Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why did my pumpkin cookies turn out cakey? ›

RECIPE FAQ

If you do not brown the butter, then the liquid:flour ratio will be off in the recipe and the cookies will be cakey instead of chewy. Browning the butter drives off the water content to account for the added moisture coming from the pumpkin puree.

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.

If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure. Therefore, as the butter spreads so does the whole liquidy cookie.

When to use which one. Baking soda is used in recipes that also include an acidic ingredient, such as cream of tartar, buttermilk, or citrus juice. Conversely, baking powder is typically used when the recipe doesn't feature an acidic ingredient, as the powder already includes the acid needed to produce carbon dioxide.

Flour adds fluff and texture to the cookies. 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.

If you enjoy your cookies soft and chewy, chances are likely the recipe contains a common ingredient that serves a very specific purpose. No, it's not granulated sugar, nor the butter. It's not the egg, all-purpose flour, or even the vanilla extract. The simple, yet oh-so-necessary component is cornstarch.

How Sugars Behave in Dough. In recipes that involve baking soda, the primary role of acidic brown sugar is to react with sodium bicarbonate and produce carbon dioxide, making cookies thick, puffy, and soft (cakey at first, then crunchy if they continue to bake).

Overmixing can result in tough cookies.

Too much butter makes cookies turn out just as you'd expect: very buttery. This batch of cookies was cakey in the middle, but also airy throughout, with crispy edges. They were yellow and slightly puffy in the middle, and brown and super thin around the perimeter.

Bake at 375 degrees F until golden and tender, 12 to 15 minutes. For crispy-cakey cookies: Bake the cookies at 425 degrees F until golden and crunchy on the outside, 8 to 10 minutes. For chewy cookies: Use 1 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup corn syrup and omit the granulated sugar.

What does an underbaked cookie look like? ›

Colour: Raw or undercooked cookies tend to have a pale appearance, lacking that golden or slightly browned hue that indicates they're fully baked. Watch for cookies that still have a doughy or unbaked look. Texture: Touch the surface of the cookies gently.

It's the opposite actually.. low temperatures cause more spread in a standard recipe.. some cookie recipes that yield particularly large cookies need to be baked at a lower temp just due to the size.. For higher temp the cookies brown faster and stop spreading yielding a rounder cookie that is raw on the inside..

Cookies should be baked on the center oven rack for even heating and air circulation. As a best practice, is it recommended to rotate the cookie sheet or sheets roughly halfway, or shortly thereafter, through the baking time, if needed.

The only difference between crisp and cakey chocolate chip cookies is a slight modification to the recipe measurements. Simply adjust the amounts of butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Begin by measuring out the butter and sugar amounts for your favorite cookie texture, then proceed with the rest of the recipe below.

Mixing Butter & Sugar

If your butter is under mixed, it won't have the air pockets to hold it's shape. If it's over-mixed, the air pockets decrease in size and are unable to hold their shape in the oven—causing your cookies to spread. It's best to cream butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.