How to Adjust Cookie Recipes

Flour and Cookie Characteristics

• All-purpose flour: A mix of high and low protein flours, this flour produces cookies that can be both delicate and chewy. Avoid all-purpose “self-rising” flour.
• Cake flour: This low-protein flour produces fluffy cookies with a delicate texture.
• Bread flour: This high-protein flour produces moist, chewy cookies that won’t spread much during baking.
• Whole wheat flour: Rarely used alone, whole wheat flour can be combined with other flours to add a nutty flavor and a denser texture to cookies. Whole wheat flour goes bad if it’s not stored in the fridge or freezer.

Bleached vs. Unbleached Flour

Fats and Cookie Characteristics

• Butter: With its relatively low melting temperature, butter tends to cause doughs to spread fairly quickly during baking, yielding flat cookies. Always use unsalted butter unless instructed otherwise.
• Melted butter: Melting butter before mixing it with the dry ingredients allows the water suspended in solid butter to escape and mix with the flour, yielding cookies that are chewier and moister than those made with solid butter.
• Vegetable shortening: Shortening has a higher melting point than butter, which means that it remains solid longer during baking and yields puffier cookies. Shortening is flavorless and is often combined with butter in recipes.
• Stick margarine: Margarine behaves much like butter during baking but lacks butter’s creamy flavor and silky feel. Spreadable margarines aren’t suitable for baking.

Sweeteners and Cookie Characteristics

• Granulated sugar: Granulated sugar gives body and a light texture to cookies. Sugar also absorbs moisture, encouraging crisping during baking. However, some cookie recipes call for so much sugar that not all of it can dissolve. The remaining sugar then melts during baking and softens, rather than hardens, the cookies.
• Brown sugar: Brown sugar is white granulated sugar that’s been coated with molasses (light and dark brown sugar differ only in the amount of molasses added). Molasses absorbs moisture so well that cookies made with brown sugar actually draw water from the air, keeping them chewy and moist for days after baking.
• Honey: A slightly stronger sweetener than sugar, honey’s flavor varies depending on the flowers its bees pollinated. Honey is ideal for soft cookies—it absorbs moisture from the air, keeping cookies soft when stored. Honey can be substituted for sugar in equal quantities, but a recipe’s other liquid elements should be reduced by a total of 1/4 cup for each cup of honey used.
• Molasses: A thick syrup, molasses has a strong, deeply spiced flavor and is most commonly used in gingersnaps and gingerbread. Unsulphured molasses has a relatively mild flavor and is preferred over the more intensely flavored blackstrap molasses for baking.
• Corn syrup: Corn syrup adds moisture to cookies and extends storage life but lacks the flavor that sugar adds in addition to sweetness. As a sugar substitute, use 1 1/2 cups corn syrup for each cup of sugar and reduce liquid in the recipe by 1/4 cup.

Leaveners and Cookie Characterisics

• Baking soda: A leavening agent, baking soda releases carbon dioxide when exposed to acids such as honey, brown sugar, or chocolate. Baking soda also reduces the acidity of cookie doughs, helping cookies to brown during baking. Measure baking soda carefully—adding too much will result in flat cookies. Baking soda has an almost infinite shelf life.
• Baking powder: A combination of baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch, baking powder leavens baked goods by releasing carbon dioxide when heated and combined with liquid. Unlike baking soda, baking powder doesn’t reduce the acidity in cookie doughs, resulting in lighter cookies with more volume. Baking powder has a one-year shelf life. To test its strength, sprinkle a small amount over hot water. If it fizzes and bubbles, the baking powder is active.

Eggs and Cookie Characteristics

• Whole eggs: Give cookies a fluffy and cake-like texture while also adding richness and moisture
• Egg yolks: Produce tender cookies with less volume
• Egg whites: Add volume and make cookies drier and more cakey