I need cookie/baking help please. I made this cookie recipe today

O

orchid

Well-known member
and first, it is very soft/sticky. I put it in the fridge for about 1/2 hour which helped for a few seconds but it became very soft making the cookie with pumpkin inside. I put it back in the fridge while the oven heated and then straight from the fridge to the oven. They spread a lot. Certainly not the effect in the photo. My question...is there anything I can do to the rest of the dough? I only made up 2 of them so I have the rest in the fridge. Can flour be added in to firm it up? A baker I am not! I'd be appreciative to any advise. TIAhttp://jamiecooksitup.net/2011/10/pumpkin-candy-cookies/

 
Try adding more flour - you have nothing to lose. Also, raise, yes, *raise* the oven

temperature - this will allow the cookies to set faster, ie, less time to spread. The lower the oven temp, the more it will spread. If it's supposed to be 350 F, make it 375 and bake for a slightly shorter time.
And last, but not least, make sure the cookie dough is very well chilled before baking - maybe you need to chill it longer than you did.

 
I think you can easily add 1/2 C more flour. You also have a lot of sugar in there

so that may be causing it to spread more too.

Spread the dough out in a large bowl or on the counter...sift 1/2 C flour over the dough and hand-knead it in.

Good luck.

 
See, this is what I mean! That is exactly what I WANTED to do but

the brain starts saying...no Kathy, you can't just sprinkle in more flour. Duh! OK, will do tomorrow and Meryl, I'll also raise the temp. Thanks to you both.

 
Marilyn, when I add extra flour to a cookie dough, I always end up with a very cake like cookie..

Is there some magic point where the batter changes into a cake like batter? How can I tell when I have enough, but not too much flour?

 
I just scan similar recipes and look at ratios between the key ingredients, like

flour, fat, liquid.

I start with a recipe that should bake the same way (flat cookie = flat cookie recipes, crispy cookie = crispy cookie recipes, etc) and go from there.

Honestly, there are almost no new recipes...just tweaks on the standard variations.

What is harder is when you (I say you, but I mean ME) leave out the leavening. That is MUCH harder to distribute across a finished batter.

The two cookies I compared it against (NY Black & White and a sugar cookie) both had the same amount of fat and eggs, but both had more flour. The sugar in Orchid's recipe is double the B&W and equal to the sugar, so I think she's safe adding 1/2 cup more flour.

 
Right. But the pumpkin photo does look cakey. I think the large quantity of

brown sugar will affect the spreading as well.

 
You're right. I think most pumpkiny cookies are cakey, even though this particular one is not made

with actual pumpkin.

 
The recipe technique looks odd to me. Usually you'd whip the butter & sugar first, then add the

eggs & liquid (Not sure you even need the extra 2 T milk.)

 
Thank you Marilyn, I knew that scientific mind would come up with a logical way to figure this out..

it seems like common sense to me now that you describe how to look at a recipe, I am just not clever enough to have figured it out!!! Thank you!

 
Me either Barbara. Thanks for asking that and thanks Marilyn for

such a clear answer. Very helpful...but I'll probably second guess myself.

 
also, I thought it odd to add the white choc chips. too much sweet for me with the 2 pumpkins

as well, and it would make shaping the dough around the 1 pumpkin quite difficult. I would leave out the chips.

 
It is too sweet! This is why I don't bake but I seem to have taken on

this (I don't even know what to call it..)so I guess I'm gonna get better at it. I follow direction really well and if it says to do it, I do it. At least the first time. "If" and that's a big IF I ever made these again I wouldn't add the chips nor so much sugar. But then I'm not a skilled enough baker to figure it out.

 
I added the flour and it certainly feels better. We'll see how they bake. How

long would this dough keep as is in the fridge? Until Saturday?

 
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