Why are my cookies flat? ?

Question

I bake a lot but I'm not sure why sometimes the cookies I make come out flat like pancakes! I've tried self-rising flour and all purpose, but it happens with any recipe. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

Because they are young.

Answer 2

Check your baking powder.  The baking powder causes the reaction with the flour and other ingredients to make them rise.  If your baking powder is old, replace it.  Otherwise, make sure you are using baking powder and not baking soda.  Two different things.

Answer 3

To much sugar and or shortening.

The sugar melts with the heat and the four cannot keep the structure of the cookie.

Shortening will do the same thing.

You can add more flour to prevent this.

When you add the flour mix until you get a ball that is soft but firm. Not sticky in texture.

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Answer 4

Baking powder and baking soda both lose their levening ability over time. If you find that your baked goods aren't rising the way they should, it might be as simple as changing out the old levener for fresh.

Both baking powder and baking soda are chemical leveners that create little air bubbles in the dough or batter and provide lift to baked goods. They differ in their composition and applications though. Baking soda is simply sodium bicarbonate and requires an acid to get it bubbling. Baking powder is baking soda + powdered acid, so all it needs to bubble is any liquid. Check the recipe and use what it calls for in the amount that it calls for - they are often not interchangeable in recipes unless a person really knows what they're doing.

Also, for chewier cookies, you can replace some of the AP flour with bread flour, which has a higher gluten content and will also help puff the cookies up a bit. ^_~

Answer 5

This often has to do with the type and composition of fat you used in baking.  For example using real butter would tend to make them flatter because the melting point range of butter is pretty low.  Same with oils.  If you use crisco be aware that they changed the formula to eliminate the trans fat and this change the melting point range and thus how it affects the cooking (and other baked goods).  Even if they say it doesn't.    IT DOES.  Now eliminating the trans fat may be a good idea for heath but it doesn't help the texture of baked goods at all.  I will promise you that using lard (beef fat) with not make you cookies flat but most people refrain from using lard for heath reasons.

Guess I didn't give you a solution but at least maybe something to think about.

PhD Food Chemistry and Nutrition

Answer 6

Make sure that the butter you're using isn't too soft.  You want it to be softened but not melted for most recipies (unless it specifically calls for melted butter).  I usually just let the butter sit at room temperature for an hour or two before using it.  You could also try adding an extra tablespoon or two of flour to thicken the dough a little more.

After seeing your edit, baking power and baking soda are completely different things!  While both do have the same function, they work different chemically and that can make a big difference in your cookies.

Answer 7

First I'd check the expiration date on the container of baking soda or baking powder.  That seems like the all important key to this question.

I'd use exactly what it says to use:  baking powder or baking soda or both, depending on what it says.  I have seen instructions for replacing one with the other,  but I don't remember the instructions.  

Be careful that you don't accidentally omit the salt in the recipe.  It works in combo with the leavening.  I'm not saying that you do.  I'm just saying to be careful.  

Don't mix in the leavening too far in advance & don't overwork the cookie dough.  I know that some people make cookie dough far in advance, but I'd be leery of doing that.  

I'd also be careful about pressing down too much on a drop cookie, although I know that peanut butter cookies are pushed down with a fork in a crisscross design.  If it's an ordinary drop cookie, then drop it & don't push it down unless the recipe tells you to do so.  

It's a mystery to me.  Maybe someone knows the complete science of all this.  I'm just saying what I do.

I've never used self-rising flour.  I prefer whole wheat pastry flour, which I believe is the same as any whole wheat flour, except that it's more finely ground.  I buy it in bulk from a bin with a scoop at a health food store.  I store it in a tall canning jar or in a plastic tub & keep it in the fridge.  However, some people claim that it's better to start with wheat berries & grind the flour for absolute freshness  (for health & for taste; I think it will rise regardless).

Happy baking.  

Answer 8

Baking soda needs an acid to control the leaving power. Baking powder is activated by heat. Baking powder is usually used in addition to baking soda because it introduces the acid without you requiring an addition of your own. It sounds like you make up your own recipes and with baking that's a little iffy. I just got out of culinary school and wouldn't fool around experimenting because of the science involved. That's just me, though.