Bakers Sift Through Reasons Your Chocolate Chip Cookies Aren't Turning Out Right

Is there anything comparable to biting into a chocolate chip cookie hot out of the oven. It is so soft and the chocolate simply melts in your mouth, resulting in a glorious flavor explosion as you savor each bite. Chocolate chip cookies are also incredibly delicious after they've cooled and can make a delicious dessert by themselves or along with a tall glass of milk. However, if you make a mistake when preparing your chocolate chip cookies, none of these experiences are going to be so enjoyable.

There is nothing good about biting into a burnt cookie or one that spread way too thin as it baked. Similarly, who wants a chocolate chip cookie if it doesn't have the right ratio of chocolate chips or was squished or broken when moved from the pan to the cookie jar. While chocolate chip cookies might seem like a simple baked good to prepare, in reality there are many mistakes that could threaten the taste, texture, appearance, or overall quality of the finished product. To help us learn more about these mistakes — and learn how to avoid making them — we reached out to five baking experts. Jen Enzenbacher is the owner of Cookies and Creme in Jax Beach, Florida, Dennis Littley is a chef and recipe expert at Ask Chef Dennis, Grace Vallo is the founder, chef, and recipe creator of the food blog at Tastefully Grace, Adriano Zumbo, is a world renowned pâtissier (pastry chef), and Dr. Bryan Quoc Le, is a food scientist, food engineer, and food industry consultant. Continue reading to learn what they recommend avoiding to make sure your chocolate chip cookies turn out perfectly every time.

Many people assume that all sticks of butter are the same. So, they simply grab whatever they have in the fridge, or the first thing they find on the shelf at the grocery store, and figure that everything will work out just fine for their cookie recipe. However, according to Jen Enzenbacher, substituting the wrong type of butter in a recipe can actually make a huge difference — and not in a good way — in how your cookies turn out.

"If a cookie recipe calls for salt as an ingredient, make sure to use unsalted butter, otherwise, you are double salting," she cautions. No one wants their cookies to taste overly salty. The opposite is also true. She recommends using salted butter if salt is not listed as an ingredient. Salt actually plays a more important role when baking than you might assume. It helps make sure the sweetness of the different flavors is well-balanced. According to Enzenbacher, "Most recipes today will list unsalted butter and have you add your own salt. But, either way, it's something good to know if you aren't in the habit of checking your butter."

Butter temperature is also critical when baking, and chocolate chip cookies are no exception. They require a little bit of planning ahead so that you can remove the butter from the fridge enough before you're ready to start mixing the ingredients. Dennis Littley explains why you shouldn't use cold butter when making cookie dough. He says, "Butter that's too cold doesn't cream properly with sugar, which means you won't get that airy, fluffy dough that's key to soft, evenly baked cookies."

Don't let this make you think that you can simply melt butter in the microwave if you forgot to take it out of the fridge ahead of time. According to Littley, "Melted butter can make the dough too greasy and cause the cookies to spread too much." It is critical to have soft butter. It should have a little bit of give when you press it, but still maintain its form and not look like it is melting. Aim to remove your butter from the refrigerator about one hour before you want to prep the cookie dough to give it time to soften.

Failing to measure the ingredients properly is a common mistake people make when baking a cake. Unfortunately, it is also one that people fall victim to when making chocolate chip cookies. Dr. Bryan Quoc Le explains that people often "try to 'eyeball' amounts, especially flour, or they will either compact ingredients, or not level-off the measuring cup, both of which results in more flour than intended." Adding too much flour to your cookie dough can make it too thick. The resulting cookies won't be good either; they'll also be dense and lacking in flavor.

"The solution," Le explains, "is to gently scoop the flour into the measuring cup with a spoon, and use something flat (like a butter knife) to level off the excess flour that is above the rim." Ideally, he recommends using a kitchen scale to ensure precision — 1 cup of flour weighs 120 grams (4 ¼ ounces). Le explains that professional bakers always measure their flour "because it gives consistent results, and it also makes it easier to scale up the recipe as desired."

Those boxes of baking soda or baking powder that have been on your shelf for who knows how long are still fine to use, right? After all, they're just dry powders and you've only opened them a few times, removing only a teaspoon or two at a time. Unfortunately, baking soda and baking powder do not have an unlimited shelf life. If they're expired, you won't realize that using them was a mistake until you pull the cookies out of the oven.

"Using expired leaveners, namely baking soda and baking powder, can lead to overly flat, dense cookies," explains Dr. Bryan Quoc Le. While these expired powders don't likely pose a threat to your health, they won't be able to do their jobs if they're too old. They work by interacting with the acidic ingredients in the cookie mix, forming carbon dioxide bubbles that help the cookies rise properly. If they're expired, this reaction won't be as strong, so you may be left with overly flat cookies.

We understand; you want to ensure all of your ingredients are fully incorporated when mixing the cookie dough batter. Unfortunately, this desire can sometimes lead to the mistake of over-mixing the dough. According to Dennis Littley, "Over mixing activates the gluten in the flour, which can make cookies tough instead of tender."

To ensure your cookies turn out soft and chewy — and not tough and disappointing — Littley says to mix until the dry ingredients are just incorporated with the wet ones. "Resist the urge to keep stirring, even if it feels like a few more turns will make the dough smoother.'" Adriano Zumbo offers a helpful suggestion about how to add the flour into the dough. Instead of beating it into the cookie dough with your stand or hand mixer, he says, "Add the flour by hand or just pulse with a mixer and ensure it's just combined."

Zumbo also explains that diluting the strength of the protein in regular flour with a little gluten-free flour can also help prevent too much gluten from activating and creating tough cookies. He recommends swapping about 10% to 15% of the total amount of flour that is called for with a gluten-free alternative, such as rice flour, almond flour, or something like the King Arthur Measure for Measure Flour that features a blend of various gluten-free flours that is formulated to be an equivalent substitute for regular wheat flour.

If you simply grab the first bag of chocolate chips you see at the grocery store, then your chocolate chip cookies likely haven't been living up to their full potential. " If you're making cookies from scratch and putting effort into your recipe, using a subpar chocolate can undermine the care you've taken with the other ingredients," explains Grace Vallo.

Instead, spend a little extra to purchase a high-quality brand of chocolate chips. Vallo explains that opting for a higher-quality chocolate will enhance the overall consistency, texture, and flavor of your cookies. She highlights a few different types of chocolate that you could consider, each of which will deliver a unique taste to the cookies. "Bittersweet chocolate is more intense, semisweet is somewhere in the middle, and milk chocolate is lighter and more delicate." Dennis Littley even recommends choosing two different types of chocolate for an even better cookie. "Combining semi-sweet and dark chocolate, or even adding chopped chunks along with chips, creates a more dynamic flavor and texture," he says.

While your cookies are going to taste better when you opt for higher quality chocolate chips, Dr. Bryan Quoc Le cautions against going overboard and adding too many of these delicious morsels to the batter. "While it may seem like a good thing, too many chocolate chips cannot only overwhelm each cookie, but it can make it difficult for the dough to stick together, especially in the oven, when the melting chips prevent the dough from maintaining the cookie's shape."

Instead, follow the recipe to add the recommended amount of chocolate chips. While this quantity can vary based on the specific recipe, most call for about 2 cups. As a general rule, the measurements for the chocolate chips and the flour should be about equal.

When you make chocolate chip cookies, what do you do as soon as you've finished mixing the dough? If you answered, "scoop the cookies onto the cookie sheet and place them in the oven," then you've just identified a potential reason your cookies aren't turning out right. According to Dr. Bryan Quoc Le, failing to give the dough time to rest in the refrigerator is a serious mistake. He explains that the gluten in the flour must be allowed to rest to prevent the cookies from being overly tough. The softened butter should also be given time to re-solidify. Otherwise, the cookies may spread too much when they're baked in the oven.

"It is recommended to refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes, but ideally for a few hours," says Le. He even notes that you can chill cookie dough in the fridge for one to two days before baking it. This extra period can even enhance the flavor of the finished cookies.

Forgetting to preheat the oven is a mistake that even professional chefs occasionally make. It is easy to get caught up in mixing the dough, only to realize that you forget to switch on the oven. If this happens, don't assume that your cookies will turn out fine if you put them in a cold oven. "If the oven isn't fully preheated, your cookies will start baking at a lower temperature, which can cause uneven spreading or underbaked centres," cautions Dennis Littley.

It is critical to wait the extra few minutes to let the oven come to temperature before baking. Preheating doesn't take long — typically between 12 and 15 minutes for most ovens, but the specific time can depend on the age of your oven and its manufacturer. Either way, you'll be glad that you waited the extra few minutes when your cookies came out evenly baked.

Beyond simply remembering to turn on the oven enough ahead of time, it is also essential to ensure you set it to the correct temperature. "Too high, and the cookies burn; too low, and they dry out and become crispy from lengthy bake times and lack of coloring," says Adriano Zumbo.

Remember, there are key temperature differences between roasting and baking. Roasting is typically done at a higher temperature — often 400 F to 425 F, while the ideal temperature for baking is lower. For chocolate chip cookies, most recipes call for the oven to be set to 375 F. Zumbo also recommends using what you know about how your oven bakes and making slight adjustments to the temperature setting to account for any oddities. An oven thermometer — like the PECULA Oven Thermometer — can help you verify that your oven is properly calibrated. It is also possible to bake cookies in the air fryer at the recommended temperature, but you may need to decrease the cooking time.

Did you know you might be making a mistake simply based on the type of cookie sheet you're using to bake your chocolate chip cookies? Well, according to Dr. Bryan Quoc Le, "Using black, shiny cookie sheets is a mistake that almost always results in cookies with burnt bottoms." He explains that darker cookie sheets conduct heat better than lighter stainless steel options. "This causes the bottoms to cook before the rest of the cookie, and therefore burns the bottom while we wait for the rest of the cookie to thoroughly cook."

Instead, opt for a lighter, stainless steel cookie sheet — like the TeamFar Stainless Steel Cookie Sheets —- that will help your cookies bake more evenly. You could also consider baking your cookies on a pizza stone, such as the Unicook Rectangular Cordierite Pizza Stone. These offer excellent heat distribution and can ensure each cookie is baked evenly throughout. However, you may need to increase the baking time, so be sure to monitor the progress of the cookies and make changes as necessary.

When you're staring down a mixing bowl full of chocolate chip cookie dough, it may feel like you're never going to finish baking all the cookies. This may tempt you to cream as many cookies as you can fit onto the baking sheet. However, doing so is not a good idea and may end up ruining your cookies. "When cookies are too close together, they spread into each other, resulting in uneven baking," explains Dennis Littley.

When deciding how far to space your cookies to ensure they don't spread into each other, Adriano Zumbo explains the importance of knowing the type of cookie you're making. Some are designed to spread more, flattening out and crisping up significantly as they bake, while others have a thicker middle and a softer texture. "For cookies that don't spread much 1 to 1.5inches is good space either side, and for the flatter larger cookies 2 to 2.5 inches is good," says Zumbo.

It may be tempting to open the oven to check on the progress of your cookies and get a whiff of their chocolatey aroma. However, according to Jen Enzenbacher, opening the oven too many times as your cookies are baking can cause big troubles. She explains that each time the oven is opened, it lowers the oven temperature. "The oven temperature is the most important thing at the end to make sure you get what you are looking for and can actually eat what you made," she says.

To avoid peeking in too many times and letting the oven temperature drop, Enzenbacher says, "I recommend setting a timer for half of the suggested baking time in order to rotate the tray and check baking progress." Based on how the cookies look, you can assess whether they'll need a few additional minutes to continue baking.

When you take your cookies out of the oven, you'll need to have a plan in place about how long they should sit on the cookie sheet before you move them to a cooling rack. According to Jen Enzenbacher, there isn't one set rule to follow here because the requirement for different types of cookies can vary. "Leaving the cookies on the sheet allows them to continue baking from the inside out while they cool," she explains.

However, you don't always want the cookies to continue cooking too much once they're out of the oven. "If I am baking with All Purpose (AP) Flour, I leave the cookies on the tray and mat but have a big fan to help cool them; this way the cookies firm up faster and stop to continue baking," Enzenbacher explains. On the other hand, when baking with almond flour, coconut flour, cake flour, or other more delicate flours, she says, "the cookies usually bake at a higher temperature for a shorter time and are left on the sheet to cool with no fan so the high temperature still in that sheet pan will help the cookies finish baking."

There are plenty of times when you can improvise in the kitchen. Baking, however, is generally not one of those times. "Swapping ingredients is another mistake because baking in general, and cookie baking specifically, is more of a science than is cooking, so any deviation from the recipe has the potential for something to go wrong," explains Dr. Bryan Quoc Le.

Chances are, the cookie recipe you're following went through several tests and ingredient revisions. The ingredients — and their specific ratios — are there for a reason. If you want to make cookies with margarine instead of butter, for example, you're better off finding a recipe that uses your preferred ingredients. Just making the swap willy-nilly could leave you regretting your decision if the cookies don't come out as expected.