Conference turris::cooks

    
    No need to change the ingredients - just
    
    Let them cool down completely in the oven - then put them
    into an airtight container with sugar in it.
    
    That should do the job.
                       
    Regards
    Aileen.
    
    
    

    I like the idea, but I need a little more info. How do I cool them
    in the oven? Do I stop the oven after each tray is cooked and 
    leave the cookies in til they are cool?? I usually cook about 6
    dozen cookies at a time, so if I have to cool the oven down after
    each tray I may be baking in my sleep... It must be the humidity;
    my brain is just going sloowwww today.                  
    
    I like the idea, but I think that I need a little more help.
    
    Thanks-
    Marjorie 
    

    One thing you might try:
    	Make a little sack out of muslin, or use a teaball (round metal
    contraption which holds tea leaves for a pot of tea.  Fill it up
    with rice.  Put cooled cookies in a container, put rice-sack in
    too.  
    
    I put rice in my saltshakers to keep the salt from getting moist
    in humid weather.  I'll bet rice would work with cookies, too.
    Heck, it's cheap and non-toxic.  Let me know if it works!
    
    --Louise

    
    
    Ref:  .0/.2
    
    	If you have a plate heating drawer in your oven - line it
    	with brown paper and put your cookies on top of it - then
    	another layer of paper and cookies and so on.
    
    	OR
    	
    	If you don't have a plate heating drawer - store them in the
    	grill compartment  -   I mean you must have more than an oven
    	 - anyway as a matter of interest - how many people in your
    	family - it takes a lot of mouths to eat that many cookies.
    
    	By the way sugar is better than rice.
    
    	Regards
    	Aileen.
    
    

    My six dozen cookies are rapidly consumed by 2 girls(ages 20 months
    and 5) and 1 husband, and a few by me too. I also try to freeze some
    for unexpected guests!!                                             
    
    Unfortuneately my oven doesn't have a broiler area or a heating
    plate section; it's your basic JennAir where you do everything in
    the same place. So I guess I'll try muslin and sugar, or muslin and
    rice??      
    
    One more question, if I usually slightly undercook my cookies, because
    I like them chewy, should I cook them longer than the usual 12 minutes
    anticipating the humidity, and then put them in the Tupperware with
    the muslin/sugar?                                           
    
    I think we are almost there....
    Marjorie

    
    
    When you take the cookies off the cookie sheet, do you cool them on a
    rack so that the air can circulate around them as they cool? I bake
    cookies every weekend for a little shop in town, so I can't let weather
    become a factor. Also while they are cooling, keep a small fan going to
    keep the air moving.  I have never had a soggy cookie.                     

    The cookie recipe that I am having the problems with is a chocolate
    chip recipe that uses 1/2 butter and 1/2 margarine, among other
    things. This is the only recipe that I split the butter up in, so
    I'm still wondering if I should go more butter? or more margarine?
    
    I made peanut butter cookies and blueberry muffins this weekend
    (both all butter) and everything was fine...and it was pretty humid
    when I was cooking. 
    
    I do use a cooling rack, but the cookies still never make it to
    the chewy,not soggy stage. I haven't tried a fan yet. Do you mean
    a small fan on the table, or just one in the kitchen? My husband
    suggested that I cook them and then put them next to the humidifier
    in the basement... or central air.
                             
    All of this for a good chocolate chip cookie!
                                
    Thanks for the continued help.
    Marjorie
    
    P.S. I really like the idea of cooking for a shop in town. Is that local?
    

    
    
    There really shouldn't be any difference with the butter/margarine. I
    do a lot of cookie baking and the difference is more with flavor,
    unless you use an inferior brand of margarine. 
    I keep a table fan going in the room while I am baking, not necessarly
    on the table where I'm cooling the cookies just to keep the air
    moving. Sometimes adjusting the flour up or down will fix the problem.
    The shop where I sell my cookies is local to me :-) :-) Sturbridge MA.
    

flour is an absorbant medium and if not stored in air-tight container, can
absorb too much from the humid air...this can mess up any baking.  I would
suggest you buy replacement flour, immediately place in an air-tight
container.  You can then store the container in the fridge.  Also, before
you actually bake the cookies, place the dough in the fridge to get nice
and cool so it will not spread overmuch before baking (thin cookies are
fragile) and keep the dough in the fridge between batches...we have hot
spells around here when my cookies get wierd so I know these suggestions
work for me....waiting until fall for chocolate chip cookies is NOT an
option!  8^}