Baking – Why must I return the chilled chocolate cookie dough to room temperature before baking

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According to a chocolate chip cookie recipe, I chilled the cookie dough before baking but it was also written to turn the cookie dough to room temperature before baking. What is the purpose of doing that?

I found out research indicating that we put the cookie dough in the fridge to prevent the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. But then why do we have to return the dough to room temperature?

How long should I wait in order for the shaped cookies on the baking sheet to get the room temperature?

Best Answer

The resting is probably to hydrate to the dough, which will inhibit spreading. See https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/29298/14401.

The bringing back to room temperatre is probably for one of four reasons:

  • To help ensure you are baking each tray at a consistent temperature
  • Colder dough will cook on the outside a bit more before cooking through, so they may brown or crisp or dry out more than is desired before being cooked through
  • They might be somewhat easier to scoop at room temperature
  • The original recipe author was just used to doing it that way.

It is highly likely that by adjusting the baking time slightly, you could bake them from refrigerator temperature, with only a very small change in quality. You would just have to try it and see.

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