FLAT CHOCLATE CHIP COOKIES
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FLAT CHOCLATE CHIP COOKIES
| Sat, 09-23-2006 - 5:02pm |
Every time I make choclate chip cookies they do not rise. I do not know what I am doing wrong!! I have tried different baking ingredients. I always pre-heat the oven. Good baking sheets. I just do not know what I am doing wrong!!!!! HELP

OH NO, sounds to me like your flour or baking powder or baking soda is old. Has the recipe worked in the past?
This is interesting, what climate do you live in?
Which brings me to ask this question: how long can one keep flour, baking soda and baking powder?
Let me go check my powder and soda...
Checked.. the dates were March 2008 and 2009 for those two.. And they are my newest purchases..so I would say the stuff is good for at least a year to a year and a half!
Also, I know that one should shake baking powder before using it, because it is a mixture of two (more?) items that separate over time..
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Man can live about forty days without food,
about three days without water,
about eight minutes without air...
but only for one second without hope.
-Hal Lindsey
I've bobbed for 51 apples so far!
(Want to get some of your own?
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This is from iVillage of all places!
Q. Dear Baker:
I used to think I could bake pretty good cookies. Lately, all I can make are flat cookies that fall apart before I can even scrape them off the cookie sheet. I've tried various recipes and they all do the same thing. I don't know if it's my oven, the cookie sheets, the ingredients or me! --iVillager sara283
A. Don't worry sara283:
If you have not changed the recipes or switched brands of ingredients, then I have a feeling that your problem has to do with your oven. Does this only happen during certain times of the year? Are you using an oven thermometer? Ovens can sometimes act up which will affect the look and consistency of the cookies.
Here is my guide to flat-free cookies:
1. Choose your butter carefully. I find that certain stick butters work better than others, such as Land O Lakes. If you have switched to margarine, the cookies will spread more. And be sure not to over-cream the butter if you are using a powerful mixer. The cookies will turn out flatter if you inadvertently over-creaming the butter and sugar.
2. Consider using shortening. Some bakers like to use a combination of 50 percent butter and 50 percent shortening. Shortening is not as sensitive to shifts in temperature and the butter will give the cookie flavor. Cookies made with shortening will not spread as much or become thin and crispy.
3. Use cold ingredients when mixing the recipe.
4. Use half dark brown sugar and half white sugar for a chewier cookie.
5. Preheat the oven before putting the cookies in. Make sure you have a hot oven.
6. Hang an oven thermometer, available from the grocery store, in your oven. Adjust the temperature as necessary.
7. Place the cookie dough on cold baking sheets only.
8. Refrigerate the dough, formed on the baking sheet, before baking. I place the cookie sheet with the dough on it in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes. Place the cookie sheet directly into the oven.
9. It is better to slightly undercook cookies then to overbake them. Let them sit for one minute on the cookie sheet before removing them to the cooling rack.
Sarah Phillips is the author of Healthy Oven Baking Book.
And this is from Allrecipes.com
How to Get the Texture You Want in Your Cookies
Cookies are a favorite goodie of just about everyone. And it seems like just
about everyone has a different opinion of how cookies should be. Some people
like their cookies crisp and delicate. Others prefer a chewy cookie with a
thickness that you can sink your teeth into. The conundrum lies in getting
the cookies you bake to have the texture you want. The exact same cookie recipe
can bake up into two completely different cookies, the flavor will be the same
but the texture will be different. How, you ask? The reasons all lie within the
variables of ingredients, mixing technique, temperature, and equipment and baking
time.
Ingredients
The ingredients you use are extremely, extremely important in achieving your desired cookie.
Doing something as small as using baking powder instead of baking soda or using cake flour
instead of all-purpose flour can make a huge difference. Even the type of fat you use in your
cookie will dramatically affect its outcome. The basic building blocks of most cookies are fat,
flour, baking powder and baking soda, sugar, and eggs or other liquid.
and oil. Fats play a major role in the spread of your cookie. In other words,
they help to determine if your cookie spreads out into a thin mass on the cookie
sheet or pretty much keeps its original shape. Shortening, margarine and spreads
are fairly stable so they will help cookies keep their original unbaked shape.
Butter melts at a much lower temperature than the other solid fats, so cookies made
with it will tend to spread out. And oil, since it already is a liquid at room
temperature, produces cookies that keep their shape. The amount of fat also
affects the cookies. You can basically think of it this way: More fat equals
flatter and chewier to crispier cookies. Less fat equals puffier and more
cake-like cookies.
protein content like bread and all-purpose flour will help to produce cookies
that tend to be flatter, darker, and more crisp than their counterparts made with
cake or pastry flour.
most common leaveners
in cookies.
Baking soda
is simply bicarbonate of
soda, while baking powder
is a
combination of bicarbonate of soda plus an acidic ingredient (cream of tartar). Baking soda
neutralizes the acidity of the dough, allowing the cookies to brown in the oven. Since
baking powder already contains its own acid, it will not reduce the acidity in the dough,
and the resulting cookies will be puffier and lighter in color.
White sugar will make a crisper cookie than brown sugar or honey. In fact,
upon standing, cookies made from brown sugar will actually absorb moisture,
helping to insure that they stay chewy. Thus the reason that most chocolate
chip cookie recipes contain both brown and white sugars is that you get the best of
both worlds! If you lower the amount of sugar called for in a cookie recipe the
final baked cookie will be puffier than its high sugar counterpart.
up or spread. If egg is the liquid it will help to promote puffiness. Just a
tablespoon or two of water or other liquid will help your cookies spread into
flatter and crisper rounds. One thing to remember is the different effects of
egg yolks and egg whites. Egg yolks will help to add moistness whereas egg
whites tend to make cookies drier. To make up for the drying effect of the
egg whites extra sugar is added. This is the reason that cookies made with just
egg whites tend to be so sweet.
Mixing Technique
Cookies are not as delicate as cakes, but mixing still plays an important role.
The most important step in cookie mixing is the creaming step. This is the step
where the fat and the sugar are whipped together
until light colored, smooth and fluffy. This helps to incorporate air into the
batter, which you need if you want your baking soda and/or baking powder to work.
Another important factor is not to overmix the dough. Once you combine the dry
and wet ingredients, mix until just combined and no longer.
Temperature
Do not underestimate the importance of temperature in cookie baking. Cookie dough
that is chilled before baking will hold its shape and produce a slightly puffier
cookie. Cookie dough that is at room temperature before baking will spread and
flatten out while baking. So if you happen to have a very warm kitchen, it's a
good idea to refrigerate the dough before you bake it.
Equipment and Baking Time
Different baking sheets and whether you grease the sheets or not will produce
different results. A good baking sheet can make a big difference. Super thin
baking sheets will cause the cookie bottoms to cook faster, sometimes resulting
in burnt bottoms. Yuck! Insulated baking sheets allow air movement and will help
to produce puffier cookies. If you want flat crisp cookies, your best bet is the
standard semi-thick baking sheets that are available just about everywhere.
If you grease your cookie sheets before baking, it will cause the cookies to
spread out more but if you don't grease the sheets you run the risk of the
cookies sticking to the sheets and making a big mess. A good and fairly inexpensive
solution to this is parchment paper. Its non-stick surface makes for easy cookie
removal and yet it doesn't cause the cookies to spread out.
Yes, it is true the
longer you bake something the more cooked it will become. Cookies are usually
baked from 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Since
cookies are small they tend to bake fast. A difference in temperature can
completely change the amount of time you'll need to bake your cookie. If you
want your cookies to be chewy, the trick is to slightly underbake them. If you
want them to be crispy, bake them a little longer. The best way to do this is with
an accurate oven thermometer, a timer and your watchful eye until you get it
all down.
So How Do You Want 'Em?
So now that you know a little bit about what goes into the cookie, how do you
combine it all to come up with your favorite winning texture? Just follow these
tips to get the cookie you desire. Don't be afraid to mix and match,
your ideal might just lie somewhere between all the extremes. Start baking
cookies - there's a texture to find!
of the following things: Use all butter, use all-purpose flour or bread flour,
increase the sugar content slightly, add a bit of liquid to your dough, bring
the dough to room temperature before baking.
following tricks: Use shortening or margarine and cut back on the fat, add an
egg, cut back on the sugar, use cake flour or pastry flour, use baking powder
instead of baking soda, refrigerate your dough before baking.
they are done, while their centers are still soft and not quite cooked through.
The edges should be slightly golden but the middle will still look slightly raw.
Use brown sugar or honey as a sweetener. Try using egg yolks instead of whole
eggs, this will add some extra moistness to the cookies thus helping to be a bit
more on the chewy side.
longer than suggested and immediately remove them to wire racks to cool. Cookies
made with all butter and a high amount of white sugar will also crisp up quite
nicely. Another trick is to use bread flour.
I hope this helps! I know I'm saving the invo!
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Man can live about forty days without food,
about three days without water,
about eight minutes without air...
but only for one second without hope.
-Hal Lindsey
I've bobbed for 51 apples so far!
(Want to get some of your own?
Click the apple to find out more!)
I went to my kitchen one day, made pancakes, and they FLOPPED ENTIRELY.
Here's a link to part of my Flour research.
Heather gave you some good advise.