What To Add To Cookies To Make Them Soft

How to Make Soft Cookies

Plus, tin can you make hard cookies soft again?

Certain, there's a fourth dimension and a place for a crispy cookie (gingersnaps, duh!). But, most of the fourth dimension, we're all about those that err on the side of warm, soft, chewy, and gooey. Here's what you need to know about making perfectly soft cookies every time:

What Makes Cookies Soft?

Choc chip cookie Getty ten/5/20

Credit: Esther Chou/Getty Images

Esther Chou/Getty Images

A cookie's texture depends on a number of factors (ingredients, ratios, bake time, etc.) and how those factors piece of work together. For instance, white sugar generally produces crispier results than brown sugar—but many cookies that are made with white sugar are soft and fluffy. Still, there are some basic guidelines that can help you lot on your quest to bake the softest cookies around.

Cooling cookies Getty ten/5/20

Credit: Wanwisa Hernandez / EyeEm/Getty Images

Wanwisa Hernandez / EyeEm/Getty Images

For soft cookies, utilize:

Brown saccharide, as it has a high moisture content and retains wet meliorate than white saccharide. Also, when combined with eggs, brown saccharide can prevent spreading (taller cookies tend to be softer and fluffier).
Shortening instead of butter or in addition to butter. Butter has a low melting temperature, which promotes quick and even spreading. Shortening, meanwhile, takes longer to melt during the baking process.
Baking powder instead of baking soda. Baking soda, which reacts with an acrid, causes cookies to spread. Baking powder, meanwhile, uses the dough's moisture to react with itself. Information technology also reacts at room temperature and once again in the oven. All this reacting gives it extra lifting power, making your cookies calorie-free, airy, and block-like.
Eggs, particularly egg yolks. Eggs work to make your cookies soft in 2 ways: They add a ton of moisture, and the proteins add together structure that prevents spreading.
Cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Low in protein and loftier in moisture, cake flour is used to leaven all sorts of baked appurtenances.

Broil time tin also affect the texture of your cookies. As anyone who's accidentally over-broiled cookies knows, they get dryer and crunchier the longer they're in the oven. Closely monitor your cookies while they're baking to make sure they don't dry out.

Related:

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies Chewy, Gooey, Crunchy, or Cakey
Our 25 Best Cookie Recipes of All Fourth dimension
20 Soft, Chewy Cookie Recipes You lot'll Melt For

Can You Make Difficult Cookies Soft?

Sugardoodle Cookies

Yes! You tin can absolutely soften hard or stale cookies. Simply place the cookies in an airtight container, throw a slice of white bread in there with them, then shut the chapeau overnight. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread and you'll wake up to a deliciously soft dessert.

Need to soften your cookies faster? Wrap the cookies individually in clammy paper towels (damp, non moisture). Zap them in the microwave—paper towels and all—for about 10-15 seconds.