6 Reasons Why Your Cookies are Spreading (2024)

FAQs

6 Reasons Why Your Cookies are Spreading? ›

Temperature. Dough that is too warm or soft will spread more than dough that is cooler, so if you're working in a very warm kitchen, putting your dough in the fridge for 15 minutes or longer before using it will help prevent spread. Butter that is too warm or soft is also a major culprit.

Temperature. Dough that is too warm or soft will spread more than dough that is cooler, so if you're working in a very warm kitchen, putting your dough in the fridge for 15 minutes or longer before using it will help prevent spread. Butter that is too warm or soft is also a major culprit.

What are the 6 factors that determine the spread of a cookie? Flour, sugar, liquid, baking soda, type of fat, and baking temperature.

Reduce the leavening in the cookie recipe by about 25% if you live between 3,000-7,000 ft above sea level, and by about 30% if you're higher up in altitude. This helps the cookies spread less as they bake- leavening agents can work a bit differently at high-altitude!

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.

Chilled cookie dough spreads less because the butter is colder and as a result takes longer to melt and spread in the oven. A cookie made with shortening will spread less than a cookie made with butter because shortening melts at a higher temperature and thus doesn't begin to spread until later.

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.

Cookie butter is a creamy spread made from finely ground Belgian speculoos spice cookies. Cookie butter looks like nut butter but tastes like gingerbread, with a rich, deep caramel flavor augmented by toasty, spiced cookie notes.

Chill the dough: Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes (or as directed in the recipe) before baking. Chilling the dough helps solidify the fat and allows the cookies to retain their shape better during baking.

How to bake at 5000 feet? ›

Use less baking powder or baking soda. For each teaspoon, decrease 1/8 teaspoon at 3000 feet; 1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon at 5000 feet; 1/4 teaspoon at 7000 feet. Decrease the fat. If your recipe calls for oil or shortening, decrease 1 to 2 tablespoons per cup of fat.

“Baking cookies in a too-cool oven will cause the fat to melt before your cookies set up, leading to spreading,” Dawn says. Grab an oven thermometer the next time you're in the grocery store so you can be sure your oven is at the correct temperature.

You technically can leave out baking soda in certain recipes (like chocolate chip cookies or pancakes) in a pinch, but you need to understand that your finished product will not be as light and fluffy as the recipe intended. Unless you have no other option, you really should use a leavening substitute.

“When chilled cookies bake, the butter stays in a solid form longer, slowing the spread,” says Dawn. “30 to 60 minutes in the refrigerator does wonders, and you can bake the cookies right from the fridge.” Not only will chilling help the fats firm up and the flour hydrate, but it also helps the flavors develop.

1. Cookies. 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.

They rise.

As the butter melts, the cookie's structure loosens, so that the water in the dough is able to combine with the baking soda, dissolving it. The baking soda then reacts to the acidic components present in brown sugar, creating gases that cause the cookie to rise.