Hi everyone,
I am wondering if anyone has advice on how to prevent my rolled cookies from puffing unevenly or spreading too much. I have succeeded in making my sugar cookies nice and smooth by chilling dough, using parchment paper for rolling out dough (so that i don't add any extra flour) and then freezing the cutout cookies before baking, however this hasn't worked for my shortbread cookies. I have had several attempts now and, while they taste delicious, they spread too much and have a lumpy surface during baking. I've seen so many shortbread recipes online with pictures that show perfectly smooth cookies that maintain their shape, but mine just don't look like that. I'm using the traditional 3:2:1 ratio of flour to butter to sugar and really enjoy the taste and texture of this recipe (i just don't like the appearance) so I would like to avoid changing the ingredients. My thought would be to bake at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time to prevent the cookies from spreading too much but most shortbread recipes suggest a temperature of 275 F to 350 F. I tried 350 F for 10 min and they were a bit too brown at the edges and still puffed up a little in the middle. Should I try baking them at 400 F for maybe 6 min? I would also liked to try using a cookie press or making spritz cookies but I am worried that they won't maintain their shapes and will just end up as blobs! I've started using an oven thermometer as I thought maybe my oven wasn't heating up enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am starting to get frustrated with my "blobby cookies!"
I am wondering if anyone has advice on how to prevent my rolled cookies from puffing unevenly or spreading too much. I have succeeded in making my sugar cookies nice and smooth by chilling dough, using parchment paper for rolling out dough (so that i don't add any extra flour) and then freezing the cutout cookies before baking, however this hasn't worked for my shortbread cookies. I have had several attempts now and, while they taste delicious, they spread too much and have a lumpy surface during baking. I've seen so many shortbread recipes online with pictures that show perfectly smooth cookies that maintain their shape, but mine just don't look like that. I'm using the traditional 3:2:1 ratio of flour to butter to sugar and really enjoy the taste and texture of this recipe (i just don't like the appearance) so I would like to avoid changing the ingredients. My thought would be to bake at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time to prevent the cookies from spreading too much but most shortbread recipes suggest a temperature of 275 F to 350 F. I tried 350 F for 10 min and they were a bit too brown at the edges and still puffed up a little in the middle. Should I try baking them at 400 F for maybe 6 min? I would also liked to try using a cookie press or making spritz cookies but I am worried that they won't maintain their shapes and will just end up as blobs! I've started using an oven thermometer as I thought maybe my oven wasn't heating up enough. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am starting to get frustrated with my "blobby cookies!"