What Makes Some Cookies Chewy and Some Crisp? | undefined (2024)

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What Makes Some Cookies Chewy and Some Crisp? | undefined? ›

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

Sugar dissolved in baking forms a syrup as the dough heats up. Different types of sugars affect the texture because they absorb different amounts of water. Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies.

Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.

Brown sugar—particularly dark brown sugar—makes a cookie chewy; white sugar makes it crispy. If your recipe calls for all white sugar and you want a fudgier result, try swapping out some of the white sugar for brown (go for half and half and adjust from there).

Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour. Baking soda helps cookies spread outward and upward while cooking.

Room temperature: Use airtight containers, cookie jars, or plastic bags to prevent air exposure and moisture loss. Keep cookies in a cool, dry area. Refrigerated: Use airtight containers or sealed plastic bags to store cookies in the fridge. Monitor the moisture level to avoid condensation.

Using lower-moisture sugar (granulated) and fat (vegetable shortening), plus a longer, slower bake than normal, produces light, crunchy cookies. That said, using a combination of butter and vegetable shortening (as in the original recipe), or even using all butter, will make an acceptably crunchy chocolate chip cookie.

Final answer: The crispness of a cookie is influenced by the ingredients, their proportions, and the baking conditions.

If there isn't enough egg, your batter or dough may not be able to hold its structure or could end up overly dry or dense. On the other hand, if there is too much egg, your baked goods could lose their shape due to excess liquid, or have a rubbery (or even overly cakey) texture depending on the recipe.

How to Soften Cookies in the Microwave: Place the stale cookies on a microwave-safe plate and cover them with a damp paper towel. Microwave them in short bursts of 10-15 seconds until they become soft. Be careful not to overdo it, as the cookies can become too soft or lose their texture.

What are three factors that contribute to a chewy cookie? ›

Salted butter, softened – I prefer salted butter but you can also use unsalted and add an extra pinch of salt to the dough. Brown sugar – Just brown sugar because we will get the 'granulated sugar' flavor from the corn syrup. Corn syrup – The corn syrup is what makes these cookies CHEWY FOR DAYS.

Just wrap a cookie or two in a damp paper towel and then put them in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds. The moisture from the paper towel should soften the cookies right up. So if you wonder how to soften hard cookies quickly? Microwave is the way!

The best way to soften up those hard cookies is something you probably already have in your kitchen… bread! That's right, a piece of fresh bread will make those tough treats soft and chewy.

By switching up the technique, I omitted all the extra air that gets incorporated into the dough during creaming, and as a result, the cookies made with melted butter were significantly chewier and fudgier than those made with creamed butter.

Melted butter – To achieve thin and crisp cookies, I've discovered that melted butter is really crucial. Melted butter helps the cookies to spread out and become flatter with crisp edges.