fat as quickly as possible.” Adding these flavorings earlier in the process will increase their intensity in the final product.

Don’t be afraid of meringues

Even though they have a reputation for being picky, “meringues are fun, fabulous and you shouldn’t fear them,” laughs François. She’s always been amazed by how adding nothing but air to egg whites and sugar creates what she calls “this beautiful, ethereal treat.” François offers lots of practical tips for meringue success in the book – with an emphasis on timing and following steps, such as beating egg whites until frothy before adding sugar . A secret: use ultra-fine sugar, sometimes called caster sugar, because “it penetrates the egg whites more easily and does not weigh them down,” explains François. The sugar to egg white ratio is also important, warns François, who says his recipe has helped many former meringue phobes.

Related: Four Ways to Make Meringue and Up Your Dessert Game

As for myths about not making meringues on humid days, Françoise is skeptical, pointing out that she didn’t have any problems when she taught a meringue class in Alabama this summer. But if you’re worried, she recommends Swiss meringue, in which egg whites and sugar are heated together before whipping, because it’s more stable “and will whip in all conditions.”

Whether you want to sign up for the Cookie Academy or dive straight into the recipes, either is suitable for François. Do it with joy and maybe go ahead and invest in a kitchen scale. You won’t regret it.

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