Use a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Coating your baking sheet with nonstick spray or butter creates an overly greasy foundation, causing the cookies to spread. I always recommend a silicone baking mat because they grip onto the bottom of your cookie dough, preventing the cookies from spreading too much.
8 Ways to Prevent Cookies from Burning on the Bottom
- Sugar Control.
- The Right Baking Sheet Color.
- Ungreased Cookie Sheets.
- Parchment-Lined Cookie Sheets.
- Oven Rack Position.
- One Sheet at a Time.
- The Sacrificial Cookie.
- Baking Time.
Not only will this cause the cookies to spread into one another, creating bizarrely shaped cookies, but also Cowan said that “overcrowding a baking sheet will result in flatter cookies as they are sharing the heat with too many [other cookies].”
Eggs are used as a leavening agent in many recipes, so if you’re adding too much, this can have an adverse effect on your cookies by making them rise up and become cakey rather than spreading out.
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.
They go from soft to hard because they start to dry out, and it begins as soon as you pull them from the oven. (Yikes.) Whatever moisture is left in the cookies is always in a state of evaporation. At the same time, the sugars and starches are solidifying.
In short, your cookies may have burned on the bottom because your oven temperature readings are off, your cookie sheet is too dark, your cookies were baked on a lower rack, the heat was too high, or you baked the cookies right on the sheet without any parchment paper.
If you believe you over mixed your dough, the best idea is to let the dough rest. If the flour developed too much gluten while mixing, you need to let that gluten soften. Cover the dough and set it aside on the counter at room temperature for at least an hour. Then, scoop and bake the dough without mixing it again.
Rotate Pans During Baking
To make sure they all bake evenly, rotate the baking sheet from front to back halfway through the baking time. If you’re baking two sheets of cookies at once, switch the position of the sheets from top to bottom and then rotate them from front to back.
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.
Eggs
- If you want a flatter cookie, eliminate 1 egg and cut back the flour to 2 cups.
- If you like a really crunchy cookie, add another egg white because it helps to dry out baked goods.
- If you prefer a moist and chewy cookie, eliminate one egg white and add 2 TBSP of milk.
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.
Water vapor escaping from the dough in combination with the carbon dioxide released by our baking soda is ultimately what makes our cookies light and airy.
For softer, chewier cookies, you will want to add much less granulated sugar, slightly more brown sugar, and a fair bit less butter. For cakey cookies, you will often be including even less butter and sugar.
If the cookies that you’re baking are turning out far too puffy, then just flattening out the cookie dough a bit before baking it might work well. You can place a dollop onto a cookie sheet and then flatten it a bit using a spoon or a fork.
Rest the Dough A secret baker’s trick is to rest your cookie dough in the fridge. You can rest it for at least an hour, which will evaporate some of the water and increase the sugar content, helping to keep your cookies chewy. The longer you allow your dough to rest in the fridge, the chewier your cookies will be.
(Exactly) How to Make Cookies Moist: 9 Easy Ways
- Add Cream Cheese to the Dough. What is this?
- Use Instant Pudding Mix in the Dough.
- Use Brown Sugar instead of White Sugar.
- Underbake the Cookies Slightly.
- Add Sour Cream.
- Add Corn Syrup.
- Store on Sheets of Wax Paper with a Slice of Bread.
- Use Shortening.
Prevent Burned Cookies
Usually cookies have enough fat in them to not stick. If you’re concerned about sticking, use parchment paper to line the pan, as it won’t promote over-browning. Parchment paper also makes it so sticky ingredients don’t make a mess of your pan; it guarantees easy clean up.
The cookie sheet may be too large for the oven and not allowing sufficient heat circulation. The heat is trapped under the pan and the cookies will burn on the bottom before the tops are brown. We recommend at least 1 to 1 1/2 inches around the cookie sheet. The oven door may have been opened too often.
Place one baking sheet at a time onto center rack of preheated 350 degree F oven. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, still have pale tops, and are soft in the center, about 8 to 10 minutes. (Do not overbake! They will firm up more during cooling.)
If you mix (or roll out) cookie dough too much, you’ll add excess air to the dough, causing it to rise and then fall flat in the oven. Overmixing the dough can also lead to excess gluten development, resulting in dense cookies.
Having too much flour in your cookies will make them tender, and even crumbly. This is apparent in shortbread cookies, which are well known for being dry and soft. What is this? This will often happen when you use a high amount of flour in cookies that have very few wet ingredients, such as eggs and butter.
Use a small amount of an acidic condiment such as lemon juice or vinegar to neutralise the soda. If the recipe has chocolate, simply add half a teaspoon of cocoa powder to it. Buttermilk can also be used to counter the pungent taste of baking soda.
For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they’re in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool.
The key is to always use top-quality ingredients as they’ll result in a better cookie; it really is that simple.
- Always use butter.
- Choose the right sugar.
- Choose the right flour.
- Check your flour is in date.
- Choose the right kind of chocolate.
- Cream the butter and sugar.
- Beat in the eggs.
- Fold in the flour.
That, or the dough wasn’t cool enough before baking. Warm cookie dough or excess butter will cause the cookies to spread too much, baking quickly on the outside but remaining raw in the middle. Next time, chill your cookies in the fridge for 10 minutes before you bake them. If the problem persists, use less butter.
For those ooey, gooey chocolate chip cookies, 375 degrees Fahrenheit is your sweet spot. It’s the perfect temperature to ensure super crispy exterior edges, while leaving the center slightly underdone and, thus, doughy and fudgey.
However, the standard baking temperature for cookies is 350 degrees Fahrenheit. While 350 degrees F is standard, you can also bake cookies at 325 degrees F.
On ungreased cookie sheet, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light brown (centers will be soft). Cool 1 to 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.
If your baking soda or baking powder is expired, your cookies won’t develop as they are supposed to – causing them not to rise but simply to spread across your oven tray. It’s a good idea to regularly replace your raising agents as they are key to baked goods rising as they should when baked.
(Exactly) How to Make Fluffy Cookies: 11 Genius Tips for Puffy…
- Make Sure Your Baking Soda and Baking Powder aren’t Expired.
- Use Baking Powder instead of Baking Soda.
- Roll Your Dough Balls into Cylinders.
- Chill the Dough.
- Use a Silicone Mat, not a Greased Baking Sheet.
- Add another Egg Yolk.
Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents, which are substances used to help baked goods rise.
“Most people think the butter should be so soft that it’s broken down, but the most important thing is that you want a little bit of give to the butter.” If you want to get technical, she says the precise temperature should be between 63 and 68 degrees — where it’s cool to touch, but your finger can leave an indent.
Yolks, where all of the fat is in an egg, increase richness, tenderness and flavor. Therefore, if you put an extra egg, you will get a chewier cookie. I do it all the time. If you put less, you will get a more crumbly cookie.
Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.
When added to cake, cookie and shortbread recipes, cornstarch helps create a crumbly and tender dessert-like texture. Commercially, cornstarch is often used as an anti-caking agent.
Butter contributes milk solids and water to a cookie, both of which soften it. Brown sugar contributes molasses – again, a softener. Using lower-moisture sugar (granulated) and fat (vegetable shortening), plus a longer, slower bake than normal, produces light, crunchy cookies.
Vinegar is a surprisingly common ingredient in baked goods, considering that it has such a sharp flavor. But as an acid, vinegar is often included in cake and cookie batters to react with baking soda and start the chemical reaction needed to produce carbon dioxide and give those batters a lift as they bake.
With less ‘free moisture’ hanging around, the dough has a higher concentration of sugar, and the higher this percentage, the more likely it is that you’ll get cookies with chewy centers and crispy edges.”
If there isn’t enough flour to hold that melted fat, the cookies will over-spread. Spoon and level that flour or, better yet, weigh your flour. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough. Don’t overmix the cookie dough ingredients.
Acidic brown sugar, on the other hand, speeds gluten formation and egg protein coagulation, so the dough sets quickly, making cookies thick and tender/chewy.
Adding more moisture to your dough in the form of extra butter, egg yolks, or brown sugar will make your cookies even softer. We go into even more detail on how to achieve chewy perfection here.
Adding a bit more baking powder to your recipe (or adding baking powder at all, about 1/2 a teaspoon) can help give you softer and fluffier cookies.
A wet sticky dough is likely to cause the cookies to be underbaked, too gooey in the middle, or depending on why the dough is too wet, the cookies could also become thin and crispy. This happens when dry ingredients are again measured wrong (not enough flour for example), or too much liquid was added to the batter.
Can I use oil instead of parchment paper?
Another substitute for parchment paper? Simply oil your baking sheet or pan! Typically parchment paper is used for easy cleanup: especially for roasted vegetables. It might not be necessary if you spread on oil or butter in a thin layer.
1. Foil does not have any nonstick properties. Baking cookies on foil is pretty much exactly the same as baking directly on a baking sheet. The only difference is that it can save you some clean-up time – you can simply remove and discard your foil without having to wash your baking sheet.
Just as you can bake biscuits without baking powder, you can also bake cookies without the need to use parchment paper. The main reason why people use parchment paper is to ensure an easier cleanup. Therefore, if this is your main concern, you should use heavy foil instead of parchment to reduce cleanup time.
your oven: it might not be preheating to the set temperature and might be going way above that or you are setting your oven to a very high temperature, too high for your cookies. too much baking soda can promote Maillard browning by increasing the pH of cookie dough.
Cookies should (almost) always be baked on the middle rack of the oven. The middle rack offers the most even heat and air circulation which helps cookies bake consistently.
Putting raw dough on cookie sheets still warm from the oven can cause them to begin spreading, leading to burnt edges. Always allow baking sheets to cool completely before adding more batches. To expedite cooling, rinse warm—but not hot—sheet under cold tap water.
Keeping them on the sheet too long after baking can cause them to get hard or stick to the sheet. Cookies are done when they are firmly set and lightly browned. When you touch them lightly with your finger, almost no imprint will remain.
One reason cookies spread: oven temperature
“For this practically perfect tray, we dropped the temperature to 300°F, and extended the baking time: 22 minutes for chewy, 30 minutes for crisp.
If you are able to touch the top of them and they are right between soft and firm (or how you would prefer them), they would be good. if you are able to touch them and they still feel to dough-like, leave them in the oven for another 2 or 3 minutes.
How can I stop overmixing?
Blend in the eggs until well incorporated, as with the cookie dough, then add the flour and liquid, typically in alternating additions. Once both liquid and flour have been added to the mixing bowl, that’s when you need to worry about over-mixing. Beat until the flour streaks disappear, but no more.
Rotate Pans During Baking
To make sure they all bake evenly, rotate the baking sheet from front to back halfway through the baking time. If you’re baking two sheets of cookies at once, switch the position of the sheets from top to bottom and then rotate them from front to back.
How do I stop dough from overworking?
How to Prevent Over Kneading. One of the best ways to prevent over kneading a dough is to always opt to knead by hand. When you use your hands to knead dough, you can feel the dough at every step of the way. You will know if it needs a touch more flour or if it is starting to get firm.
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.
Most cookies are baked at a fairly high temperature for a short time. Why would you double-pan a batch of cookies? To prevent burning the bottoms of the cookies.
There are several reasons why the cookies may have become dry and crumbly but the two most likely are that either the cookies were baked for too long or too much flour was added to the dough. The cookie should be baked only until the edges are slightly golden and the top looks a little wrinkled.