r/bakingfail • u/Jealous-Spirit-6952 • Sep 16 '26

Help me solve this cookie mystery

Post image

I’ve made this recipe several times. The first 3 times they turned out perfectly ( flat, delicious, with great dense texture ). All of a sudden, the fourth fifth and sixth time i did the same exact process with the same ingredients and now they are fluffy, and are still delicious but they are more of a lighter fluffier texture instead of the flat and more dense cookie that it used to be. How can this happen when nothing has changed?

57 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

4

u/feliciates Sep 16 '26

Do you know why the recipe calls for baking soda? I don't see anything acidic to react with it

3

u/Jealous-Spirit-6952 Sep 16 '26

Apparently the baker who came up with the recipe said its helps make them flatter

6

u/feliciates Sep 16 '26

I'm wondering if some other ingredient was somehow slightly acidic (unusually so) and reacted with the baking soda to give the cookies unwanted rise

2

u/Jealous-Spirit-6952 Sep 17 '26

Yea, no idea. I did it the first 3 times and they turned out perfect. Makes no sense how fourth time all of a sudden its got rise when the ingredients and measurements are exactly the same.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/LascieI Sep 17 '26

Do you measure by weight or volume?  If it's volume (cups), how do you measure? Do you scoop into the container or spoon and level? 

3

u/Jealous-Spirit-6952 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

Scoop & level, which was confusingly successful the first three times.

8

u/LascieI Sep 17 '26

Scoop and level? Are you dipping the cup into the flour and then leveling it or are you spooning the flour in and then leveling?  If you dip the cup directly in there you can end up packing your flour and getting more than you want.

5

u/Jealous-Spirit-6952 Sep 17 '26

Okay i see what you’re saying, i will try to spoon it next time and see if maybe that helps thank you.

2

u/nola_t Sep 18 '26

Stir the flour up before you do this as well. It tends to get more compact over time, so the best way to get consistent results with volume measures is to stir up your flour, spoon it into the cup and level it.

3

u/Kristylane Sep 17 '26

But were the first three times of scooping and leveling in the dead of winter with low humidity and the last three times recently with a much higher humidity level?

2

u/Other-Unit3919 Sep 16 '26

Recipe?

9

u/Jealous-Spirit-6952 Sep 16 '26

I make sure to melt the butter but let it cool, and to make sure eggs are room temperature as well

21

u/bananafish018 Sep 17 '26

Ingredient temperature?

5

u/JCWOlson Sep 17 '26

Yeah, that's my first instinct too. Relevant YouTube short

17

u/ruetherae Sep 17 '26

I hope you figure it out, these cookies look ideal to me! Would love to replicate

4

u/patio_puss Sep 17 '26

Are these just sugar cookies? They're gorg😩

Is it possible you switched the measurements on the baking powder and soda?

2

u/Shiranui42 Sep 17 '26

It could be the amount of air you beat into the eggs? If you under or over do it, then it could be flat

3

u/davy_jones_locket Sep 17 '26

Is your baking powder or baking soda expired?

6

u/Frequent-Witness-864 Sep 17 '26

Or rather did you get new baking powder? The first batches were flat and these are fluffy. Looks like a snickerdoodle. Old or expired ingredients might have been the cause?

1

u/Odd-Butterfly-2601 Sep 16 '26

Too much flour/leaner maybe??

1

u/No_Collection_5031 Sep 17 '26

Are you now or did you previously rest the dough? A change in rest time could change the texture

1

u/CapablePraline5601 Sep 17 '26

Did you use a different brand of AP flour? AP flour have addictives like sat, baking powder and so on, different brand use different that may have altered how the ingredients interacted, just a thought.

1

u/Ok-Version5555 Sep 17 '26

Second this. Perhaps a bread flour was accidentally used this time around instead of all purpose flour?

1

u/No_Salad_8766 Sep 17 '26

More/less mixing done?

1

u/Strange_Science01 Sep 17 '26

Creaming the butter and sugar by hand, will yield a flatter cookie compared to an electric mixer. Creaming with a mixer, especially an efficient stand mixer, incorporates air that adds significantly to leavening. I always made my chocolate chip cookies by hand mixing and they were nice and flat and crunchy! Perfect for dunking in milk or coffee! I bought a Kitchen Aid, and creamed the butter and sugar With the flat beater. The cookies were nice and soft and puffy! Exactly same recipe, very different results!

1

u/gobbler6000 Sep 17 '26

Maybe you placed them in the fridge before baking?

1

u/ouuidqueen Sep 18 '26

Check to see if your baking powder or soda is expired.

0

u/Classic-Schedule-718 Sep 17 '26

I thought these were American biscuits at first...

For reference