The Reason You Should Be Cooling Cookies On Wood
Ah, the art of baking cookies. If you're a seasoned veteran at the art, then you know it can be a tedious process. Some might even call it a marathon and not a sprint. As much as 83% of Americans bake at least one dozen cookies throughout the year (via PR Newswire). That percentage increases to 93% when the holidays roll around. With all the cookie recipes out there — including our 70 best handpicked cookie recipes to try — there's never a shortage of new cookie recipes to whip up at home for your friends and family to eat.
With all of these cookie recipes, there's also ample opportunity to try new methods of baking them. Of course, there are always going to be mistakes when baking cookies, such as misusing kitchen equipment, not-so-great cooling methods, and not properly mixing ingredients. Once you have those down, though, there are even more tricks for baking your cookies. For instance, baking cookies on a pizza stone can make them perfectly crispy on the outside but soft on the inside.
When it comes to cooling cookies, there are multiple ways to do so. While you might automatically reach for a traditional cooling rack, cooling cookies on a wooden tray could benefit your recipes.
Wood tray = perfectly chewy cookies
Handling cookies once they come out of the oven is just as important as baking them to ensure the cookies cool properly, allowing them to form and settle as you wish them to. While most people automatically turn to a cooling rack to allow cookies to cool down, there are other options to consider depending on how you want your cookies to turn out.
A cooling rack is great if you want your cookies to turn out a little more crunchy because it allows air to travel around the cookie and gives moisture more time to escape (via Baking How). But have you considered using a wood tray?
If you're aiming for chewier cookies, using a wooden tray should be your new go-to. Wood helps hold onto moisture more, so as cookies cool on the wood tray, less moisture escapes compared to a traditional metal cooling rack. It's important to note, though, that cooling cookies on a wood tray won't necessarily speed up the cooling process. In fact, it will probably take a couple of extra minutes since there is less airflow (via Food Crumbles).