Manipulating Cookie Texture

FLOUR

• Chewy: Bread flour has a high protein content that gives breads chew, but makes cookies tough. For chewy cookies use all-purpose flour.

• Thin and Crispy: All-purpose flour works for most cookies.

• Cakey: Introducing some cake flour makes cookies more tender.

FAT

• Chewy: Melting butter makes its water available so it can readily interact with the flour, developing more gluten, which gives cookies good chew.

• Thin and Crispy: Using less butter creates a leaner cookie with less moisture so it’s less soft. Melting the butter can boost chewiness but it also contributes to a thin cookie. Melted butter cannot aerate the way softened butter does when creamed so its structure can’t lock in moisture.

• Cakey: Creaming butter with sugar can open the cookie’s crumb. With no water, shortening also tenderizes the crumb, making it crumbly, so cutting the butter with shortening can make a cakier cookie.

SUGAR

• Chewy: Brown sugar is more hygroscopic than granulated sugar and holds onto moisture during and after baking, so a cookie made with it will be chewier.

• Thin and Crispy: Granulated sugar crystallizes as the cookie cools, making the cookie crunchier. It doesn’t hold onto moisture as readily as brown sugar does.

• Cakey: Granulated sugar or a combination of granulated and brown sugars is appropriate for cakey cookies. Using all brown sugar will make a cookie too moist.

EGGS

• Chewy: Using more yolks than whites can create a chewier cookie because whites tend to create a drier, cakier crumb. Since the white contains much of the egg's protein, any white that isn’t fully absorbed dries out. An extra yolk also adds fat that keeps the cookie chewy after it’s baked.

• Thin and Crispy: Using a small amount of egg (or even just a yolk) will bind the cookie without adding a lot of moisture.

• Cakey: The more eggs called for, the more lift they provide.

LEAVENER

• Chewy: A combination of baking soda and baking powder ensures that the cookie rises and the crumb opens enough, but since that structure cannot hold, the cookie collapses a bit and spreads, producing a chewy texture.

• Thin and Crispy: Extra baking soda helps dry out a cookie giving it crispness; the rapid collapse it causes creates fissures that let out moisture. In addition, doughs that are more alkaline achieve better browning.

• Cakey: Most of the gas produced by baking powder is released once the cookie is in the oven, so using it alone (or in a higher amount than baking soda) will ensure the cookie rises and sets before the bubbles burst.

LIQUID

• Chewy: Liquid, besides eggs, is not usually found in chewy cookies.

• Thin and Crispy: Adding some liquid to cookie dough—even just a couple of tablespoons—makes a looser dough that spreads in the oven. Adding a little milk also helps the cookie brown better due to the milk sugars.

• Cakey: Using more liquid than is customary in cookies can make a batter-like dough that has extra moisture; this moisture turns to steam in the oven for a more open, cakier crumb.

COOKIE SIZE

• Chewy: Forming larger dough portions means the edges will set before the centers, resulting in a chewier middle.

• Thin and Crispy: Larger dough portions won’t spread enough to become thin and crispy.

• Cakey: Small dough portions will dry out too quickly to maintain a cakey texture.

BAKING TIME

• Chewy: Underbaking cookies slightly ensures they don’t dry out; they set up during cooling.

• Thin and Crispy: Baking cookies until deep golden brown dries them out and crisps them.