Should Totally Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies Be Flat After Baking? | Ask Nigella.com (2024)

FAQs

Should chocolate chip cookies be flat? ›

The cookies are not supposed to flatten out completely during baking, but remain slightly mounded. This gives the cookies their soft centres. In the method it says to put mounds of the cookie dough on the baking sheet and not to flatten the mounds (step 5).

Flatten your cookies with a spatula when they first come out of the oven for perfect cookies every time.

Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.

too much of certain ingredients relative to others: too much flour. too many inclusions or add-ins (especially chopped chocolate and nuts in cookies can stop cookies from spreading)

If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure. Therefore, as the butter spreads so does the whole liquidy cookie.

If this happens, put the dough into the refrigerator until it is well chilled, usually about 1 to 2 hours. Another possible fix is to add some additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough is slightly stiffer and doesn't spread. 2. Butter or margarine is too soft.

Most cookie recipes include a range of baking times, like "8 to 10 minutes." I recommend removing the cookies from the oven at the earlier end of that range. They may look slightly underbaked when you do this, but the cookies will continue to firm up on the hot cookie sheets as they rest for a few minutes.

Flour adds fluff and texture to the cookies. Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour.

Baking soda

When added to dough, baking soda releases a carbon dioxide gas which helps leaven the dough, creating a soft, fluffy cookie. Baking soda is generally used in recipes that contain an acidic ingredient such as vinegar, sour cream or citrus.

Chilling cookie dough helps prevent spreading. The colder the dough, the less the cookies will over-spread into greasy puddles. You'll have thicker, sturdier, and more solid cookies. Whenever I make cookies, I plan ahead and chill the cookie dough overnight.

How do you fix cookies that are too flat? ›

Avoid packing the flour into the cup, as this can lead to using too much flour and result in dry, flat cookies. Adjust leavening agents: Baking powder and baking soda are responsible for the rise and structure of cookies. If your cookies are too flat, try slightly increasing these leavening agents.

Briefly Freeze Your Cookie Dough Balls

Take your sheet of cookie dough balls and pop it in the freezer while your oven preheats, for about 20 minutes. This will help prevent excess cookie spreading, so you get nice fat thick cookies.

Bake at 375 degrees F until golden and tender, 12 to 15 minutes. For crispy-cakey cookies: Bake the cookies at 425 degrees F until golden and crunchy on the outside, 8 to 10 minutes.

Golden Brown Edges – Check the edges of the cookies for a golden brown colour. This indicates that the cookies have caramelized and are likely done. However, keep in mind that different recipes may yield cookies with different levels of browning. Set Centres – Gently touch the centre of a cookie.

Cookies made with melted butter often deflate and become denser when they cool, resulting in a perfectly cooked fudgy center — a similar textural result to brownies that get rapped (aka banged against an oven rack mid-bake to deflate them) or Sarah Kieffer's iconic pan-banging cookies that turn out pleasantly compact.