You ask people who bake regularly, they may tell you how therapeutic the whole process turns out to be for them. For those who are new, or have recently developed a knack for baking, there could be a few challenges. But baking failures are more common than you think, sometimes even the experts end up burning their cake a little, so it is absolutely okay if you falter a bit. One of the biggest challenges many new bakers face while baking cookies is that sometimes they do not come out the right size. The cookies spread out in the oven and/or become super flat, quite unlike the shapely, pretty cookies that you see in bakeries.

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So here’s what happens. When you put your batch of cookies in the oven, the fat present in the cookies is also exposed to heat, due to which it melts, which makes your cookies spread out and come out all flat. There are ways to avoid it. Renowned pastry chef and brainchild behind Lavonne academy, Vinesh Johnny suggests a handy tip of resting the cookie dough in fridge for a few minutes before baking it. By doing so, you let the fat harden, and thus it does not start melting right away. Let it cool down a bit, then shape it and bake it.

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Also make sure there is enough flour to hold the fat. It is very important to be careful of the measurements while baking. If the flour is less, and the fat is more, the cookies will spread out. Also when you are mixing ingredients for the cookie batter, do not over-mix and let too much air to pass. Another quick fix to save your cookies is to keep an eye on them when they are baking, if you see them spreading out. Open the door, take a spoon push back the edges from where they are uneven. But this is not a very reliable way, as you should ideally not keep opening the door when they are in the baking.

Patience is key for good baking. So make sure you make a good batter with correctly measured ingredients, and if it requires resting – let it rest too. Have you baked anything interesting during lockdown? Do send us pictures. Until then you can try this chocolate and pecan nuts cookie recipe by Vinesh Johnny that he shared with NDTV Food during one of his live sessions with us.