More dense cookie
I am trying to recreate a cookie my grandmother made. She helped me with the ingredients. I have the taste right, but the texture is wrong.
I need a dense, smooth top, crunchy cookie. One that browns well and is good for dunking.
What I end up with is a crisp to crunchy cookie with a crackle top. I don't like the crackle top, or the crisp texture. My husband loves them, but I crave the old hard dense cookie.
This is a basic sugar type cookie,
2 cups shortening or butter,
2 eggs,
3 1/2 cups sugar,
7 cups flour,
3 tsp baking powder,
1 tsp soda,
2 tsp salt,
vanilla,
nutmeg.
I bake at 350 until well browned.
Best Answer
A crackly top is indicative of plentiful sugar, as is brittle crispiness. If you want to diminish those qualities, try backing off on the sugar. It sounds to me like you want a cookie with a more "shortbready" character. Perusing shortbread cookie recipes on the internet I see their butter-to-sugar ratio somewhat larger than yours (mostly greater than 1). So experiment with less sugar (even just down slightly from 3.5 cups to maybe ... 3c. at first). You don't say if you are rolling out these cookies for cutting, but if you are, you will likely need to adjust the flour a little bit for the correct texture.
I realize you don't want to make shortbreads or else you would just use one of those recipes. The flavor of the cookies (which you are happy with) seems to be coming from the soda-nutmeg-vanilla-salt, so don't change any of those. In fact, try leaving all ingredients the same, except just lessen the amount of sugar, and adjust the flour, if necessary, to get a workable dough texture. See what happens & proceed with experimentation from there.
Pictures about "More dense cookie"
What makes a cookie more dense?
Cookies that are dense and chewy incorporate more moisture into the batter. This can be achieved by making substitutions with ingredients, or even just changing the way you incorporate certain ingredients. Plus, your particular baking technique and your method of storing cookies can also play a role.How do I make my cookies thicker?
How To Make Thicker Cookies (Using 10 Simple Tips)Why are my cookies hard and dense?
This relates to the issue of creaming, because cold butter is more difficult to cream. Thus, if your butter is too cold, your cookies will be denser, and they will likely not spread enough in the pan when you bake them. In general, you want your butter to be cool, but not cold.What makes a cookie firmer?
Fixing the Ingredients One thing you can consider doing is adding more flour to the dough before you bake it. Flour is known for providing a structure to baked goods, so when you add it to cookies, it helps to give the cookies a firmer texture.Every Common Cookie Alteration, Substitution And Mistake (11 Recipes) | Ingredient Swap
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