Comparing Cookie Baking Times and Temperatures

While I was baking a batch of our Matcha White Chocolate Cookies recipe, I noticed that the baking temperature of the original recipe suggested was 180C or 355F for 15 minutes.

Having baked a couple of cookies before, I recall that some of my cookies browned quite a bit due to the baking time. Since I'm making matcha cookies, I really want to prevent the cookies from browning and preserve their matcha green colour as much as possible.

Since I had the time, I decided to bake my 9 pieces of cookies in 9 different time and temperature combinations.

Experimenting on the Optimal Cookie Baking Temperature and Time

For this experiment, I wanted to bake the cookies in three temperatures: 180C or 355F, 170C or 340F and 160C or 320F.

I did not want to go above 180C as I know most cookies are baked at 180C and I was so concerned about browning, so I thought the only option for me was lower the heat and prolon the baking time.

Now for the timings, I eneded up baking the cookies from 10 minutes up to 25 minutes, in increments of 5 minutes.

Let's see below how the cookies fared!

Some Notes Before We Begin

For this cookie, we are using our Matcha White Chocolate Cookies recipe.

The original recipe called for baking the cookies at 180C for 15 minutes.

The size of each cookie is around 95-100 grams each, and they are fully chilled overnight.

Each cookie goes out from the fridge already formed into a sphere and goes right into the middle of a cooled baking pan. The pan is placed in the middle of my oven without anything else baking in the pan.

I have alternated between two baking pans lined with parchment paper so that I ensure that the pan is at room teperature before I place the chilled cookie for baking. This is to ensure each cookie does not start cooking until they are inside the oven.

After taking out the cookie from the oven, I wait for 5 minutes before transferring the cookie into a wire rack to prevent condensation from forming, affecting its texture.

I let the cookies cool completely at room temperature before tasting them.

You can find the video of me breaking the cookies into two in Instagram. From here, you will see what the insides of the cookies look like.

I will be ranking each of the cookie based on their overall appearance and texture from all of the combination of baking temperature and times.

Trial 1: Bake at 180C for 10 minutes

My first instict was to bake the cookie at 180C but shorter than the recipe to see how green can the cookie be if slightly undercooked.

The cookie indeed turned out quite green, however, as expected, the inside was a bit undercooked - but apparently some people prefer their cookies underbaked.

Aside from being a bit mosit that normal, the cookie also did not flatten as much as the other cookies. All the other cookies were much more flat with the longer baking time.

As for my verdict, I will give this a ranking of 9 (my least favourite), as it's pretty much underbaked and was too flimsy to actually be transported. It also did not exhibit any cracks as compared to the other cookies.

Trial 2: Bake at 180C for 15 minutes

This is sort of our control cookie as this is the proposed time according to the recipe.

The cookie had some sligth browning over some of the sides. I guess it's my oven, but only one side of the cookie browned a bit.

The cookie turned out quite nice actually. Very soft and chewy. The middle was still quite mosit, to me almost still slightly undercooked, but it had a nice firm break.

My ranking for this cookie will be 3 out of 9. It's quite a good combination but from the experiement, I found 2 other combinations of temperature and baking time that resulted in an even better cookie!

Trial 3: Bake at 180C for 20 minutes

As expected, this combination ended up in a cookie that was more brown (or golden) and also the break was a bit more firm.

There was good cracking on the cookie without having to tap the cooie in the couter - it just occurrs naturally.

Nothing wrong with the cookie, it was chewy, the middle was quite baked, however it was too firm for my taste

My ranking for this combination is 5 out of 9. It was baked well, but it could benefit from less browning and being less firm.

Trial 4: Bake at 170C for 15 minutes

From the previous trials, we try to reduce the temperature to 170C, bake it for 15 minutes, and see how the cookie fares.

Having reduced the temperature, this cookie became even more slightly underbaked. It was still quite chewy, however I was not a fan of overly soft centers.

My ranking will be 7 out of 9.

Trial 5: Bake at 170C for 20 minutes

This cookie was quite promising. The center was quite done without looking too moist. There was ever so slightly more browning, but the green from the matcha still comes out nicely.

I will rank this 2 out of 9. It was quite soft and chewy at the same time. The cracks were present and consistent and overall I loved the consistency.

Trial 6: Bake at 170C for 25 minutes

Now this cookie was the least of my favourite out of those with the longest baking times.

The break was almost stiff. The edges already became quite crispy, which was not what I was looking for these type of chewy cookies. However, the centre was quite cooked and well done.

I would rank this cookie 6 out of 9.

Trial 7: Bake at 160C for 15 minutes

Now we reach the lowest baking temperature of our experiement. We start with 15 minutes baking time.

We got a cookie that was alsmost all green, but not as undercooked as the one baked at 10 minutes at 180C.

Its break was medium-low, so it wasn't as flimsy. The edges also had some nice gentle crisp while the center was chewy, but perhaps too underbaked for my liking.

My rank for this combination is 8 out of 9.

Trial 8: Bake at 160C for 20 minutes

This cookie was quite nice. It had a bit more browning on the edges than I expected. It had a nice medium break, nice cracking on top, but slightly undercooked.

My rank for this cookie is 4 out of 9. It was almost there, but could be better!

Trial 9: Bake at 160C for 25 minutes

Now for the finale. From my experiement, I think the best baking time for a cookie is 25 minutes at 160C.

The cookie had very slight golden edges without losing the brihgt green colour of matcha throughout the rest of the cookie.

It had a good medium-hard break, which is good in keeping the texture of the cookie. It also had nice natural cracks distributed evenly aroudn the top of the cookie.

It was quite soft and chewy all at the same time, while also having a nice soft crip towards the edges. The center was quite evenly baked, just right.

So in all, I give this combination a raking of 1 out of 9. My favourite combination!

If you are short on time, I would suggest to bake the cookies at 170C for 20 minutes instead.

Conclusion

So there you have it! Next time you have a cookie recipe, try out our suggested baking times and temperatures to see if you can get an even better outcome from your cookie.

Remember that these cookies were baked individually rather than in batches, so try to give enough space between your cookies to give them enough space to spread out as well as to have them bake evenly.

Now try out the recipe here.