what's going on with my cookies?

Question

whenever i bake cookies, they don't come out right; they're inedible! most of them spread tremendously and are super-duper flat. i follow other people's recipes but i can't seem to find the same luck as they have. one person suggested that i readjust the temperature of my oven, but how can i do that if it's digital?

i love everyone's help and answers... well, almost everyone. i'm going to ask the public to vote.

Answer 1

The secret to any good baker is the right tools. You need to invest in some heavy baking pans and always use parchment paper instead of greasing the pans.

If your cookies are spreading too much the dough is probably not thick enough to start.

Sift your flour before measure it and always make sure that it is level. Always be sure to cream your wet ingredients separately before adding the premixed dry ingredients.

Trial and error is a large part of success too. Bake only one pan at a time and only get one pan ready for the oven to start. That leaves the batter in the bowl if you need to add more flour.

You can also refrigerate the dough ahead of time, sometimes that helps. And here's a tip for holiday baking, make your dough a few months before and freeze. it'll bake up just fine. You can either form it into a log and cover with saran wrap or drop by spoons on a pan and freeze til hard then pop into a Ziploc bag.

I hope these tips help.

Answer 2

Hmm.. flat cookies could happen outta many reasons.
But since you said that you've already tried someone else's recipe, I only can guess that the prob was the process of making the dough.
Maybe you mixed it too long. Cuz this also happened to me too.
You shouldn't mixed the dough too long. And not with a mixer, but better with a spatula.
Normally in a cookies recipe (also cake recipe), we put the flour the last, or almost the last, or at least we dun put the flour in at the first steps.

Ok, let's say we are making chocolate cookies.
First we mix butter, sugar, then egg (with mixer). Then we stop using mixer. Then put flour+cocoa powder in, then we stir it using a spatula, dun beat it, only light stirring movement. Because too fast and too long stirring could make the dough become warm. And this is what makes the cookies become flat later!

And make sure you have the right temperature. And DO NOT open the oven TOO OFTEN to check it. Cuz this also could make cookies/cakes become flat.

Hope this could help you.
Juz contact me if you something else ^o^

PS. You are suppose to be able to read the temperature even when it's digital. It's on the temperature setting. Once it set in a certain temperature, it'll stay at the same temperature during the baking.
And make sure you pre-heat the oven until it reached the temperature you want before you put anything in ;-)

Answer 3

Try a few different things:

Get an oven thermometer and test the temp of your oven

Make sure you pre-heat

Add a little more flour and little less sugar, dry measurements are different from liquid measurements, you may be addiing to much liquid.

Make sure you add the recipes in the proper order, like when the recipe says beat the egg and shortening together then andd the sugar, do it just like that.

Try butter flavored crisco instead of butter or margerine. It works better.

Take the cookies out while they still look wet on top (about two minutes before they are done and let them continue to cook on the pan outside the oven)

Never put cookies on a warm pan, if your recipe makes more than one batch make sure you cool the pan or use two pans

Answer 4

Raise the temp. of the oven by 25 degrees and stop using other peoples recipes. Maybe they are leaving something out on purpose. Get a cookbook or a recipe on the internet.

Answer 5

I've had great success w/ all of my cookies using the concept Alton Brown uses to make 3 kinds of chocolate chip cookies - the chewy, the puffy and the thin. Depending on what you are looking for, choose the one that best meets your needs. Sounds like you are getting the thin... a flat, crisp cookie. This recipe uses all butter and the dough is not chilled. The puffy uses butter flavored shortening rather than butter and the dough is chilled. To me, this is too puffy and cake-like. The one I like is the chewy which uses MELTED butter and the dough is chilled. It isn't flat but not puffy either and stays moist and chewy. Yummm. This concept works for me with chocolate chip, peanut butter and oatmeal cookies with equal success...melted butter and then chilling the dough.

Answer 6

you have to beat the mixture more to increase the air content, you have to pre-heat the oven for at least ten minutes before you place the cookies in it,especially with digital ovens,
I used to have the same problems,I dont normally charge for my advice but on this occasion i insist that you send me one of your delicious cookies as they will be perfect from now on.
happy cooking x

Answer 7

Trick are you using "real" butter or "real" margine. If you are using oil that not good, don't use the low fat margine. I don't know about using animal fat or crisco. If you are using liquird, then use alittle bit less.

Answer 8

if it is too hot, lower it, and if it isn't hot enough raise the temperature. also, call an electrician to maybe help get to the bottom of the problem.

Answer 9

They probably meant experimenting with different heats...

Answer 10

your oven is super lousy.