You can bake cookies all day while your bread machine does all the work.
One of the wonderful things about the “Pasta dough setting” on all bread machines is the fact that it will also make a great cookie dough. I’ve used this setting often for cookie dough recipes and crank out the cookies. Cookies for birthday parties, the holidays, or just a rainy day treat.
Once you’ve mastered the basic cookie dough’s you can add al sorts of variations. My chocolate chip cookie dough recipe works great with chocolate morsels, but you can freeze any kind of chocolate and chunk it up on a cutting board to make dark, chocolate chunk cookies or add any kind of nuts to create a chocolate/nut combination.
We’ll also explore oatmeal cookies and their variations including raisins and craisins (dried cranberries), and you can even add chopped prunes or dates. It’s great when you can have a cookie that’s good for you because of the high fiber of oatmeal.
There are also classic recipes like sugar cookies and peanut butter cookies. The dough is easy to make because your bread machine is there as your steady, kitchen assistant. You may have to spoon some of the dough out of the corners during the cycle, but that’s easy and you can see when it’s mixing and working.
Obviously, you have to finish baking the cookies on a cookie sheet in the oven. But while your baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies, the bread machine is mixing and blending the cookie dough for your next round of sugar or oatmeal cookies. You may never have to buy cookies again, and they always taste better when they’re homemade.
So let’s roll up our sleeves and get started. I’ll mention variations and offer some tips in each recipe, but once your mastered these basic cookie dough concepts you’ll be on your way to starting your own, home bakery.
Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
We’re going to start with a basic standby and you can omit the walnuts if you want. In fact you can substitute any kind of nut, just make sure you stay true to the measurements and proportions. There’s no need to add any ingredients later in the process. They all go in the bread pan and you just select the pasta dough cycle. One thing you’ll want to keep an eye on is any ingredients that have pooled or gotten stuck in the corners. Just use a spoon to nudge them into the kneading paddle until everything starts to mix together.
Walnut Chocolate Chip Recipe:
(Makes about 4 dozen cookies)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup of butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup of packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 3 cups of all purpose flour (not bread flour)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 teaspoons of hot water
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips or 2 cups of chunked chocolate of your choice
- 1 cup of chopped walnuts (or nuts of your choice including mixed nuts)
DIRECTIONS:
- Add all of the ingredients to the bread pan in the order indicated, but hold back on the nuts and chocolate chips for about 5 minutes. Snd select the pasta dough cycle. This usually takes about 12 to 15 minutes. About 10 minutes before the pasta dough cycle is concluded, preheat oven to 375° F./190° C.
- When the pasta dough cycle is complete, carefully dollop the cookie dough a tablespoon at a time onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Give them a generous amount of spacing for your first batch until you see how far the cookies spread after baking, then you can anticipate the spacing better for further batches.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and let the cookie sheet rest for a couple of minutes. I usually put the next cookie sheet in the oven and reset the timer at this point. After a couple of minutes remove the cookies from the cookie sheet with a spatula and let them rest on a wire rack on the kitchen counter until they become firm. Once they are firm you can stack them on the wire rack while you continue the process with succeeding batches.
Peanut Butter Cookies
These cookies are packed with protein and also make a good foundation for the addition of chocolate chips. That’s up to you, but we’ll give you that variation if you’re interested. The key here is to have your peanut butter at room temperature. Refrigerated peanut butter is very stiff and the bread machine paddle will struggle to incorporate cold peanut butter into the dough. If you’re in a hurry and the peanut butter has been chilled, just microwave the measured amount for about 40 seconds.
Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe:
(makes 2 to 3 dozen cookies)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 cup of butter, softened
- 1 cup peanut butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup of white sugar
- 1 cup of brown sugar
- 2 egg (room temperature)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups of sifted flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- (2 cups of chocolate morsels or chunks) optional
DIRECTIONS:
- Add all ingredients to bread pan in order indicated and select “pasta dough cycle.” About 10 minutes before pasta dough cycle is complete, preheat oven to 375° F./190° C.
- The technique is a bit different here compared to other cookies. You should roll the dough into ball about half the size of a golf ball and then flatten them with a fork to create grooves in the top. Do this on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes and follow the same procedure of letting them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes before removing them with a spatula to a wire rack for final cooling and hardening.
Old Fashioned Sugar Cookies
In case you didn’t know, these were the first cookies and they have been around for thousands of years. The ancient recipe was much simpler than this and usually used honey as the sweetening ingredient. We’re going to stick with new-fashioned sugar.
Old Fashioned Sugar Cookie Recipe:
(Makes 3 to 4 dozen sugar cookies)
INGREDIENTS:
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- White Sugar on a plate
DIRECTIONS:
Add ingredients to bread pan in order indicated and select pasta dough cycle. When done, roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll around in sugar on the plate. Place dough balls on a greased baking sheet using either a sprayable oil or smear with vegetable oil and wipe lightly. Bake at 375° F./190° C. for 10 to 12 minutes and let them cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack for final cooling.
Oatmeal Cookies
Here’s another classic with many variations. Oatmeal is a very high-fiber grain and the “rolled oats” that create oatmeal are a proven way to lower cholesterol. It should be noted that even these “healthy” cookies have a high amount of sugar, but if you want the comfort of sweetness with a health benefit – oatmeal cookies fit the bill.
Oatmeal Cookie Recipe:
(Makes about 4 dozen cookies)
INGREDIENTS:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 1 cup of butter, softened
- 1cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1 teaspoons of baking soda
- 2 cups of oatmeal
DIRECTIONS:
- Combine all of the ingredients in the bread pan and select the pasta dough cycle. About 10 minutes before pasta dough cycle is complete, preheat oven to 375° F./190° C.
- Dollop the cookie mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet from a spoon. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and let cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Get Creative
All of these recipes can accommodate additions of small, chopped fruit and nuts in addition to chocolate chunked or in chips. Just make sure you use the right proportions and experiment as you go.
This is a great way to make lots of cookies or a simple way to just whip up a batch. We hope you have fun with these recipes and continue to discover new ways to make and bake great things with your bread machine.
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Tried the chocolate chips. Crisp & delicious ! Thank you!!!
My bread machine doesn’t have a pasta dough pre-set, but it does have a programable mode.
Could you please tell me what the pasta dough setting goes through, so I can try this? Thanks!
Hi Laura,
The cycles you want to have to replicate the pasta dough setting is a combination of a mixing cycle and a kneading cycle BUT NO “RISING” CYCLE. The duration for mixing is usually 5 minutes and kneading for 15 to 20 minutes. You would also not want to have a baking cycle if your goal is to make a dough or batter in the machine.
What about gingerbread dough mixing in the bread machine for cookies?
Hi!
You can make gingerbread cookie dough in the bread machine but you need to follow a dedicated gingerbread cookie recipe and either use the paste dough, pizza dough or cookie dough setting which some machines have. If all you have is the dough setting you can add the gingerbread cookie recipe ingredients to the bread pan and select the dough cycle, but remove the dough after the kneading cycle. The basic dough setting has a rising cycle that surrounds the bread pan with heat to allow yeast to rise and that compromises a cookie dough which typically uses baking powder and/or baking soda instead of yeast. Hope that helps
Will this work in a 1 1/2lb to 2lb bread machine?
Thank you 🙂
Thank you so much!! I plan on trying ALL of them :):):)
Yes, there shouldn’t be a problem 🙂
When you say Baking Soda – do you mean Baking Power or Bicarbonate of Soda? Thanks
Hi Sarah,
We mean bicarbonate of soda (baking soda).