When baking cookies there’s no better feeling than eating a warm soft cookie straight from the oven. But what happens when you grab a dense, flat, not so soft cookie?
I mean, they were supposed to be fluffy and full of life. So what happened?
Well, chemistry happened, and as with all baking, the answers come down to science.
As a lover of sweets and a fellow home baker, I’ve baked cookies countless times and still mess every now and again. Practice makes perfect right?
So what if I told you it’s possible to achieve perfect cookies with minor tweaks to your baking.
For real! You can alter any recipe to make exactly what you’re looking for.
So let’s dive in and discuss what you can change to make your next batch perfect!
What makes cookies hard?
The number one cause for hard cookies is overbaking them. You either baked them too long, too hot, or too unevenly. Dough that sits for too long in the oven releases excess moisture resulting in stiff, crispy texture.
Now, there are some people who love a good crispy cookie, however if crispy was not the intention, then there’s a possibility they were over baked.
Recipes for softer cookies typically bake quicker than those that are harder. The shorter the bake time the more moisture retained. But less does not always mean more.
Baking your cookies in a shorter time period could leave you with raw or undercooked dough.
Temperature can also lead to overbaking. Setting the temperature too high bakes the outside faster, potentially burning before the inside has a chance to fully bake.
Set the temperature too low and your cookies will take longer to fully bake. We already know that longer bake time leads to loss of moisture and tough, dry texture.
Most cookie recipes call for preheating your oven to 350F. This temperature is ideal for evenly browning and preventing burning.
This is when sugars and proteins begin to break down and caramelize in a chemical process known as the Maillard reaction.
When aiming for a soft, gooey texture in your cookies, placement is everything. If your baking sheet rests too low or too high in the oven the heat will no longer displace evenly.
Cookies with burnt bottoms could be the result of placing your baking sheet on the bottom rack closer to the heat source.
Alternatively, placing your cookies on the top rack farthest from the heat source may increase the bake time and thus increase the loss of moisture.
Is there too much flour?
Some of the best cookies are those that are made with precisely measured ingredients. Baking is chemistry after all, and just like a balanced equation, your ingredients dictate your product.
Take the flour for instance, adding too much produces thick pasty dough while adding too little will achieve a runny, wet dough. But how does this affect the texture of our cookies?
Flour contains proteins that when combined with water produce gluten. Gluten is elastic in nature and provides shape and structural stability for your dough. Less flour means less gluten, and less gluten means weaker structure.
If your dough is lacking flour and is therefore very wet, the structure will collapse, spreading the dough too thin which will lead to overbaked cookies.
On the other hand, dough that contains too much flour has an overabundance of gluten. Too much gluten, and the dough will lack spreadability.
When cookie dough spreads in the oven it allows for an even bake. A dough that lacks the ability to spread will bake thick, dense cookies that require longer bake times.
Can adding more fats soften the dough?
Other ingredients like butter, shortening or other fats can provide a softer, more gooey feel. Fats cover and tenderize the gluten, preventing over production which we now know can lead to tougher cookies.
But all fats are not created equal. Butter for instance has a lower melting point (90-95F) when compared to shortening (111-122F). This allows for the butter to melt faster in the oven and spread the dough more quickly.
Shortening on the other hand, takes longer to melt causing the cookies to stay in a thicker form.
The take away
Baking can be tricky, and like most experiments, balance is everything. Using properly measured ingredients, adequate bake times, and ideal temperatures can help you obtain those perfectly soft cookies.
Now that we know exactly why they bake hard, I hope this can help you troubleshoot your next batch. So grab your apron and let’s get you baking those perfect cookies you’ve been dreaming of!
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