Master Cookie Baking Tips & Questions Thread

[twainny]

Just wondering how I can get my chocolate chip cookies to be soft. I bake them and the first day they are okay, then they turn ROCK HARD... how does Mrs. Field's do it??? I think they cook them at a low temp for a long time. Is that right? Any suggestions?

[mierin]

Well, this is just what I do, but I will say that I have a hard time allowing cookies to survive, uneaten, for a couple days so I'm not sure if this works long term. :D

First, make sure you're taking your cookies out of the oven before they look done. If they look done in the oven, they're over done. They should just be barely brown around the edges. After they're out and they're cooled and solidified, put them in an airtight container and they should stay chewy.

Someone correct me if I'm way off base.

[Jenean]

I think I remember reading somewhere that you could put a slice of white bread in the container with the cookies to keep them soft and chewy.

[Janey]

I remember reading somewhere that using Butter vs. Margarine can affect the outcome of soft/chewy. Unfortunately, I can't remember which is supposed to create which effect. :o Maybe an experiment is in order?

[mom_to_zoe]

I think the thing that can affect the chewiness is not butter versus margarine but rather shortening versus butter. You might want to experiment with the mix.

Personally, I just make the Toll House recipe, using unsalted butter, cook my cookies at 375 for like 9 minutes, cool them on a wire rack and they stay pretty chewy. I would definitely store in an airtight container.

[mrstim]

sticking white bread will keep them very soft and moist! :) I've only done this with peanut butter cookies, but it works VERY well! :)

Good Luck!
amy

[Katyanne]

Here's Alton Brown's recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies from his TV show on Food Network Good Eats. They're good.,.

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Hardware:
Ice cream scooper (#20 disher, to be exact)
Parchment paper
Baking sheets
Mixer


Heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.



And Mierin, you're right.. If they look done in the oven their overdone on the pan. :)

Katie

[laurenc]

i've noticed that since i got an electric stand mixer, the cookies i bake are softer and stay that way longer. i guess it's that the mixer really mixes the butter in smoothly and evenly? i don't know exactly, but the softer cookies are one of the many reasons i love my stand mixer!!!

[Rose]

I make the Tollhouse recipe with butter and when I store them I put a piece of bread with them.

[BTB]

Another Tollhouser - but I just use the break-apart cookies, 'cuz I'm super lazy. I take them out of the oven before they're all the way done in the center (I'm willing to risk a little salmonella to have a good smooshy cookie). Not dough-tasting, but just a little underdone. 9-10 min like a pp. Let 'em cool really good - if they fall apart before they're cooled you know they'll be soft for days. :)

[Kimberland30]

I make my cookies using butter flavored Crisco (recipe is on the can) and they are INCREDIBLE. They are so soft and chewy, and stay that way up until the last cookie is gone. I make cookie trays for work, and they'll last at least 10 days.

I tried the margarine vs. butter route and didn't see much of a difference.

Really, try the recipe on the Crisco can. :)

[DiscoDiva]

Store a piece of white bread in with them. Also, if you're unsure if they are chewy enough, send them to me and I'll be happy to do a taste test. :)

[Kimberland30]

Store a piece of white bread in with them. Also, if you're unsure if they are chewy enough, send them to me and I'll be happy to do a taste test. :)

You can't have a panel of only one, she could be biased. :D I volunteer to help with the panel. :)

[Fluffy Bunny]

I haven't tried it, but I've read that substituting an equal amount of honey for 1/3 of the sugar results in softer cookier.

[DiscoDiva]

You can't have a panel of only one, she could be biased. :D I volunteer to help with the panel. :)

Sorry, I called dibs first! :D Oh, and just in case, I also call Shotgun!

[jimmysgirl424]

I also am one that uses Crisco butter flavored shortening in my cookies and put a slice of white bread in the container with them as well. My cookies always stay soft for days. What I don't get is that DH prefers his cookies to be hard and crumbly...go figure. :rolleyes:

I have also read that a slice of apple will have the same effect, but I've never tried that. I'm afraid the cookies will end up tasting like apple!! Anyone ever tried that??

[JRPAGV]

Just take them out of the oven a minute or two earlier than the package or recipe says to. Always works for mine.

[flygirl]

Mine stay super-moist. I use the Ghiradeli chocolate recipe which is similar to Toll House but a few changes make a huge difference.

Use only 1/4 c. granulated sugar and 1 1/4 c. brown sugar
Use 2(two) tbsp vanilla (instead of just one)
Bake at 325 (instead of 375) for 11-14 minutes

And I agree with everyone else; they shouldn't look quite done when you take them out of the oven.

[LeslieR]

I only make Nestle Tollhouse choc chip cookies. I follow the directions on the choc chip bag to a T and take them out at the minimum cooking time (I think it's 8 minutes, but don't quote me). They're always soft and gooey (if they last that long :p ).

[Aug2002Bride]

How do you get your cookies to stay nice and thick and soft...mine always flatten out after I take them out! My friend gets them like this and she swears she just follows the toll house recipe.

[Hello Kitty]

nice and thick and soft
Add an extra egg or two to the batter. I halved my gmothers recipe this weekend, but put in two eggs instead of one, then used the correct amount of dry ingredients. The cookies rose up, not out, and they're nice puffy cookies now. Not what I was going for, but still good.

[JennH]

Add an extra egg or two to the batter. I halved my gmothers recipe this weekend, but put in two eggs instead of one, then used the correct amount of dry ingredients. The cookies rose up, not out, and they're nice puffy cookies now. Not what I was going for, but still good.

I'll have to try that extra egg trick. I have really nice and soft cookies, but I have wanted them to be thicker.
Thanks!

[Aug2002Bride]

Thanks! Ill try that!

[Lisa]

I think I remember reading somewhere that you could put a slice of white bread in the container with the cookies to keep them soft and chewy.

thats what i do and it works great!

[pride&prejudice]

It has to do with the butter/margarine and whether it is softened right. If you try to soften it in the microwave, it can be too runny, and if its not soft enough it can affect the cookies. I got this from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. HTH!

[kagbsc7]

A pizza stone is great for cookies. Let the pizza stone pre-heat in the oven and put your cookies on a HOT pizza stone. Your bottoms will not burn and always take them out before the package says too. They should look underdone and let them sit for 2-3 minutes and they will be perfect.

[Aug2002Bride]

I tried the egg trick today and it didnt seem to help my cookies. They actually look flatter than without the extra egg. :(

[colleenjoy]

I made chocolate chip cookies from scratch for the first time in a long time sunday. i'm so disappointed because they turned out very flat and crispy. i used the recipe on the nestle bag. any ideas what went wrong?

Colleen

[boilermaker]

The first thing that comes to mind for me is the butter. Did you use regular butter or margarine/low fat/etc. Also, did you happen to melt it first before adding it to the mix?

[bethnjim]

Your butter might have been to soft...or even warm, which will result in flat cookies. If you need to melt your butter, just make sure you pop your cookie dough into the fridge and let it get cold before cooking the cookies.

[Pineknot]

Ditto on what Beth said. Also, make sure you don't use light butter or margarine. The water in those products wreak havoc on baked items.

I also add about 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal to my choc. chip batter. It doesn't make my cookies cakelike, but it does give them some chew and body.

The oatmeal stops that 'tollhouse spread.' Nothing's more frustrating than those flat notebookpaper type cookie. :)

[colleenjoy]

i did use blue bonnet margarine because that's what we had in the house. is that what did it? :confused:
should I use real butter? wow i've never actually bought real butter before. :D
Colleen

[janders6]

was your baking soda old? I would guess that was the culprit. I've used margarine to make cookies lots of times and it has never flattened them, in my experience. Real butter, though, will make the cookies taste lots better.

[boilermaker]

Well, I use Parkay in mine, but I refridgerate the dough after mixing before baking to prevent it. Also, I add a little more flour than the recipe calls for to help also.

But when I buy real butter at the holidays, they do make the cookies even better!

btw, those flat crispy cookies taste great on ice cream ;)

[LeslieR]

Definitely use butter next time. I'm pretty sure the recipe calls for Land Of Lakes butter and IMO, it makes a big difference.

[colleenjoy]

janders6: I bought new baking soda because i figured what i had was probably too old. maybe i got a bad box?

bethnjim and boilermaker: it was really warm in my kitchen, maybe too warm? my tiny closet size kitchen really heats up fast with the oven on. i'll try to refridgerate the dough before i make them next time.

[maplekitty]

Also, to make soft cookies...take them out a little early. If it says 15 mins in oven, take them out at 10 mins.

[looch]

i think it was the bake time, like maple kitty mentioned.

[colleenjoy]

looch and maplekitty: i tried taking some out a little earlier and they just where undone in the center, but still really flat and crispy at the edge.

i asked my mom and she said to use butter or crisco. anyone use crisco?

Colleen

[Amuse Bouche]

Crisco does make puffier cookies, but doesn't taste as good. You could start by replacing some of the butter with butter flavored crisco. Also, if it's been damp or humid where you are the cookies can get flatter -- increased water in cookies makes them spread more (which is why crisco makes puffier cookies than butter -- butter is 33% water, whereas crisco is all fat). You can also try to countereffect the water issues by adding a little more flour to the recipe. Also, melted butter makes cookies spread more -- the colder the butter is, the better it creams and traps air bubbles and gets fluffier (I know the recipe calls for room temperature butter, but if you have a good mixer it's better to cream it cold). A higher proportion of brown sugar also makes the cookies chewier rather than crispier.

[maplekitty]

Are you using butter/margarine from a tub?
Try buying just plain (even no name brand) maragarine in the cooking blocks. You can buy a box, with a whole bunch of 1/2 cup squares. That's what I use, I say the simpler the better.

[dandelionbeautiful]

help! i'm making toll house choc. chip cookies and for some reason they are coming out way flat and thin. why is that? could it be because i used margarine instead of butter? TIA!

[sophiapb]

Did you not chill the cookie dough? Room temperature dough will usually turn out flat cookies. If you have chilled it and they are still flat, add a few tablespoons of flour and that will firm them up as well.

[jimmysgirl424]

I used to have that problem all of the time when I used margarine. I actually use butter flavored Crisco now and my cookies turn out awesome!

I can't remember if it's baking soda or baking powder, but one of them actually loses its leavening agent (what makes the cookies rise and puff up) if you refrigerate the dough. I think the Toll House recipe calls for mixing the dough and dropping it on the cookie sheets immediately for baking without chilling it first.

[dandelionbeautiful]

Did you not chill the cookie dough? Room temperature dough will usually turn out flat cookies. If you have chilled it and they are still flat, add a few tablespoons of flour and that will firm them up as well.

nope, didn't chill the dough. it didn't say to in the recipe :D this last batch i used chilled dough and they turned out a little better.

I actually use butter flavored Crisco now and my cookies turn out awesome!

aw, man. i had some and thought about using it but i wasn't sure. i've never used butter crisco before. i'm not even sure why i have it. can you use it in any recipe in place of butter?

[ajb524]

It's probably the margarine. Also, I never chill the dough unless it specificially says to.

[JRPAGV]

Here's another thread on the same subject: Flat cookies (http://www.constantchatter.com/showthread.php?t=9819&highlight=flat)

[dandelionbeautiful]

Thanks! Next time I will have to use real butter and see if it makes a difference. Also, I stuck the stick of margerine in the microwave for about 10 seconds to soften it up. That probably screwed it up too.

[Jazz]

It could also be the leavening agent -- baking powder and baking soda can lose their effectiveness over time. Have you had them in your cupboard for a long time? Baking powder has a shelf life of 6-12 months; baking soda generally lasts longer as long as it is stored in a cool and dry location.

You can check baking powder by sprinkling some into a small amount of water, and check baking soda by sprinkling into vinegar or lemon juice. If they are still good, you should immediately see bubbles. If whichever was in your cookie recipe doesn't bubble, then your cookies were destined to be flat ... :)

[jimmysgirl424]

aw, man. i had some and thought about using it but i wasn't sure. i've never used butter crisco before. i'm not even sure why i have it. can you use it in any recipe in place of butter?


Yes, unless the recipe specifically calls for butter and says "no substitutions". It works beautifully for chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies especially!

[lovebugs2003]

So I just made about 10 dozen cheese cookies for a cookie exchange which is happening on Wed. So i am wondering from now until then, what should i do with the cookies. Right now they are all in one big pan, with cellophane covering them well.

Do I freeze them? Leave them out and cellophaned? Put them in the fridge?

I am hopeless at stuff like this, so i have no clue. The fact that i just baked 10 dozen cookies blows me away.

Thanks so much for your help.

Oh I should mention that they are quite delicate and can break easily. SO i don't know if that will make a difference.

[Reenie]

If they are bar cookies (and it sounds like they are if they are all in one pan), then you should leave them in there, uncut, with plastic-wrap (Saran wrap, whatever) tightly covering the pan until you are ready to cut them. I wouldn't freeze them if you are doing the exchange on Wednesday. You may want to refrigerate them, but it's probably not necessary. :)

[rosa727]

I was wondering whether anyone knew how long I could refrigerate cookie dough for. I want to make up the dough early this week and then bake them on Christmas Eve morning. They are just chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips, so nothing delicate. Can I make up the batter today and bake them in 6 days? I would rather not freeze the dough.

Thanks!

[ignutzz]

You can store the dough in the fridge for up to a week, provided you place it in a ziploc or airtight container.

You might want to wait until Wed. or so to make the dough. The longer it sits out, the more it will lose it's flavor and begin to dry out.

[rosa727]

Thanks! I can wait a couple days to make the dough. I just don't want to be doing everything last minute with a newborn baby and a house full of guests! I am making several desserts and I figured these cookies would not suffer much if made in advance.

[j*east]

I'd freeze them if made more than a day or two in advance. There's an easy way to do it, though, so you can put the frozern cookies right in the oven.

Make the dough as usual, then shape the cookies (with two spoons, an ice cream scoop, or your fingers). Instead of putting the raw cookies on a baking sheet, put them on a plate. Freeze the raw cookies until hard, then put the cookie dough balls into a plastic ziploc bag. When you're ready, put them on a cookie sheet and bake at the same temperature, but a minute or two longer.

Alternatively, you can freeze it in a roll and cut off slices to bake.

It is kind of a pain to freeze cookie dough in a bowl or lump, then defrost it, then bake it.

Hope that helps! Have fun with the cookies.

[udsweetpea]

A friend of mine told me a great tip to get cookies to come out of the oven with a GREAT consistency. Just add a packet of Jell-O vanilla pudding powder to the batter, and VIOLA, great SOFT cookies! I've only tried this with chocolate chip cookies, so I'm not sure how it works with other cookies, but I would imagine it would have the same effect.

[jimmysgirl424]

Thanks for the tip! Do you add it in place of some of the flour, or just in addition to the whole recipe? Does it significantly change the flavor of the cookies?

[udsweetpea]

I added it in addition to the flour. It doesn't change the flavor significantly... just a little extra vanilla. The only thing it really changes is the consistency and softness.

[HeatherFL]

Okay, I think a lot of people will be baking cookies tonight! Thanks for the tip, I'm going to try this tomorrow and I'll report back! :)

~H.

[littlelove8138]

wow what a cool tip. i'm going to try it tonight. thanks a bunch

[jimmysgirl424]

I'm baking chocolate chip cookies tomorrow and plan on giving this tip a whirl. Especially since DH specifically requested soft cookies.

[shopaholic]

I will try this too.....Off to buy jello vanilla pudding mix!

[jimmysgirl424]

Just wanted to pop in to say that I baked chocolate chip cookies yesterday using this tip and they turned out awesome! Thanks udsweetpea!

[HeatherFL]

I am about to start baking cookies in a few minutes. I didn't get to do it yesterday. I'll come back and report! Oooh I am excited. :D

~H.

[psusna]

Does it matter instant vs. cook 'n serve? I'm wondering if this tip isn't what always made my grandma's chocolate chip cookies so good?!

[udsweetpea]

I used instant and it worked just fine.

[coquelicot]

Does it have to be vanilla pudding? Would another flavor work? I know the taste would be different, but would the cookies have the same consistency?

[LeslieandPaul]

I tried this today-very good! Thanks for the tip!

[JBB]

Used instant vanilla pudding in my chocolate chip cookies today and I am getting rave reviews-thanks udsweetpea!

[udsweetpea]

You're welcome :) Glad you all enjoyed the cookie tip!

[Foley42]

great tip! I can't wait to try it out :)

[lml41981]

I like crunchy and chewy chocolate chip cookies. I use the Tollhouse recipe and change up the order in which I add ingredients. I also use mostly melted butter instead of soft butter. And most importantly, I like to make a cookie dough sandwich when the first batch is fresh from the oven. That's my tip...don't forget the cookie dough sandwich (fresh cookie topped with a scoop of cookie dough with another fresh cookie on top...serve with milk).

[Chimichanga]

I'll have to try the vanilla pudding idea...

Other tips I have for cookie baking:
- I use an "ice cream scoop" to make my cookies. Technically it is a cookie scoop, just very big. My cookies turn out very thick and moist.
- I always use fresh baking soda. A box costs about 30 cents at Wal-Mart so it's not expensive at all.
- I thoroughly mix the eggs in one at a time before adding another.

Everyone always asks what my secret is for my cookies. I really only follow the recipe on the Tollhouse package or on the Quaker oatmeal canister.

[looch]

I am going to try this, but with white chocolate instant pudding, since that's what I have in the house. I'll post with results.

ETA: Okay, so I just baked a batch. I kept the first pan in the oven too long, those are way crispy. The second and third batches I watched like a hawk, nice and soft!

[myshel]

I used the pudding mix with two different batches of cookies. I used whatever pudding I had on hand, which in this case happened to be chocolate and vanilla. Both batches turned out quite well.

* I used chocolate pudding with a chocolate based cookie.