Martha Stewart Swears By These 3 Things for Easier Cookie Baking

Martha Stewart just wrote the book on cakes—literally (see her October release, Martha Stewart's Cake Perfection; $20.99, Target)—but she's well known as a cookie queen, too. In May, she demonstrated how to make Giant Kitchen Sink Cookies on CBS Sunday Morning, then delivered a batch to her neighbor Dennis Leary. And she clearly taught Snoop Dogg a thing or two about baking as well!

Perfectly timed to kick off winter holiday baking season, she hopped onto her Instagram account earlier this week for an Instagram Live dessert demo from her home kitchen.

In addition to a rich flourless chocolate cake, Stewart shares how to make her daughter Alexis's Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies which really caught our eye due to their texture and their size.

"I like these the best because they are chewy but they are crunchy. They are large and I just think they're so pretty," Stewart says.

Besides the ingredients for the recipe (she recommends almost doubling the chocolate chips called for in the recipe, though, since their pre-baked batch was so short on them), Stewart offers guidance along the way for how to whip up any cookie recipe quicker, easier and more cleanly. Here are three tools she said are worth the investment now to make all future cookie projects a breeze:

3 Kitchen Tools Martha Stewart Swears By for Better Cookies

1. A cookie scoop.

Many cookie doughs require chilling before baking. But rather than chilling the dough as one large mixture in a bowl, Stewart suggests forming the cookies into their oven-ready format before popping them in the fridge. Not only will they chill quicker, but they'll be easy to scoop. Speaking of which, Stewart swears a scoop is "a baker's secret for making exact cookies all the same size." For these massive cookies, she uses a ¼-cup scoop. This OXO Cookie Scoop ($14, Bed Bath & Beyond) comes in a variety of sizes so you can make smaller or larger desserts.

2. Parchment paper.

As you form the dough into their right-sized scoops, pop them on a parchment-lined baking sheet so they don't stick to the pan while baking—and to make cleanup easier later. We love these Reynolds Kitchens Pop Up Parchment Sheets ($3.49, Target) since they come pre-cut and ready to layer right on top of a standard baking sheet.

3. A wire rack.

Alexis's Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe works best when you "get the cookies off the tray very quickly while they're still soft," Stewart says. "While they're still warm but not too warm," move them to a wire rack like this OXO Good Grips Non-Stick Pro Cooling Rack ($15, Bed Bath & Beyond) to cool.

Stock up on all three, then put your new top tools to the test with Stewart's recipe.