Top tips
Butter check the temperature
in the recipe (and the flour too!)

Butter temperatures affect the texture of your
cookie dough. Too warm and your cookies will
end up leaving a fine film of buttery sand on
your fingertips, or cause overspread. Macadamia
and white chocolate chonky chip cookies
(page 49) like butter cold so the cookie is dense
and domed (not flat and porous), so take it
straight from the fridge. The Salty sweet lime
crisp sandwiches (page 41) get melted butter in
the dough to produce a snappier bake. If it’s hot
in your kitchen, freeze the flour for 30 minutes
before baking to have perfect dough control.

And sticks and scoops will
help you!

Flat rolled/cut cookies It will 100 per cent make

dough-rolling life super easy if you use two rods
of square wooden dowel (5 mm/¼ in thickness)
as runners for the rolling pin.

The dough underneath will roll to an even
thickness each time, resulting in perfectly even
cookies. If you need thinner dough, the roller
will help you achieve an even dough to 5 mm
(¼ in), and from there you can continue to roll
out without the sticks. Measure the thickness of
a rolled dough by cutting a tiny corner piece off
and holding the piece, cut side, against a ruler.
If it’s too thick, continue rolling. Too thin, scooch
it thicker by pressing the sides inwards and giving
the dough a final light roll to remove the wrinkles.

Portioned cookie dough The easiest way is to use

an ice-cream scoop. Scoop sizes vary, so look for
ones that align with your cookie size preference.

If you are scoop-less, just weigh portions and roll
into a sphere between your palms.

Liner notes
Very low-sided or lipless baking trays are best
for cookies (deeper tin sides can radiate heat
back and scorch the cookie sides). Spray with
a good coating of cooking oil to adhere a sheet
of baking paper cut to fit. The oil spray should
keep the paper from flapping but if this happens,
a quick secure with a metal paper clip will help.

Paper is grippier than the reusable silicone baking
mats, so cookie spread is controlled. You can
absolutely re-use the paper, storing it in an airtight

tub. For tray bakes, I like to do a crosshatch

sling – two pieces of baking paper, cut to the exact
width of the tray and positioned into a cross then
laid into an oil-sprayed tin. This helps you remove
the contents by gently tugging the sides up and
lifting the deliciousness out onto a board to cut.