Learn How to Keep Cookies Soft! If you want to make cookies chewy and soft- this has the 7 best tips you'll need to know!
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While cookies can have many different textures, the best cookies are definitely soft and chewy cookies.
If you agree with me, then you are probably wondering what the secret is to making cookies soft and chewy all the time.
It’s not that difficult to make soft cookies, but if your cookies keep coming out hard or crumbly, it can be difficult to pinpoint the mistake you are making when baking cookies.
If your cookies are too hard, crumbly, thin, or even too cakey, then follow along with our tips on how to make cookies soft and chewy.
How to Make Soft and Chewy Cookies: What's Wrong with My Cookies?
- Dry and hard - A few reasons for dry and hard cookies are: Overworking your cookie dough, measuring your flour wrong, using too many dry ingredients, using too much sugar, or overbaking your cookies.
- Too crumbly - Cookies become crumbly and fall apart when you use the wrong type of flour, overbake your cookies, and when you don’t use enough butter, oil, or eggs.
- Too cakey - Cookies can come out cakey when you use the wrong type of flour or when you use too much baking soda. Adding eggs that are bigger than what the recipe calls for can also cause your cookies to be cakey. Whipping your mixture too much also increases the air in your cookie dough.
- Spreading too much - Cookies tend to spread too much when you don’t chill your cookie dough or when you overgrease your baking pan. If your cookie dough is too thin or if you used too many liquid ingredients, cookies can also spread too much.
Tips on How to Keep Cookies Soft
1. Follow the recipe carefully
If you have been changing some measurements or substituting ingredients in the recipe that you’ve been using, try following it precisely first and see how it goes. If your cookies still come out dry, or if it dries out easily after a few days, follow our next tips on how to make soft cookies.
2. Use room temperature butter
Make sure to use room temperature butter to cream with sugar when creating your cookie dough mixture - and not chilled or melted in the microwave. Leave the butter outside for 15 minutes before baking to make sure that it’s soft enough to use.
3. Chill your cookie dough
Before baking your cookies, chill your cookie dough for a few hours in the fridge or overnight. Chilling cookie dough beforehand allows the fats to cool, helping your cookies to expand slower in the oven and hold a better texture and flavor. This results in cookies that are chunkier and chewier instead of thin and flat cookies.
Tips for How to Make Cookies Soft
4. Add cornstarch
If your cookies always end up flat and thin, try adding a tablespoon of cornstarch to your cookie dough. Cornstarch makes cookie dough mixtures thicker and cookies tend to spread less in the oven. Cookies with cornstarch tend to rise better and come out tender and soft without being crumbly.
5. Increase the ratio of brown sugar
Brown sugar contains more molasses than white sugar has which adds moisture and slight acidity to the cookies. Increasing the brown sugar ratio over the white sugar ratio releases more molasses and tends to result in thicker and chewier cookies.
6. Don’t overbake
Overbaking cookies is another factor in having hard or crumbly cookies. Make sure to follow your recipe’s baking time and temperature. Halfway through baking your cookies, turn your baking sheet the other way to bake the cookies equally throughout. Check your cookies 1-2 minutes before they set time to see if they are already baked enough.
FAQs for How to Make Cookies Chewy and Soft
How long do cookies stay soft and fresh?
Chewy cookies can last for about a week at room temperature when stored properly in an airtight container. However, if left exposed, cookies can become stale quickly and will only stay fresh for 2-3 days.
How to reheat my cookies to become soft and fresh again?
Reheating cookies in the microwave can dry them up even more instead of softening them up. To avoid this, cover your cookies with a slightly damp paper towel before you pop them in the microwave.
Make sure to microwave them no more than 10 to 20 seconds at full heat. Remove the paper towel and enjoy your cookies before they get cold.
How do you store cookies so they don't get hard?
Make sure to store your cookies properly in an airtight container. Storing cookies with a slice of plain bread can also help keep them soft as the cookies absorb the moisture of the bread and they can stay fresh longer.
How do I freeze my cookies properly?
You can keep your cookies and cookie dough fresh for longer by learning the steps to freeze them properly. Make sure that your cookies are completely cooled when you freeze them. Store them in a properly sealed, airtight container before placing them in the freezer.
What to do with hard cookies?
If your cookies come out too hard from the oven, you can try to soften them up by placing them in an airtight container with a slice of plain bread overnight. Check if they become soft after a day.
If they are still hard and inedible, don’t throw them out. Reuse them into other desserts by crushing them in a blender and transforming them to cookie crumbs. You can turn them into tart crust, cookie shake, or remake them into cookie bars.
Soft cookies are often called soft and cakey cookies. There isn't a specific name for soft cookies!
The best way to keep homemade cookies fresh is to let them cool completely and then store immediately. It's best to store in airtight containers with a sealed lid.
It's best to store cookies in airtight plastic or glass containers. Tins do not seal as well as plastic/glass containers. You want to make sure your cookie tins are sealed well!
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