Making cookies isn’t an exact science, but it does require some basic tips and techniques to get the job done right. Take any cookie recipe you have (see below), apply these 7 simple rules to that recipe, and you’ll always make perfect homemade cookies.

1) Use a good low-gluten soft wheat flour.

2) Sift the flour once on its own, then sift it again with the other dry ingredients in the recipe. This will create the perfect lightness for your cookies.

3) The best textured, flaky cakes are made when lard is used as the fat in the cake recipe. If you don’t feel comfortable using all of the lard for your cookies, try using half lard and half vegetable shortening. But never use vegetable oils in any cookie recipe.

4) Chill container and used fat, working quickly to prevent fat from melting. Each grain of flour must be covered in fat to prevent the water from activating the gluten in the flour. If you activate the gluten, you will end up with a heavy, hard cookie.

5) Buy a good cookie cutter that makes a nice, sharp cut. It should also allow air to escape (an open top), which gives the cookies a chance to rise properly.

6) Pat the cookie dough just once. Re-rolling the dough will cause the gluten in the cookie recipe to stiffen the dough, making very heavy and dense cookies.

7) To bake evenly, rotate the baking sheet once during cooking. If baking more than one full cookie sheet at a time, switch tray positions once during baking.

Before baking powder was invented, cooks always used buttermilk in cookies. This would help them get up. Although it still works today, people go more for the flavor buttermilk provides than its ability to lift cookie dough.

Buttermilk Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of good soft wheat flour
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons lard, very cold
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
1 cup chilled buttermilk

Addresses:

Place oven rack in the middle and preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a baking tray.

Sift in flour, then sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl. Using a large fork or stand mixer, mix together the lard and shortening to make a complete meal.

Pour in the buttermilk and mix the ingredients until a sticky dough forms.

Flour your hands and a pastry board or countertop. Take the dough out and gently knead it, just 4-6 times. Roll out the dough until it is about 1/2 inch thick.

Cut the dough with a 2- to 3-inch round cookie cutter or round biscuit cutter.

Move the cookies to the baking sheet, arranging them so they just barely harden against each other. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, or until they rise and turn a golden brown color (remember to rotate the baking sheet halfway through).

Serve the cookies hot and buttered.