One of the aspects I enjoy about baking (besides all of the delicious yumminess) is that it is a science!  It is a little bit of physics and a little bit of chemistry. Meaning we can control the inputs to get a desired and predictable output. My analytical mind loves this!

The perfect cookie is the cookie that YOU enjoy!  Some people like thin and crispy cookies. Others like moist and plump cookies.  You can make small adjustments within a recipe to obtain the cookie you like by adjusting ingredients, such as the type of flour used, particle size of the sugar, and using solid versus melted butter.

To make the cookie that is perfect for you, let’s first go over the function of each ingredient, beginning with of course, flour.

Wheat Flour

All Purpose Flour is what most people are familiar with and is made from Hard Red Winter wheat. This high protein flour leads to stronger gluten development and a well structured baked good. This flour is ideal for bread, hard rolls, and flat breads. If used in a cookie recipe, the baked good will be more dense and less moist.

Pastry or Cake Flour is made from soft white wheat which is a low protein and low moisture wheat. You will see this flour utilized in cakes, biscuits, pastries.  Cake flours provide a more airy and less dense baked good.

Soft Red Winter wheat is grown in the eastern half of the United States.  It has a protein score of 8.5% to 10.5%, and weak gluten development.  This is the ideal flour for cookies.

Sweetener

The next ingredient that makes a cookie a cookie is the sweetener!  The function of the sweetener is of course flavor, but it also helps with the caramelization or browning of the cookie. The sweetner helps the cookie to form a structure within the cookie, while helping the cookie to spread.

If you want a cookie to spread further:  increase the amount of sweetener, and decrease the particle size of the sweetener (use a smaller grain).  Baking physics!

If you want a cookie to spread less: decrease the amount of sweetener, and increase the particle size

Of all the ingredients, sugar has the greatest impact on how far a cookie spreads. If you use a sweetener such as honey, it will spread faster than a solid (room temperature) butter.  To adjust the recipe, use less honey, a solid butter, and less leavener.

Butter

The butter/fat used in a cookie also has an impact on its spread, but not nearly as much as sugar.  The more solid the butter or fat is in the recipe, the less the cookie will spread.  For example, if you begin with room temperature or solid butter, it takes time for it to melt during the baking process and delays the spread of the cookie. If you begin with melted butter, then when baking it will begin the cookie spread early on, and lead to a thinner cookie.

Leavener

A leavener does just what its name implies. It levels!  This is where the chemistry comes in. More leavener will create a faster reaction in the baking – causing the cookie to spread further. A high amount of leavener will cause cracks in the surface of the cookie. Lower leavener causes the cookie to have a delayed chemical reaction, and spread less. If your cookie is spreading farther than you would like, then you will want to reduce the leavener a tad!

The Baking Process

When all the ingredients are put together, and the cookies are in the oven, the baking process is as follows:

• Butter/Fat melts – this hydrates all of the ingredients
• Sugar dissolves – this process creates a flow
• Leavener reacts and creates gases – this causes an upward and outward spread
• The expansion of the cookie stops and structure begins to set
• Moisture is removed from the cookie
• Browning occurs