2nd attempt at cookies a failure!!

[gulab jamun]

Hello,

I tried making cookies from scratch again, and they turned out very thin and flimsy. I'm really disappointed with myself considering how much time I put into this.

Here's my recipe/process:

1) In one bowl, I added 2 cups unbleached flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon baking soda and mixed it together.

2) In a separate bowl, I put 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup brown sugar. Then I took 2 sticks of real butter, softened them slightly in the microwave, and added them to the bowl with sugar. I started mixing. Then I added 2 eggs and mixed thoroughly.

3) Next, I added in the flour bowl from step 1 and mixed until a nice cookie dough formed and I saw no dry flour. I added in Nestle chocolate chunks and walnut pieces. Then I put this bowl in the fridge for over an hour to let it chill (thus making it easier to form cookie dough balls).

4) I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. I took a couple of round pizza pans and put foil on them, and dropped cookie dough balls onto them. I baked for 10 minutes at 375. The foil was ungreased for the first couple pans, but for the remaining dough, I greased the foil.

5) I removed the foil with cookies from the pan, so that the hot pan didn't inadvertently overbake the cookies, and let the cookies cool. While the taste was decent, the cookies were so thin and flimsy that I could barely scrape them off the foil without breaking them.

What am I doing wrong?!?!

 

[Andy M.]

Several things could be contributing to your problem of thin cookies.

First, when creming the sugars and butter together, they should be thoroughly mixed together, then the eggs incorporated one at a time.

Second, since butter melts at a low temperature, the cookies spread out and get thin before the dough has a chance to setin the oven, creating thin cookies.

Chill the dough thorughly. Place the chilled dough onto a chilled cookie sheet and bake. Keep the unused dough in the fridge until it;s time for the next batch. Chill the cookie sheets between batches. You will end up with thicker chewy cookies.

 

[jpmcgrew]

Against what everyone else has said I bake most cookies at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.Another thing you might want to check is the actual temperature of your oven ,ovens can be 25 to 50 degrees off either up or down so I would get an oven thermometer and check the actual oven temperature.Last but not least are you using enough dough for each cookie?
Another thing is you want to bake cookies on the middle rack of oven not the top or bottom rack

 

[tdejarnette]

In addition to above advice, I use stick margarine as a substitute for at least half the butter. My recipe calls for 2 and 1/4 c. flour but is otherwise the same as yours. If you can soften at room temp instead of microwave. Don't overbake. At 375, I usually start checking them after 8 or 9 minutes, and subsequent batches may take less time. Only let the cookies cool for about a minute before removing to a cooling rack. Keep trying, nothing beats homemade cookies!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Several things could be contributing to your problem of thin cookies.

First, when creming the sugars and butter together, they should be thoroughly mixed together, then the eggs incorporated one at a time.

Second, since butter melts at a low temperature, the cookies spread out and get thin before the dough has a chance to setin the oven, creating thin cookies.

Chill the dough thorughly. Place the chilled dough onto a chilled cookie sheet and bake. Keep the unused dough in the fridge until it;s time for the next batch. Chill the cookie sheets between batches. You will end up with thicker chewy cookies.

Andy..

My DW suffers from the "flat cookie syndrome" sometimes. It has always perplexed her as to why sometimes this happens. I showed her your post and she Ahhhh Haaaaa!! Thanks man! Maybe now I want have to listen to her grumble!!!

 

[Andy M.]

Glad to help!

 

[Alix]

Ditto what Andy said. If you want your cookies to be "poofier" but still retain that buttery flavour you have a couple of options. One is to use a bit of shortening in place of some of the butter, or some butter flavoured shortening, or finally, use colder butter. The melting thing is the biggest factor in the thin cookies. Good luck and I hope attempt #3 works the way you want it to. (By the way, if you need a home for those cookies, I know someone who would LOVE to help you get rid of them!!!)

Edit: Also, do you have parchment paper or waxed paper to use instead of the foil? That might help too.

 

[jpmcgrew]

Are using baking soda and not baking powder.Could the baking soda be too old.

 

[Red's Kitchen]

Flat Cookies

I, too, have flat cookies...first time ever!!! Think the recipe called for too little flour. Will correct that now. Thanks for all the great information.

 

[Dina]

Too much butter will do this. Chilling the cookie dough will work and get you a thicker cookie.

 

[auzzi]

My recipe:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup real butter
1 egg
flavouring
Cream butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg: then stir in sifted flour salt and soda

Mixed to a firm but pliable dough. Break off pieces and rool into ball.

180oC [375oF]. Place balls on greasey tray,: press with tines of fork or bottom of glass Bake 8-10 minutes.

 

[Caine]

Baking soda needs an acid to react with in order for the cookies to rise. There is no acid in your recipe. Replace the baking soda with baking powder. Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and an acid (cream of tartar).

 

[Andy M.]

Baking soda needs an acid to react with in order for the cookies to rise. There is no acid in your recipe. Replace the baking soda with baking powder. Baking powder is a mixture of baking soda and an acid (cream of tartar).

Doesn't the molasses in the brown sugar act as an acid for the BS?

 

[Alix]

Andy, I think that is correct.

 

[Caine]

If you take a look at any successful cookie recipe (i.e., the Neiman-Marcus cookie recipe in the thread below), you will find either baking powder, or both baking powder and baking soda, in the recipe.

 

[Alix]

I beg to differ Caine. Traditional Chocolate chip

There are lots and lots of recipes out there that are very successful without baking powder in them. The recipe two posts above yours does not include baking powder either, but the poster feels they are quite successful.

Not trying to be argumentative, just pointing out that success is subjective.

 

[keltin]

I beg to differ Caine. Traditional Chocolate chip

There are lots and lots of recipes out there that are very successful without baking powder in them. The recipe two posts above yours does not include baking powder either, but the poster feels they are quite successful.

Not trying to be argumentative, just pointing out that success is subjective.

Holy cow, I never realized molasses was acidic. So is honey. That would never have crossed my mind in a thousand years. I learned something today.

Ok, Alix, in your cookie recipe, you only use baking soda. Baking soda needs an acid to work, so I take it that it is the brown sugar (molasses) that is supplying the acid here?

See, that's why they say baking is a science!

 

[keltin]

Doesn't the molasses in the brown sugar act as an acid for the BS?

Awesome bit of knowledge! Thanks for bringing this up.

 

[Alix]

Whoops! Sorry I missed this. Yes keltin, its the molasses. I have to say, I'm not a huge chemistry fan, and I don't always know the specific reasons stuff works. I've just been doing it long enough to know what goes with what most of the time. LOL.