Solutions:
- Bake longer but at a lower temperature.
- Use all-purpose flour; it’s higher protein content results in a crispier cookie.
- Use butter instead of shortening.
- Increase the ratio of white sugar to brown sugar, or use all white sugar.
Contents
Reheat them in the microwave on medium setting for 15 to 20 seconds. This should be enough time for the cookies to soak in the moisture from the paper towel. If you take them out and they haven’t softened enough yet, wrap them in another damp paper towel and microwave again for 10 more seconds.
Once it’s clear that you do have limp cookies or less-than-crispy crackers, put them back into a preheated 300° F or 325° F oven, regardless of the original (presumably higher) baking temperature. I tend to use 300° F for items that can’t afford to get darker, and 325° if a little extra color won’t hurt.
How to Fix Cakey Cookies
- Don’t Chill Your Cookies.
- Use Melted Butter instead of Room Temperature Butter.
- Use Less Flour.
- Don’t Beat the Butter and Sugar Too Much.
- Add Baking Soda.
- Decrease Baking Powder.
- Drop the Pan on the Counter a Few Times after Baking.
- Decrease the Amount of Eggs.
Substitute or Add Ingredients
- Add Molasses or Honey. Another way to add more moisture to your cookies is incorporate a tablespoon of molasses into a standard-sized cookie recipe.
- Replace Butter with Vegetable Shortening.
- Double Your Yolks.
- Use Baking Powder.
How to Moisten Dry Cookie Dough
- 1 – Add Liquid.
- 2 – Add Some Fat.
- 3 – Use Your Hands.
- 4 – Let It Rest.
- 5 – Fix the Recipe.
Better to be on the safe side and remove them when they’re slightly underdone than burn them. You can always return cookies to the oven if they need a few more minutes. You can even rebake cookies long after they’re cool to restore crispness or freshness. Here’s our best tips.
Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy and crispy. Baking soda helps cookies spread outward and upward while cooking.Adding too much butter can cause the cookies to be flat and greasy. Adding too little butter can cause the cookies to be tough and crumbly.
Why Do Cookies Get Hard?Over time, the moisture in the cookies evaporates, leaving them stiff and crumbly. It’s the same thing that happens to breads, muffins, and other baked goods. The longer they sit, the more stale they become.
The most common cause is using a different flour than usual, such as cake flour, and measuring flour with too heavy a hand. Using larger eggs than called for can make cookies cakey, as will the addition of milk or more milk or other liquids than specified.
Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Causes: Whipping too much air into the dough while creaming butter and sugar. Adding too many eggs.
1. Add Liquid
- Add Liquid. Save. Add more liquid to the batter.
- Add Fat. Add more fat to the batter. What is this?
- Use Your Hands. Kneading the dough with your hands. If you have tried adding extra liquid and fat to your cookie dough, and it is still too crumbly, try using your hands to mix and knead the dough.
Why are my cookies tough? The most common reason that cookies are tough is that the cookie dough was mixed too much. When flour is mixed into the dough, gluten begins to form. Gluten helps hold baked goods together, but too much gluten can lead to tough cookies.
“Overmixing your dough will result in flatter, crispier cookies,” Cowan said. If you overmix, you will end up aerating the dough (adding air) which causes the cookies to rise and then fall, leaving you with flat cookies.
You have several options:
- The simplest solution: add flour (and a bit of sugar).
- The true-to-the-recipe solution: double the rest of the ingredients.
- The “I am out of flour and sugar” solution: spread the mix out in the oven (at a low temperature) and dry it, mixing it up regularly to even out the temperature.
Sugar cookie dough is too dry: A dry dough is often a sign of too much flour. To fix this, try kneading in a little vegetable oil. Dough that is too dry will lead to dry, crumbly cookies.
Doing a Physical Check. Press the edges with your finger. Open up the oven, pull out the rack a bit, and push the sides of the cookie very lightly with a spatula or your finger. If the edge stays firm and doesn’t fall inwards, then your cookies are done.
Chocolate chip cookies are done when they have a firm golden edge or bottom and appear slightly set on top. If the edges become dark brown, they are overbaked. If edges aren’t golden and tops are soft and shiny, bake a little longer.
To ensure a chewy texture, take cookies out of the oven when they are still slightly underdone, which often means they will droop over the end of a spatula. Crevices should appear moist and edges on smooth cookies should be lightly browned.
If your cookies are rock hard, the site explains that it’s likely due to an over-abundance of sugar, which hardens, darkens, and flattens the cookies as they bake. Bake or Break adds that over-mixing your dough can be the culprit, too. When flour is blended with other ingredients, gluten starts to form.
When cookies are cakey, it’s often because the fat:sugar:flour ratio is off. Having too much flour will generally cause drier and cakier cookies. Too much flour is usually a result of measuring it improperly.Some have more butter, some have more sugar, some have more flour.