Have you had chocolate chip cookies that were drastically different than the ones you make at home? Have you tried different recipes only to be underwhelmed when the texture wasn’t what you were expecting? You’re not alone and chocolate chip cookies- owing to their scant amount of ingredients- are really dependent on just the right texture. If you’ve had troubles with flat cookies then read on to find out what to do about it.
You may have heard that your baking powder or baking soda might be to blame if they’re a bit old or that using different products makes a difference to the coookies. But, according to chef, author, and dietician Ann Reardon these factors aren’t as important to cookie spread as some would have you believe. She tested various alterations to her basic chocolate chip cookie recipe to see which factors really made the most difference to texture and spread. What she found was that using baking powder or baking soda or leaving leaveners out all together made little difference to the size of the cookies.
Baking temperature is also sometimes a suspect in why different batches spread more, but she tested that, too. While the higher temperatures resulted in drier cookies, they didn’t actually spread more than the other cookies baked at lower temps. The cookies also came out the same size when the pan was over-greased as well, which is another theory on why some cookies spread more than others.
She made 22 batches of cookies and found that one of the biggest factors in all the recipes was simply leaving the dough on the counter for a while before baking. But, she also found that one ingredient in particular prevented her cookies from spreading in the oven.
Watch the video below to find out all the different ways she made the cookies and which changes to the original recipe had the most effect on cookie spread.