Chocolate Butter Cookies Recipe - The Cookie Rookie® (2024)

FAQs

Why are my butter cookies not crispy? ›

Adjust baking time to achieve the cookie texture desired. A little less time produces chewier cookies, a little more time makes them crispy. If you prefer softer cookies, remove them from the oven while they are still slightly under baked. Always check for doneness at the minimum baking time.

Butter cookies (probably unsurprisingly) also contain a higher percentage of butter while sugar cookies have a higher flour to butter/fat ratio. Here is my favorite recipe for sugar cookies (and it's a good one, just check out all those 5 star ratings!).

Butter's high fat content is also what gives baked goods their texture. Margarine, which can contain more water and less fat, may make thin cookies that spread out while baking (and may burn). Butter is also the better choice for frying.

In chocolate chip dough, the melted butter isn't going to hurt anything, just let it cool a bit before mixing it in. The cookies will spread further and be much flatter. Be careful of burning your sugar with warm butter, and make sure you're still incorporating enough air into the butter and sugar mixture.

Cookies made with melted butter often deflate and become denser when they cool, resulting in a perfectly cooked fudgy center — a similar textural result to brownies that get rapped (aka banged against an oven rack mid-bake to deflate them) or Sarah Kieffer's iconic pan-banging cookies that turn out pleasantly compact.

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

Melted butter incorporates more easily into the dough, creating a more cohesive and pliable dough. Use a mixture of baking powder and baking soda as leavening agents. Baking powder provides lift and helps create a fluffy texture, while baking soda helps to densify the cookie and create a chewier texture.

In that role, white sugar aerates the dough when creamed with butter for thick and puffy cookies. Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more.

By adding extra sugar, you can bake the cookies to a slightly higher temperature without over-baking, which will allow for a crispier final cookie as well as deeper flavor development.

Compared to butter cookies, shortbread uses a higher ratio of butter to flour, and is baked at a lower temperature. This gives it its signature delicate consistency that crumbles in the mouth when bitten. It's also often baked in a pan and cut up after baking, rather than being cut into shapes before baking.

What is the best oil to bake cookies with? ›

Canola oil is the most commonly used oil in baking because it has virtually no flavor and therefore doesn't affect the flavor of your product. Its smoke point is very high, making it ideal for hot ovens.

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.

Yes! Country Crock^® is great for cooking and baking. Certain Country Crock^® products can be swapped 1:1 for butter in cooking and baking recipes: Country Crock^® Baking Sticks and Country Crock^® Plant Butter sticks and tubs.

While cold butter, or even frozen butter is ideal where flakiness is required—like this Actually Perfect Pie Crust—soft or room-temperature butter is vital for the success of cakes and cookies.

Here's why: Most importantly: unsalted butter ensures that you can control the amount of salt you add to your cakes, cookies and Fig and Almond Breakfast Cake. Different companies add different amounts of salt to their butter.

Higher butterfat makes better cookies.

An average conventional American butter has an 80% butterfat content. Miller's butter is more of a European-style butter with 82-86% butterfat. 2% may seem small, but it makes a BIG difference in quality, flavor, and texture.