Cookie Conundrum

Bucketman

So I love to bake. I bake all the damn time. I mean things always taste better home made.

But I have a problem with cookies. About 5 years ago we got a new oven here, and ever since then when I make cookies they come out a little undercooked and they look....melted is the best way to put it, not burnt or anything and leaving them in longer doesn't make them any better, they just spread out and looked like melted plastic.

So I was wondering if anyone had ANY idea as to why this might happen, as it lowers to visual appeal of the baked good, and as I said...the center never seems to want to cook all the way through, even if I leave it in for 10-15 minutes more and the edges burn.

Thanks in advance.

Bartholamue

Are you putting in enough baking soda/powder?

Bucketman

Bartholamue wrote: »

Are you putting in enough baking soda/powder?

I'm doing exactly as it says in the recipes.

One thing I found on a recipe site was that I guess certain types of baking sheets with special coatings make things with butter melt like this. I dunno if thats it or not.

RUNN1NGMAN

You're letting your butter get too soft before mixing it in to the dough, maybe. It should be soft enough that with a little pressure your finger dents it, but not so soft that your finger sinks in. The cookbook I have has a little diagram of sad, flat cookies like you describe, and it says it's caused by butter that's too soft.

Cauld

I've heard that ovens vary, have you ever tried checking your oven's temperature to see if its accurate? It sounds to me like your temperature might be off.

Also, is your baking powder newish? I hear that can go bad and not rise enough, also make sure you get the double acting kind.

tsmvengy

Yeah you need to bake them at a different temperature. Are you using the same baking sheets? Do some experiments next time you bake, but I think the oven temp should be a little bit higher. I think your cookies aren't cooking fast enough, there's too much time between when the butter melts and when the cookie sets up.

There are probably some people on the Epicurious forums who could help you too.

EDIT: you could also try replacing some of the butter in the recipe with shortening, which has a higher melting point and can make for crisper cookies.


Jesus Christ I can't believe I'm offering scientific cookie baking advice here.

rfalias

Perhaps you just invented cookie crackers

You may be on to something.

amelia_kate

Try adding a bit more flour. Sometimes when I bake cookies the first batch comes out a bit sticky and not cookie like. It takes awhile, but I usually add a little bit at a time, and then sample bake a single cookie, until it turns out right. My grandmother says it has something to do with the humidity.

lizard eats flies

Try refrigerating the dough before scooping it out onto the baking sheet. Possibly turn your oven up a tad higher.

ravenhex

Might I ask if you are pre-heating your over for at least 10 minutes?

MuddBudd

One time, slightly drunk in college, I accidentally used powdered sugar instead of flour.

Basically I invented cookie soup.

DeathPrawn

MuddBudd wrote: »

One time, slightly drunk in college, I accidentally used powdered sugar instead of flour.

Basically I invented cookie soup.

Somebody at Pepperidge Farm had better give this man a job.

LewieP's Mummy

try using less butter and more flour.

Bucketman

ravenhex wrote: »

Might I ask if you are pre-heating your over for at least 10 minutes?

of course always.

The baking powder going bad might be it. Lord knows this box has been in here for forever.

Cimmerii

Grab one of the oven thermometers and check your oven's temperature. Always chill the dough before baking.

Always do what Alton Brown says. The link is the first part of the episode where he goes over variations of making chocolate chip cookies, and how ingredients affect the outcome. Awesome episode, I learned much.

Bucketman

Looks like it was something with the butter melting too fast. I subbed in shortning and it came out fine. And Delicious. However i bet its 10x more fattening.

But hey! Thanks for that Good Eats link Cimmerii! I love that show.

Bucketman

Man I need a nice mixer like that one.

truck-a-sauras

in the case of chocolate chip cookies the culprit of this problem is usually not enough flour. I think the toll house recipe calls for something like 2 cups of flour which can usually be adequate. I've been known to get up to 4 cups of flour into the 1 batch toll house recipe and things still turn out excellent. I know baking everyone always screams that it must be an exact measurement and science, but in my years of baking cookies I always have to "flour to taste". The cookie dough can't be too creamy or too dry, you need to add the flour slowly until you find that perfect balance where it is still a bit creamy, but has sturdiness to it also.

hard to really put it into words exactly. I've made so many batches of choco chips that I know the recipe by heart and make them in my sleep now. But the basics are that dough is very creamy you will get flat chewy cookies, very dry dough you will get puffy cakey cookies. put each of those at the ends of a scale, depending on what you like in your cookie adjust the flour levels to find your perfect balance between the two. That is sort of what I mean by "flour to taste".

vytrox

Bucketman wrote: »

Looks like it was something with the butter melting too fast. I subbed in shortning and it came out fine. And Delicious. However i bet its 10x more fattening.

But hey! Thanks for that Good Eats link Cimmerii! I love that show.

What do you think butter is?

I don't understand the American hatred of fat. Extra calories and not enough exercise make you gain weight, not actual fats per se.

Also you can use coconut oil instead of shortening for a slightly different taste.