NBR: Baking Fails!

ekendall09

Last night I was so excited to do some baking and had 3 recipes to try out!  Well needless to say none of the 3 turned out the way I wanted.

The first was a cheese cookie and my mom failed to tell me the butter in it must be melted, one dry bowl of cheese cookie later there was just no fixing it!

The next was a toffee type graham cracker thing and I guess I told him out of the oven too soon becuase they didn't set up right and are too sticky in my opinion.

Last I was so excited to make a cinnamon chip version of my aunts choc chip recipe only to have them come out cakey!  I have been trying to YEARS to make a flatter choc chip cookie and I cannot for the life of me figure out what I am doing wrong.  No matter what recipe I try they all come out the same.

Anyone have suggestions from trial and error for how to get my cookies flatter and less cakey?  I read online the pan might have something to do with it, as well as the butter/flour/sugar ratio.  Some say melt the butter some say use half butter half crisco!  I just want flat cookies!

lovelyday39

Yeah I was going to say a flatter cookie usually means it has a lot of butter I'm no master baker though, so not about to suggest how to tweak a recipe. Baking is def. a science and it's all about being exact (which I am not)- so sister, I feel your pain! I am so thankful they invented bakeries

molly1108-2

I think melting vs. softening butter has something to do with how flat/thick cookies are, but of course I can't remember exactly how that works. Not sure about the pan thing, but if you need good cookie sheets get the air bake ones. They are awesome! (not the point of your post but I always plug them!)

ekendall09

K&JPgh2011:

I think melting vs. softening butter has something to do with how flat/thick cookies are, but of course I can't remember exactly how that works. Not sure about the pan thing, but if you need good cookie sheets get the air bake ones. They are awesome! (not the point of your post but I always plug them!)

 

These came up in alot of the things I read online about flatter cookies.  I will be picking them up at Bed, Bath and Beyond today!  I'm glad you mentioned them! Thank you!

UberBiz

Oh man, that stinks! Sorry your recipes didn't come out right I'm a fan of soft, chewy chocolate chip cookies, so I can't give you advice on how to make them flatter. I did make drop sugar cookies a while back and instead of putting baking soda in, I put baking powder (stupid pregnancy brain mistake, I even double checked to make sure I had the right ingredient), and they came out flat as pancakes. They still tasted delish, but not puffy like I had imagined! I tried it again with the baking soda (as prescribed) and they came out puffy and soft.

brevans02

We should team up! I consider myself a pretty good baker, overall, but for the life of me, I can't get regular chocolate chip cookies (like the Toll House recipe) to turn out thick. I end up with paper thin cookies with lumps of chocolate. If I make *my* chocolate chip cookies (same basic recipe but w/ oatmeal), they turn out perfect every time. My MIL makes the regular ones and we've been over it many times - I do EVERYTHING she does, they just don't work if I've touched the dough.

Maybe that's your problem. Have your mom make you the cookies!

UberBiz

brevans02:

We should team up! I consider myself a pretty good baker, overall, but for the life of me, I can't get regular chocolate chip cookies (like the Toll House recipe) to turn out thick. I end up with paper thin cookies with lumps of chocolate. If I make *my* chocolate chip cookies (same basic recipe but w/ oatmeal), they turn out perfect every time. My MIL makes the regular ones and we've been over it many times - I do EVERYTHING she does, they just don't work if I've touched the dough.

Maybe that's your problem. Have your mom make you the cookies!

The ONLY chocolate chip cookie recipe I use is my grandma's, and it includes a packet of vanilla pudding. They are ALWAYS soft and moist and just about perfect in every way.

merebebe

Cook's Illustrated Thick and Chewy chocolate chip cookies turn out perfect every time for me. It uses melted butter and a higher ratio of brown to white sugar. They are not at all cake-y. I wouldn't use Crisco though, it will take away from the flavor.

molly1108-2

brevans02:

We should team up! I consider myself a pretty good baker, overall, but for the life of me, I can't get regular chocolate chip cookies (like the Toll House recipe) to turn out thick. I end up with paper thin cookies with lumps of chocolate. If I make *my* chocolate chip cookies (same basic recipe but w/ oatmeal), they turn out perfect every time. My MIL makes the regular ones and we've been over it many times - I do EVERYTHING she does, they just don't work if I've touched the dough.

Maybe that's your problem. Have your mom make you the cookies!

Try part shortening instead of all butter/margarine. My SIL does this and her chocolate chip cookies (the recipe on the bag) come out thicker

ekendall09

brevans02:

We should team up! I consider myself a pretty good baker, overall, but for the life of me, I can't get regular chocolate chip cookies (like the Toll House recipe) to turn out thick. I end up with paper thin cookies with lumps of chocolate. If I make *my* chocolate chip cookies (same basic recipe but w/ oatmeal), they turn out perfect every time. My MIL makes the regular ones and we've been over it many times - I do EVERYTHING she does, they just don't work if I've touched the dough.

Maybe that's your problem. Have your mom make you the cookies!

I totally agree that it has everything to do with me touching the dough too! 

I'll have to try and few of the tips listed here and see what happens.  I would have my mom help but her chocolate chip are not my absolute favorite! 

Fremdschamen

So sorry about the baking fails!  Those are the worst!

Re: flatter cookies: You may be measuring your flour wrong, and ending up with too much flour.  I've read on a few food blogs that you should never "scoop" the flour, but should lightly spoon the flour into your measuring cups.  Because flour is easily compacted, scooping the flour from the bag compacts it, leading to more flour.

I'm no baking expert, so that's all I've got!

old_time_girl

I can't bake cookies to save my life. I make amazing bread and pumpkin roll, but my cookies end up just melting out into the whole pan so i have to cut them apart like a flippin pizza.

rayofsunshine99

I was just b!tching to my friend on the bus this morning about how much baking sucks and I hate it.  Too easy to for things to go wrong, and then you've wasted the time, ingredients and made a huge mess with lots of dishes to do for nothing. 

Ugh.  No thank you!  

Oh and p.s.   I hate receiving cookies from people during the holidays.  I understand that they mean well and some people like to bake sh!t, but I don't buy sweets and stuff like that specifically because I don't want it sitting around my house tempting me to eat the whole thing.  When I do get them, I wish the person wouldn't have given them to me and sometimes, they have been known to go straight in the garbage.

Sorry.

BellaBean76

Fremdschamen:

So sorry about the baking fails!  Those are the worst!

Re: flatter cookies: You may be measuring your flour wrong, and ending up with too much flour.  I've read on a few food blogs that you should never "scoop" the flour, but should lightly spoon the flour into your measuring cups.  Because flour is easily compacted, scooping the flour from the bag compacts it, leading to more flour.

I'm no baking expert, so that's all I've got!

This definitely...too much flour!

brevans02

K&JPgh2011:

brevans02:

We should team up! I consider myself a pretty good baker, overall, but for the life of me, I can't get regular chocolate chip cookies (like the Toll House recipe) to turn out thick. I end up with paper thin cookies with lumps of chocolate. If I make *my* chocolate chip cookies (same basic recipe but w/ oatmeal), they turn out perfect every time. My MIL makes the regular ones and we've been over it many times - I do EVERYTHING she does, they just don't work if I've touched the dough.

Maybe that's your problem. Have your mom make you the cookies!

Try part shortening instead of all butter/margarine. My SIL does this and her chocolate chip cookies (the recipe on the bag) come out thicker

I've done this. I've done all shortening (which is actually the way I usually make CC cookies...actually all cookies). I've added more flour, less flour. Different pans. Make sure the pans are cool. With and without parchment paper.

I've pretty muchcome to the conclusion that I'm meant to eat chocolate chip cookies MY way - with oatmeal. The only reason I even try MIL's (ie: Toll House's) way is because dh prefers them without. He can go visit his mom for cookies if he wants them that badly!