Cranberry Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why are my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so hard? ›

The most likely reason for hard, dry oatmeal cookies is over-baking or over-measuring your flour.

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly.

Overbaking: Overbaking is a common culprit for dry cookies. Make sure you follow the recommended baking time and temperature in your recipe. Typically, oatmeal cookies should bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 10-12 minutes. The cookies continue to cook after being removed from the oven due to residual heat.

Check package to make sure what you used contained at least 70% fat. A spread with less fat, diet "margarines" or spreads in tubs contain have too much water. The water creates steam, causing the cookies to puff.

Different types of sugars affect the texture because they absorb different amounts of water. Remember moisture is the key! White sugar creates crispier cookies and brown sugar creates chewier cookies.

Melting the butter you're using can make the cookie softer. Brown sugar comes out of the package very moist: its chemical makeup causes it to draw in water under the right circ*mstances: a fast bake at a high oven temperature. Slightly underbaking cookies with brown sugar in them makes them softer as well.

Whatever moisture is left in the cookies is always in a state of evaporation. At the same time, the sugars and starches are solidifying. Ergo, hard cookies.

The bread/apple trick

Here's a baker's trick you'll find in our new Monster Cookies recipe: Adding a piece of fresh white bread to the storage container will keep cookies from becoming hard or stale.

Bread Method:Place the cookies in an airtight container with a slice of bread. Seal the container and let it sit overnight. The moisture from the bread will transfer to the cookies, softening them. Apple or Potato Method:Place the cookies in an airtight container with slices of apple or potato.

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

How do you moisten oatmeal cookies? ›

Microwaving them. If you cover your cookies with a wet paper towel and nuke them for a few seconds, they should soften up enough to eat.

When to use which one. Baking soda is used in recipes that also include an acidic ingredient, such as cream of tartar, buttermilk, or citrus juice. Conversely, baking powder is typically used when the recipe doesn't feature an acidic ingredient, as the powder already includes the acid needed to produce carbon dioxide.

How to Tell When Oatmeal Cookies Are Done. Many drop cookie recipes, including oatmeal cookies, specify baking until the edges are golden or light brown; often, the recipe also specifies that centers should appear set (not jiggly and raw). In these cases, you can usually tell by simply taking a look at the cookies.

First, we substituted baking powder for baking soda. The baking powder gave the dough more lift, which in turn made the cookies less dense and a bit chewier. Second, we eliminated the cinnamon recommended not only in the Quaker Oats recipe but in lots of other recipes.

Don't Overbake!

This isn't a revolutionary tip and is probably quite obvious, but if you leave your cookies in the oven for even a few minutes longer than necessary, the mix will dry too quickly and lead to more rigid, dry cookies.

Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour. Baking soda helps cookies spread outward and upward while cooking.

You see, the only thing that you need to soften up a batch of day-old cookies is a slice of bread. This is a trick I learned from my mom after she saw me turn up my nose one too many times at a slightly crispy chocolate chipper (self-proclaimed gooey, chewy cookie fiend here!).

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.