Kitchen

[catter70]

Since my mom passed a few years ago, I make chocolate chip cookies for my sister and myself like she did. My questions are, if I use parchment paper, will I still be able to get a crisp  cookie,  (we like them crisp/crunchy), will I need to adjust time? Also, do you all refridgerate your dough for a day or so prior to baking? 

[panda1234]

@catter70   Refrigerating dough is always a good thing to do, you avoide having a cookie puddle when done baking. Don't use parchment paper so I can't answer your question about that.

[DottieD]

@catter70 sometimes you have to try things out to see what works best for you. I am forever making notes on my recipes to see what I've discovered along the way.  I bake my chocolate chunk cookies on silpat mats, whereas I tend to use parchment paper for cookies that I roll out (gingerbread, sugar cookies). I always refrigerate the dough prior to baking. I tend to bake most cookies at 325.  i can't remember the last time I baked a cookie directly on the sheet pan without the aid of a silpat mat or parchment paper. Hope this helps.

[azgal]

@DottieD  I just got a silpat mat and it seemed like the cookies spread more. We like chewy cookies.

Do you adjust the cooking time and temperature when using the mats?

[Harpa]

I don't think the parchment paper has any effect on crispness. (I use parchment for all my baking.)

It's the egg in the batter that makes the cookies cake-like.

Also, maybe to flatten out the cookie on the tray before baking.

[gardenman]

I've never found parchment paper to have any effect on the crispness of a cookie. I find that and also silicone baking sheets like the Silpat to be largely neutral in their effect on what I'm baking. They just make cleanup and handling a bit easier. I use parchment paper under my proofing loaves of bread as it slides on and off my bakers' peel very easily and doesn't seem to affect the crust at all. If anything, it has less of an effect than the cornmeal or other options to make a wetter dough slide on the peel. I just shape the bread dough on the parchment paper then slide the peel under the paper at baking time and off onto my baking stone in the oven paper and all. 

I just used my generic Silpat type baking sheets on a batch of chocolate chip cookies and they came out the same as they do on an unlined cookie sheet. I saw no difference at all. I use those all the time on my home-made soft pretzels and once again, no impact on the finished product. 

I find parchment paper very handy for bread doughs. If you handle a fully proofed (maybe slightly over-proofed) dough too much you risk it deflating. I can put a fairly wet dough in a banneton (dough basket) and then immediately flip it over onto parchment paper and keep the basket over it and the dough will rise up into the basket, helping to maintain the shape. I then slide my peel under the paper, basket, and banneton, gently lift off the banneton, score the bread, and then slide it into the oven with far less risk of it deflating than if I try to flip the bread out of the banneton onto the peel. The paper doesn't seem to affect the crust at all and it makes handling the dough much easier. The paper will get a bit crispy around the edges on some of the higher temp bread recipes, but I've never had it catch fire.

[Shanus]

I follow most of Ina Garten's (Barefoot Contessa) baking recipes. She rarely places cookies, tarts, etc. directly on the cookie sheet w/o parchment paper. She claims besides crisper cookies/crusts...fast and easy cleanup. 

[Eileen in Virginia]

I use either parchment paper or a Silpat sheet with no difference in the results. One caution - if you use parchment on an unrimmed cookie sheet, be sure to hold onto the parchment when you remove the sheet from the oven. I almost lost an entire sheet of cookies the first time I used parchment because I didn't realize how slippery it was. 

[riley1]

@catter70 - I use parchment paper when baking all of my cookies. Cookies come out just fine and clean up is a snap!

[catter70]

Thanks, eveyone, for your help. As you could probably tell, I only do this once a year and thought I would try the parchment paper and refrigerating the dough.