Easy Cream Cheese Cinnamon Christmas Cookies – Recipe from Yummiest Food Cookbook (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to moist cookies? ›

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

Do they need to be refrigerated? This type of cookie can be stored in a sealed container at room temperature for two days. Things with lots of cream cheese like cheesecakes and baked goods with cream cheese frosting should definitely be refrigerated.

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

Baking powder or flour in excess will cause cookies to rise more, making them more fluffy and cakey. Increased sugar will make them caramelize more and increased fat will make the dough heavier and richer, all increasing retention of water in the dough- these all add up to chewier cookies.

Cream cheese should not be left out longer than two hours at room temp (or higher than 40 degrees F) because it then becomes a playground for nasty bacteria like salmonella. No one wants a trip to the emergency room over the carrot cake. If it's been out for longer than two hours, toss it—better safe than sorry.

Sure, you can skip the chilling step and bake the dough right away, but doing so runs the risk of flat disks with dry edges and a brittle texture; a far cry for the plush, chewy cookies with fudge-like centers we all crave.

Cream cheese that has been continuously refrigerated can last for several weeks. “Cream cheese packages that haven't been opened can be used for up to two to three weeks past their best by date,” Edwards says. “Once opened, it's best to use cream cheese within ten days.

Bread releases moisture into the air, while sugar (present in large quantities in cookies), absorbs moisture out of the air. Don't have any white bread? Use a slice of apple instead. Just slip a wedge in with your cookies, cover, and let sit overnight.

To keep it simple, cookie recipes that contain a lot of butter, brown sugar or egg yolks are going to yield soft and chewy cookies, because those ingredients add moisture and retain it for a longer amount of time.

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

What can I add to cookie mix to make it more moist? ›

Include an extra egg yolk.

If you like a chewier texture in your cookies, toss in an extra egg yolk to your mix. Adding extra egg yolks works wonders to enhance the moisture content in a cookie, making it super soft and gooey. As a family that loves a soft cookie, this is one of our favorite hacks!