The Wirecutter Show – How to Nail the Perfect Cookie with NYT Cooking’s Vaughn Vreeland

Date: December 3, 2025
Host: The New York Times
Guest: Vaughn Vreeland, New York Times Cooking

Overview

In this festive, advice-packed episode, co-hosts Christine Cyr Clisset, Kyra Blackwell, and Rosie Guerin sit down with Vaughn Vreeland, host of the NYT Cooking YouTube series and newsletter Bake Time and author of the new cookbook Cookies. Together, they unpack everything you need to know to bake the perfect holiday cookie—covering essential tools, preventing common mistakes, the science of cookie texture, and flavor creativity. Listener questions drive much of the discussion, making this a highly practical episode for cookie lovers of all skill levels.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Magic and Tradition of Cookie Week

• What is Cookie Week?
  NYT Cooking’s annual celebration: seven days of new, creative cookie recipes and festive videos ([05:01]).
• Recipe Development Process:
  Each year in May, the team brainstorms flavors and inventive spins (“but make it a cookie!”), mixing and matching pitches to create a cohesive, dynamic assortment ([05:20]).

  "We convene in like May and we're like, okay, so how do we not necessarily one up ourselves, but how do we keep like pushing the form a little bit?" – Vaughn Vreeland ([05:20])

2. Pushing Cookie Boundaries: "But Make It a Cookie"

• 2025 Theme: Transforming favorite drinks and foods (like cocktails and even mortadella!) into cookies ([06:33]).
• Notable Creations:
  • Mortadella cookie (almond dough, pistachio, macadamia, pink hue from freeze-dried strawberries) ([06:52])
  • Eggnog snickerdoodles, Mexican hot chocolate, gingerbread latte cookies

3. Listener Q&A: Silicone vs. Parchment for Baking Cookies

• Silicone mats vs. parchment:
  Silicone absorbs more heat, parchment allows for more browning and crispiness; most NYT recipes prefer parchment for easy cookie release ([08:00]–[09:16]).

4. Core Gear for Home Bakers

• Essentials: ([09:33])
  • Spoonula (spatula-spoon hybrid): For scraping, mixing efficiently ([09:36])
  • Cookie scoop (OXO recommended): Ensures uniform size; check volume calibrations as they vary by brand ([10:15]–[11:16])
  • Kitchen scale: Precision and consistency; Escali model recommended, costs under $30 ([12:59]–[13:05])
  • Rimmed baking sheet: Sturdier, better for heat conduction ([13:13])
  • Optional but nice-to-haves: Offset spatula (for lifting delicate cookies), cooling rack (ideally one that fits inside your sheet tray), ring molds or lowball glass (to "hack" perfect round cookies) ([14:06]–[15:35])
• Organization (“mise en place”):
  Have everything ready before starting for less stress and more confidence ([11:26])

"Even if you're a casual baker, even if you're baking curious. I think that you should own a kitchen scale." – Vaughn Vreeland ([12:48])

5. Cookie Aesthetics Pro Tips

• Use a ring mold or glass to swirl around a hot cookie for that Instagram-perfect roundness ([15:35])
• Save extra bits of chocolate to press into the top of dough balls for picture-perfect "puddles" ([16:13])

6. Gear You Don’t Need (& When to Splurge)

• Stand mixer: Nice, but not essential. Hand mixer or even a sturdy spoon can suffice ([17:13])
• High-end butter: Only worth it in recipes that highlight brown butter ([17:50])

7. Brown Butter Techniques

• Don’t substitute brown butter for regular butter without adjustments!
  Browning reduces butter’s water content—replace lost moisture (e.g., with water or an ice cube) to prevent cookies from becoming dry ([18:22])
• Solidify brown butter if the recipe calls for softened, not melted butter ([19:55])

"If the recipe’s calling for softened butter, you're gonna want to take the time to like re-solidify that brown butter before you actually continue." – Vaughn Vreeland ([19:55])

8. Troubleshooting Cookie Texture and Spread

Listener Q: How to Get Thick, Dense Cookies? ([23:04])

• Causes of Excess Spread: Overcrowding sheet, dough not sufficiently chilled, wrong sugar ratios, outdated leaveners ([23:39])
• Tips:
  • Chill scooped dough before baking
  • Increase brown sugar for more chew and height, decrease white sugar to reduce spread ([24:54])
  • Replace old baking soda/powder ([25:28])
• Quote:

  "White sugar helps with the crisp around the edges and also typically creates a spread in cookies." – Vaughn Vreeland ([24:56])

Listener Q: Reducing Sugar for Less Sweet Cookies ([25:47])

• Cutting sugar affects both flavor and structure. Compensate by:
  • Adjusting fat content
  • Adding a bit of water for moisture ([27:53]–[28:05])
  • Seek flavor depth using brown sugar instead of plain granulated sugar
• Recommended recipe: Chewy brownie cookie with flaky salt for balanced sweetness ([28:32])
• Quote:

  "One like, really great secret ingredient for a lot of cookies is water." – Vaughn Vreeland ([27:53])

9. Creativity: Savory Ingredients in Sweet Cookies

• Miso, gochujang, and olive oil add subtle depth and interest:
  "Miso is so good in cookies. It adds this level of savoriness that's just, like, really beautiful." ([29:32])
• Salt on cookies (particularly with chocolate) elevates flavors ([28:32])

10. Lightning Round: Diagnosing Cookie Problems ([30:26])

• Too hard: Overbaked ([30:31])
• Too cakey: Too much flour/dry ([30:35])
• Spreading too much: Insufficient chilling, too much fat, too crowded ([30:41])
• Burned bottoms: Check bakeware quality and oven temperature ([30:50])
  • Oven temp: Always use an oven thermometer; ovens frequently run hotter or cooler than their display ([31:03])

Memorable Quotes

• On imperfection:

  "What's nice about baking is that at the end of the day like you still have a cookie. Like, you know, like not being afraid of making a mistake is gonna like free you up so much mentally in the kitchen." – Vaughn Vreeland ([00:39], [20:50])

• On making cookies beautiful:

  "Ring molds are actually really fun for getting that, like, Instagram perfect circular cookie. ... Just do concentric circles really fast, and it makes a very perfect circular cookie. That's what all of our food stylists do." – Vaughn Vreeland ([15:35])

• On brown butter:

  "You can't just simply swap brown butter for butter in a recipe. You have to think about what is happening to butter when you're browning it, and think about what you're losing. You're losing water." – Vaughn Vreeland ([18:22])

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Topic | Timestamp | |-------------------------------------------|-----------| | Cookie Week, creative process | 05:01–07:21| | Parchment vs. silicone | 07:38–09:16| | Essential cookie gear | 09:19–14:00| | "Nice to have" tools, kitchen scale rec | 14:06–15:35| | Picture-perfect cookies (ring mold hack) | 15:35–16:08| | Brown butter science | 17:57–20:17| | Chilling dough, achieving thick cookies | 23:04–24:54| | Reducing sugar in cookies | 25:47–28:05| | Creative/savory ingredients in cookies | 28:56–30:17| | Troubleshooting (lightning round) | 30:26–31:15|

Takeaways & Final Thoughts

• Precision tools pay off: Invest in a kitchen scale, use a thermometer for your oven, and a sturdy cookie scoop for uniformity.
• Chill your dough: For height and chewiness—scoop first, then refrigerate.
• Tweak sugar and fat for texture (not just sweetness).
• Don't sweat mistakes: Even "imperfect" cookies are a treat.
• Let creativity lead: Try infusing savory ingredients or pressing extra chocolate on top.
• Always read the recipe from top to bottom before starting.
• Simple gear is sufficient; stand mixers are not required.
• Most importantly: Have fun, share cookies—you’ll still have a tasty treat in the end.

Recommended Resources:

• Vaughn Vreeland’s cookbook Cookies
• NYT Cooking YouTube series & Bake Time newsletter
• Wirecutter’s kitchen scale recommendation: Escali