Your Top 20 Common Cookie Baking Questions Answered

If baking homemade cookies has ever stirred up questions about oven temperature, storage, ingredient substitutions or the best way to reheat cookies, I’ve got you covered. Welcome to my cookie-baking question roundup!

After this, you’ll be ready to bake batch after batch of perfect cookies! Let’s start with ingredients.

1. Why do most recipes call for unsalted butter? Is salted butter okay?

The most common reason recipes call for unsalted butter is so that you can control the amount of salt in your cookies. This way, the salt just enhances all of the flavors in the cookie dough rather than the cookies actually tasting salty. However, if you only have salted butter, don’t let that prevent you from baking a delicious batch of cookies! Use the salted butter and reduce the added salt in the recipe by half.

And, if you do want a distinct salty taste, try using a coarse sea salt (like in my Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Cookies) rather than adding additional fine salt to the recipe.

The short answer is yes. The reason to use softened butter and other room temperature ingredients is so that everything blends more smoothly. That being said, I often use cold butter for cookies but only when using a powerful bowl-lift stand mixer. If you use a tilt-head mixer, a hand mixer or just mixing your cookie dough with a wooden spoon or spatula, definitely use softened butter. Using cold butter with a tilt-head mixer can damage the machine and I am confident I shortened the life span of my tilt-head mixer with cold butter.

I like to use cold butter so I can make cookies anytime and reduce or eliminate dough chill time.

I do not recommend margarine for any reason and definitely not as a 1-to-1 substitute for butter in cookie recipes. Butter is typically of much higher quality and provides more flavor. I also do not recipe test any of my recipes with margarine so I cannot speak with a lot of personal experience here but I will reference the science. Because the fat is lower in margarine and because margarine is softer than butter, the ratio of ingredients will react differently and your cookies will likely spread more so my best (untested) advice is to chill your dough a little longer and, if you’re experienced at modifying recipes, consider adding a very small amount of extra flour to the recipe.

This question could be about a freshly baked cookie turning out dry or a dry leftover cookie. I’ll answer both. 

If a freshly baked cookie is dry, try adding more wet ingredients or reducing dry ingredients. I would start by adding a small amount of additional butter and/or double-check that you are not over-measuring the flour.

For dry leftover cookies, try warming them up or using the cookie crumbs in another recipe. If you know the cookies will sit out in an unsealed cookie jar, freeze any extras that will not be consumed over the next day or two. Freezing will retain the moisture in the cookies while the refrigerator will dry out most cookies.

5. How to properly measure flour? (and other ingredients)

The technically proper way to measure flour is to spoon flour into the measuring cup and then level off with the back of a butter knife. For my recipes, I scoop and dump the flour a few times to “fluff it” up and then I loosely get a scoop and shake the measuring cup to level. I am sure not to dig into settled flour so as not to get too much flour in the measuring cup. This can lead to dry cookies. My way isn’t perfect or the most precise but it is good to know for the recipes here on this site. Also, I use this method for recipes from other food blogs and cookbooks and it always works out just fine as long as I stir up or “fluff up” the flour before measuring. I also use this method no matter the type of flour unless the recipe calls for a weight measurement (more on that below). I bake with KAMUT® White Flour most of the time but of course I work with other flour too! I use the same method with all purpose flour, cake flour and alternative flours. Learn more about why I reach for KAMUT® Brand Wheat most of the time here.

As for other ingredients, you can scoop and level other dry ingredients and both white sugar and brown sugar and I recommend a liquid glass measuring cup for any liquids. For powdered sugar, my recipes almost always state to measure then sift (because it’s just annoying to do it the other way around) and I always note this in the recipe. For butter, I use the little lines on the butter wrapper though I know, again, this isn’t the most precise. It works. 

I try to save precision for fussy recipes like macarons. But if I am ever more precise with my measurements, I will note that in the recipe and likely include weight measurements. The scale is your friend for these kinds of recipes because the way we all scoop flour, powdered sugar, etc, varies greatly.

Yes! Overmixed cookie dough alters the texture of the final product and often results in tough cookies. Mix as much as you like when you cream the butter and sugar(s) together. After this, only mix until the next ingredient is incorporated. And if your cookie includes mix-ins like chocolate chip cookies, stop mixing the cookie dough when it’s about 90-95% mixed. This is because you’re still going to be doing some mixing when you stir in the chocolate chips (or any other mix-in).

7. How do you get chewy cookies?

Most of my recipes make chewy and soft cookies. My best advice for a chewier cookie are:

1. Large cookies. I use a large, 1 oz cookie scoop for most of my cookie recipes.
2. Use parchment paper.
3. Slightly under-bake your cookies. For my recipes, you can follow the recipe but for most other recipes, I check the cookies before their recommended bake time is up. I remove cookies from the oven when the bottom edges are just starting to turn golden brown.
4. Let cookies cool all the way on the baking sheet. I do not remove cookies from the try until they are completely cool (unless I’m sneaking a warm, fresh-baked cookie!).

8. How do you get a crispy cookie?

If you are a crispy cookie lover, go away! Just kidding! There is a time and place for every kind of cookie! For crispier cookies, I recommend:

1. Reduce or eliminate chill time or lower oven temperature to 325. Both of these options will cause cookies to spread more. This will help make them crispy but you will want to put fewer cookies on each cookie sheet to allow for more spreading.
2. Slightly longer bake time (but keep an eye on the cookies – don’t let them burn!).
3. As soon as the cookies are set, transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.

This depends on the type of cookie, the specific recipe and your desired texture (see above). I always note the recommended chill time in my recipes. One benefit of chilled dough is that all of the flavors get a chance to incorporate even more and you might notice enhanced flavors in the final cookie.

You can absolutely freeze cookie dough although I recommend you bake cookies and then freeze if possible (read on to see more about freezing cookies). I recommend scooping into cookie dough balls, letting them freeze until hard and then you can store in a zip top bag for up to three months. Pull out a few at a time and let them come to refrigerator temperature on the countertop before baking. Baking straight from the freezer will lead to uneven baking.

Use a cookie scoop to make the best cookie (and the best looking!) and measure each scoop the same. For example, if you’re measuring a level scoop for one, measure a level scoop for the whole batch.

12. How do you make sure cookies bake evenly?

Parchment paper is my go-to for evenly baked cookies. 

350 is the standard for cookies and a recipe should note otherwise. If you notice your cookies seem to take longer to bake or they are burning at the recommended baking time, purchase an oven thermometer to double-check your oven temperature. Many ovens run slightly hot or cool.

Only bake cookies at 375 if the recipe calls for this temperature. Don’t attempt a higher temperature to speed up bake time since it will often just result in unevenly baked cookies.

I’ve tested baking a few cookies in my Cuisinart toaster oven without success. The edges burned and the center was still raw. If you attempt this experiment, I’d say try a low temperature and well-chilled dough.

This depends on whether you want a chewier cookie or a crispier cookie. A chewier cookie is best left on the tray until completely cool.

A few things could be a play here. When I end up with flat cookies that spread too much, my first step is to chill the dough or chill for longer. If that doesn’t do the trick, your dough might not have enough flour. Your dough is typically too wet when it doesn’t start to come together in a ball toward the end of mixing. Similar to pasta dough, if you have made homemade pasta. Usually a recipe will note if it is supposed to be a wet dough or you can sometimes tell in the “before baking” pictures.

If you try both of the above with no luck, I recommend checking that your baking powder and/or baking soda are still active. 

18. What is the best way to store cookies? Should cookies be refrigerated?

Most cookies are fine at room temperature for one or two days, sometimes three. An airtight container is ideal unless otherwise noted in the recipe. Beyond a few days, an airtight container or ziptop bag in the freezer is the best way to store cookies. 

For the best results, do not refrigerate baked cookies unless it’s required for safety. For example, my Individual Boston Cream Pie Pudding Cup Cookies are filled with pudding so they need to stay refrigerated. But leftover cookies that won’t spoil at room temperature should stay out of the fridge because it will dry out most cookies.

19. How do you freeze cookies?

To freeze cookies, I let them cool on the tray and place the cool cookie sheets directly in the freezer until the cookies are frozen enough to stack. I transfer them to an airtight container or ziptop bag and freeze for up to three months. 

To thaw, I just take out the desired number of cookies and let them come to room temperature. 

Note: Cookies with crunchy mix-ins don’t freeze as well. They will still taste great but they will lose some crunch after frozen and thawed.

Most often, cookies that turn out bad don’t actually taste bad. If your cookies are burnt, you can trim off the burnt edges and see if you can salvage any of the cookie. If your cookies spread too much and/or are truly under baked, take the massive cookie, crumble it up and bake for a few more minutes to toast the cookie crumbs. My favorite way to use these crumbs is for individual layered trifles with pudding and a layer of additional mix-ins. Use a glass cup for a pretty visual and to salvage your baking efforts!