Should i chill my cookie dough before baking?

Short answer is yes, in most cases you should.

Here’s why chilling your cookie dough is the secret weapon behind bakery-style cookies: keeps them thick (if you’re into that) keeps them tall (if you’re into that too) and deepens the flavour. 

What Chilling Actually Does:

1. Stops your cookies from spreading, how?

The temperature of your dough is important when baking. In short: the sooner your cookies heat up in the oven, they’re most likely going to melt into a flatter shape. This could be what you’re after. 

If you’re after taller cookies then you want your dough to be a chilled as possible so the dough retains it’s shape when baking.

Room-temp dough = less rise

chilled dough = more structure and retains height.

2. Deepens Flavour

Letting your dough rest gives the ingredients time to take on all the flavours of the other ingredients, the sugar absorbs more moisture, the flour hydrates, and the result is a richer, deeper flavour. 

Think of marinating a piece of meat, the longer you marinade it for the more flavour it is. The same thing happens with cookies. 

- Improves Texture

You’ll get that perfect bite: slightly crisp exterior, soft, gooey centre. Chilling balances the fat and moisture in the dough, so it bakes evenly.

If you’re after taller, thick, chunky cookies, then you can shape your dough balls in taller forms before chilling them.

3. How Long Should You Chill Cookie Dough?

This varies depending on the type of cookie you’re after 

- Flat and thin minimum 30 minutes - 1 hour.
- For thicker cookies a minimum of 2 hours, ideally overnight if possible. (For tall thick cookies you want to use COLD ingredients.)
- Before you bake you can also put the dough balls in the freezer for 20-30 minutes to firm up a little more. 

We chill our ‘Variety’ cookies overnight. 

Our ‘Flatline’ cookies get 1 hour chill before being baked.