Cookie help.

2868

So I'm a pretty good cook. But I'm trying to get into baking. My quick breads and yeast breads are great. However I suck at making cookies, they come out like bread. Little round delicious bread stuffs.

What am I doing wrong?

Here was my last recipe:
1 cup sugar
1 puréed apple
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup butter
Tsp nutmeg
Tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 Tsp baking soda

Cream butter and sugar, mix in dry ingredients, mix in egg and wet stuff. Make dough.

Preheat oven to 375, bake for 10 minutes, cool, yadda yadda=bread.

Help?

KalTorak

How do you mean like bread? Like are they tough to chew? dry?

I'm put the oven at 350 to start, might need to go a couple more minutes depending on your baking sheets, but if overheating is part of the problem it'll give you more control to pull them out at the right time. The apple is sort of an X factor for me, the cookies I usually make are from a recipe pretty similar to yours, just without the apple. That might be throwing off your wet/dry ratio; too much water + overmixing will give you more gluten, which might account for the breadiness. Not to say that the recipe couldn't work as it is - after you put everything together, how long do you mix it for?

FeatherBlade

Are you making up your own recipe, or is this a recipe that you've gotten from somewhere else?

The only thing that I can think of off the top of my head might be that the temperature is wrong, but I'm having trouble remembering if it's too high or too low. Too low, I think. Try baking them at 400. Or you might need more flour (another half cup?). Try one of these at a time (yay scientific method!).

Then, too... sometimes cookies just turn out more cake-like than cookie-ish, even when you are using the same recipe. It's an atmospheric, phase-of-the-moon type of deal.

2868

I just saw it said 325, I mistyped, 375 is the temp.

Breadlike in that they have the texture of quickbread, soft moist, think banana bread.

I followed a recipe basically, then added fruit and nutmeg.

starmanbrand

When I hear about cookies turning out like bread, the first thing I think of is over mixing.

Positive you're creaming correctly?

1. Beat fat until light and fluffy.
2. Beat sugar with fat until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs, one at a time.
4. Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients.
5. Bake.

FeatherBlade

2868 wrote: »

I just saw it said 325, I mistyped, 375 is the temp.

Breadlike in that they have the texture of quickbread, soft moist, think banana bread.

I followed a recipe basically, then added fruit and nutmeg.

Okay... then there's probably too much moisture and not enough flour. Try adding a quarter cup to the mixture.



Also... is it possible to over-mix cookies? Maybe it's just the recipe I use, but that has never been a problem for me.

starmanbrand

After you add the wet and dry ingredients gluten starts to form from the flour. Over mixing the flour will make cookies that feel like bread.

2868

Gonna try more flour in the remaining dough tomorrow. I think I'm creaming the butter wrong tho'. I'll report back tomorrow.

RUNN1NGMAN

Why not try the standard Toll House Cookie recipe (on the package of Toll House Morsels). It's tried and true and impossible to screw up. That can be your control. If something goes wrong with them, you'll know it's not the recipe.

Six

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

Why not try the standard Toll House Cookie recipe (on the package of Toll House Morsels). It's tried and true and impossible to screw up. That can be your control. If something goes wrong with them, you'll know it's not the recipe.

This is great advice, and what I used when I started (save for not actually using Toll House chips, but good dark chocolate ones instead).

Glirk Dient

Here is the single best cookie recipe. Watch the whole episode as he explains a lot of the inner workings of cookie magic.

Recipe

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan over low heat. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter in the mixer's work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the dough, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

The episode

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB-KVveLp3k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWoN0PtsIIQ

Deathwing

Here is the single best cookie recipe. Watch the whole episode as he explains a lot of the inner workings of cookie magic.

I used this recipe last time I made cookies, and it worked great - they did come out a little more cake-like than I usually prefer, but very tasty.

2868

Deathwing wrote: »

Here is the single best cookie recipe. Watch the whole episode as he explains a lot of the inner workings of cookie magic.

I used this recipe last time I made cookies, and it worked great - they did come out a little more cake-like than I usually prefer, but very tasty.

I love that I am getting cookie advice from someone called "Deathwing." I imagine you have Morbo's voice. "COOKIES DON'T WORK THAT WAY!"

Anyway, I'll try that recipe next time.

I think I was creaming wrong. I just turned this dough into a loaf of apple bread. Sugary, sugary, apple bread.

2868

RUNN1NGMAN wrote: »

Why not try the standard Toll House Cookie recipe (on the package of Toll House Morsels). It's tried and true and impossible to screw up. That can be your control. If something goes wrong with them, you'll know it's not the recipe.

I don't like chocolate chip cookies.

I'll work around this problem when following the A-Brown recipe.

I make my own pie crusts and they turn out delectable, bread? top notch, scones? you know it! It's just fucking cookies that give me headaches.

EggyToast

It sounds like your cookies are turning out like your other things. If your cookies are too "poofy" it sounds like your butter might be too hard. I let my butter sit out at room temp for an hour or so before starting to make cookies and it does the trick. Fat will make the cookies "flatter" and "crispier," so maybe add a touch more butter as well.

I also wonder if the fructose in the apples are making the flour go "hey cool sugar whoa" and making everything fluffier than you want. Try mixing in the apple right before you make the cookie shapes.

mts

brown sugar for chewy white for more cakey or so i have always thought

Glirk Dient

mts wrote: »

brown sugar for chewy white for more cakey or so i have always thought

This is true. Also egg whites tend to dry out baked goods so dont use the egg whites. Also melting your butter will help make them chewier as well. More gluten that way.

starmanbrand

Seriously, don't try messing with your recipe until you follow the post I made about how to cream correctly.

It'd be a shame to mangle a recipe because your technique is off. Even in the OP you have an incorrect method typed.

Glirk Dient

starmanbrand wrote: »

Seriously, don't try messing with your recipe until you follow the post I made about how to cream correctly.

It'd be a shame to mangle a recipe because your technique is off. Even in the OP you have an incorrect method typed.

This is true. Baking is all about the subtle things such as creaming correctly. Minor things can make a big difference so make sure to follow all of the methods 100%.

Also if you still find that your cookies are too cakey you can lessen the levening agents a tad. Sometimes, especially with cakes, you want to add a little bit less baking soda/powder if it's rising too much.

DoctorArch

Am I right in that there is no salt?

Salt + Baking Soda are some of the proper leaving agents for cookies.

starmanbrand

I don't think the salt has any influence on the leavening process (Except in yeastrises where it is used as a control). I think it is just used to enhance flavor. So his cookies will taste better if he adds in a tsp of salt or so, unless he is using processed pureed apples that probably have quite a bit of sodium already in them.

Glirk Dient

starmanbrand wrote: »

I don't think the salt has any influence on the leavening process (Except in yeastrises where it is used as a control). I think it is just used to enhance flavor. So his cookies will taste better if he adds in a tsp of salt or so, unless he is using processed pureed apples that probably have quite a bit of sodium already in them.

This is right on. Salt is very important to add to any dish you make. Whether it be sweet, savory or somewhere in between. Salt excites the taste buds and essentially makes the food tastier. It's a crucial element. Without it your cookies would taste bland and lifeless.

Also...it doesn't affect the levening equation. The parts that matter for that are basically yeast and sugar. There are a few other things that affect that process being water and air temperature, but you don't need to worry about those here. That has to do mostly with making different kinds of bread.

Deathwing

I love that I am getting cookie advice from someone called "Deathwing." I imagine you have Morbo's voice. "COOKIES DON'T WORK THAT WAY!"

Heh, yeah, I think I muttered that to myself once a few years ago when I made a batch that turned out really badly

As far as the creaming goes, I would also second the advice from the link in Starman's post about getting a stand mixer....best money we ever spent on a kitchen appliance, besides the Zojirushi rice cooker.