FAQs
Too Much Fat
What causes cookies to spread more? ›
Excess Sugar and Fat
If your cookie contains excess sugar or fat, it will spread while baking. If your first batch of cookies spreads, try adding a few tablespoons of flour to help thicken the remaining dough.
Why aren't my cookies getting flat? ›
Too Much Flour
This may seem counterintuitive—after all, isn't flour a key ingredient in baking? Yes, but if you add too much flour, your cookies won't spread as they bake. Too much flour causes the dough to become dry and crumbly, which prevents it from flattening out during baking.
Does white sugar make cookies spread? ›
White sugar, with its neutral pH, interferes with gluten development, allowing the dough to spread more before it sets. The result is cookies that are thin and tender/crisp.
What makes cookies fluffy and not flat? ›
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.
How do you make your cookies flat? ›
Make sure all of your ingredients are room temp. For flatter cookies, scoop your room temp cookie dough to parchment and then press the top slightly. You can always add more butter but that will result in a crunchier/lacy edge. So remember baking is all science.
What temperature should butter be for cookies? ›
Most cookie recipes call for beating room-temperature butter. At a temperature between 70 and 72 degrees F, butter is soft enough to incorporate air, but not so soft that it will melt immediately in the oven and result in super-thin cookies.
Can I add more butter to cookie dough? ›
If you think your cookie dough is off, you may not have enough liquid in the recipe. Consider adding a touch more liquid such as melted butter, egg yolks, or a teaspoon of water. Add a teeny bit and see if that helps. Add more as needed until the dough holds together and is scoop-able.
What ingredient helps the cookies spread? ›
Fat content: The fat content in your cookie dough significantly determines how much your cookies will spread. Fats like butter and margarine tend to melt during baking, causing the cookies to spread. Higher fat content will spread more, while lower fat content will yield less spread.
What does adding more brown sugar to cookies do? ›
When we use only brown sugar in a cookie recipe, the resulting cookies will be chewier, since they contain more moisture from the molasses. Also, we'll have a puffier and softer cookies, because molasses is acidic and reacts with baking soda to make them puff up in the oven more.
Vanilla extract and how important is it for the baking process. The primary purpose of vanilla extract is to add flavour to baked goods. Lacking it, baked goods tend to have a bland and boring taste. Vanilla extract can also contribute moisture to create a soft and fluffy texture.
How do you increase the spread of cookies? ›
Warm Dough
To encourage a good spread during baking, you may want to try using warm cookie dough instead of refrigerating it. Refrigeration causes the fats in the dough to solidify (especially the butter), which is usually a good thing, but if it solidifies too much, it can slow down the spreading process.
Does baking soda make cookies spread? ›
Baking soda also serves another important purpose when it comes to cookies: It encourages spreading by raising the mixture's pH, which slows protein coagulation. This gives the dough more time to set before the eggs set, which results in a more evenly baked cookie.
Does cornstarch keep cookies from spreading? ›
Cornstarch does kind of incredible things to cookies. I mean not only does it give them soft centers, prevents them from spreading, and makes them somewhat thick (in a good way), but it also contributes to the chewiness factor, which, in my opinion, is the most important cookie attribute.
Does melted butter make cookies flat? ›
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.