Making drop cookies is a simple craft. No artistry is required, only a gentle push to transfer the dough from spoon to cookie sheet. As they bake, the soft, chunky mounds spread and settle into charmingly irregular rounds with a homey appeal that are perfect with a good cup of coffee or a frosty glass of milk.
Not only are drop cookies easy to prepare, but they have a wonderful versatility. By varying a few ingredients or adjusting the proportions, you can change this kind of cookie dramatically. Their texture can be chewy, like the cookies used to make Ice Cream Sandwiches, or soft and tender, like fruit-filled Orange-Fig Drops. They needn’t even use a traditional dough: Amaretti, for example, are made from a frothy mixture of egg whites, sugar, and ground almonds.
Stirring in Ingredients
After mixing the basic dough, beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Then, mix in remaining flour and other ingredients with a wooden spoon.
Dropping Dough
Scoop up the dough with a small metal spoon. With the back of another spoon or a rubber spatula, push the dough onto a cookie sheet.
Testing for Doneness
When done, the cookies will be lightly browned on the bottom. Check by lifting one cookie with a spatula to see the color of its underside. The dough should also feel set.
Cooling on a Rack
After the cookies have finished baking, remove them from the cookie sheet with a metal spatula that is big enough to support the whole cookie, and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.