Troubleshoot a Cookie Mishap

by Monika Bartyzel, Posted Dec 25th 2008 @ 4:03PM

Say hello to flatty and softy. Both come from the same batch of cookies, yet one is flat as all hell, and one is nicely shaped, and doesn't reveal the wonderful sea of butterscotch inside.

I've made many cookies over the years. Some I've loved; some I've hated. Sometimes something goes wrong. But I've never had a batch pull out two different results. I was trying out Accidental Hedonist's Butterscotch Cookies, taking out the nuts (hello, allergies) and adding in some extra chips. The dough looked delicious -- the perfect cold dough for the adult mouth with its sugar sweetness cut by wonderful dark rum flavor.

Then they went in the oven, and bled into hard, flat discs. The flavor was excellent, but the shape was not. So, I tried firming up the batter in the fridge for round two. They turned out exactly the same. I began to consider rejigging the recipe for next time. However, I had four cookies left over, so I put those on a piece of old parchment, waited for the other round to finish, and baked them last. Voila! Perfect cookies.

Can silicone baking mats really wreak havoc on a cookie? That's the only difference between the three batches. Share your thoughts below!

Filed Under: Methods
Tags: baking, baking troubleshooting, BakingTroubleshooting, butterscotch, cookies, flat cookies, FlatCookies, silicone baking mat, SiliconeBakingMat

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-25-2008 @4:40PM Brian J. Geiger said... The main problem I would see with the silicone baking mat vs parchment paper is that the parchment paper is much thinner, and thus not likely to insulate as much as the silicone baking mat. This will change the way the heat transfers into and out of the cookie.

Looking at the recipe, I see it's a creaming method recipe, but the baking powder is added in before the flour rather than being mixed in. That, combined with the resting time, means all of your chemical lift is being done with the second action baking powder rather (and a little steam) rather than with the first action.

My initial guess is that the baking powder in the cookies might not activate at the proper time, but that doesn't seem right at all.

So I took a look at Bakewise, and my current theory is that the warmer pan without the thick silicone mat causes the dough to set more quickly, which limits spread and allows more dough for rising. That is consistent with the picture you have.
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12-25-2008 @7:27PM valentine said... Brian -
The already-pre-heated-baking-sheet theory can't be right because that factor would have been present for the second and third batch.

I agree with your supposition regarding the thickness of the two mediums. The thinner parchment paper would supply more heat to the bottom, making the cookie set much faster...and containing the spread better, resulting in a thicker final result. (Sort of like refrigerating dough first...and by the way, how LONG was the dough refrigerated for that second batch? Anything less than an hour is only a token gesture, in my non-expert opinion.)
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12-25-2008 @8:25PM Maven said... The mat slows the cooking process, which allows the fats to melt substantially before the dough can cook. The same thing has happened to me with a non-stick sheet.

Another option, one I'm not a fan of, is to use shortening instead of butter, with the higher melting point. Not worth it to me--I'd rather chill dough and use parchment paper.
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12-25-2008 @10:54PM Gobo said... I recently cooked a batch of cookies with half on a Silpat sheet and half on a silicone baking sheet. The ones on the Silpat turned out perfectly; the ones on the silicone were uncooked on top and burnt on the bottom.

I threw out the silicone.
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12-26-2008 @2:37AM Bryan William Jones said... If I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that the cookie sheet has nothing to do with it and you over-mixed the runny cookie....

BWJones
http://prometheus.med.utah.edu/~bwjones/

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12-28-2008 @7:59PM Monika said... Answers:

The first and third batches were on room-temp pans; I put the parchment on another baking sheet for the third batch.

The refrigerated dough was in for 30-40 minutes. It made it just cold enough to not melt as I was forming them. Batch 2 was out of fridge, formed, and baked, while the parchment batch sat out for another 20 minutes while the second batch was baking.

And Bryan -- it's impossible to overmix the runny cookie when they were the same batch. :)
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12-29-2008 @11:16AM Chuckrok said... I always thought my flat cookies were caused by moving the butter from fridge, to microwave, to mixing bowl.

If I don't use the nuke-o-matic to soften the butter, my cookies turn out just fine.
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12-29-2008 @2:56PM Shanna said... I've had cookie doughs do different things based on Silpat mats, silicone baking mats, parchment paper and what kind of cookie sheet I'm using. Parchment on light colored sheets come out w/ cookies that are different than parchment on dark sheets. I love my Silpat, but I'd say overall, I prefer parchment. As much as I'd like to reuse, reuse, reuse, the parchment usually gives me the best results for most cookies.

Shan
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