Brown Butter Banana Oatmeal Cookies Recipe | Practically Homemade (2024)

FAQs

Why are my homemade oatmeal cookies hard? ›

Overbaking is the most common cause of hard oatmeal cookies. Cookies continue to cook on the baking sheet even after they're removed from the oven, so try taking them out when they're just lightly golden and still a bit soft in the middle. They'll firm up as they cool, resulting in a chewier texture.

In short, it wouldn't really be an oatmeal cookie without a little bit of cinnamon. BAKING SODA: When baking soda is combined with an acid, like the cocoa powder, baking powder, and brown sugar in this recipe, it produces carbon dioxide, which helps the cookie dough rise and eventually spread.

They may have cooked too long - I've done that, and they might be on the dry side then. If they're just too dry for your taste, try using a little more butter/shortening. Or try adding a little molasses. Assuming your oven is baking at the correct temp, don't bake them so long.

Adding too many eggs can result in gummy, cake-like cookies. Adding too few eggs can result in dry, crumbly cookies.

Baking cookies quickly in a hot oven – at 375 degrees F as opposed to a lower temperature – will make for soft results. They'll bake fast instead of sitting and drying out in the oven's hot air. Ever so slightly underbaking your cookies will give you softer results than cooking them the full amount the recipe says.

Baking powder

Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate and acidic salts. The reaction of these two ingredients results in a cookie that is soft and thick, but slightly harder.

If you don't have baking soda, you can use baking powder, at three times what the recipe calls for. So if a recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking soda, you can use three teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder also contains a little bit of salt, so it's also a good idea to halve the salt the recipe calls for.

Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.

baking soda allows the ingredients to rise and become airy. Without baking soda, your cookies will be very dense, perhaps not chewy, and not as tasty.

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.

Should you chill oatmeal cookie dough? ›

Since most cookies are made with softened butter, which is then creamed with the sugar to act as the foundation, it's best to chill the dough after mixing to allow that butter to cool off. “Cookies made from chilled dough expand more slowly as they bake,” Hill says.

Room temperature butter is just the right consistency to incorporate air when it's creamed with sugar. These trapped air pockets result in risen, fluffy cookies. If the butter is any warmer, it won't incorporate enough air and your cookies will have less rise.

Greasy mess: Extra butter means more fat, making the dough greasy and difficult to handle. Spreading like crazy: Cookies lose their shape, spreading thin and flat instead of staying nice and round. Uneven baking: The excess fat can burn easily on the edges while leaving the center undercooked.

*Sometimes, but not always, the natural chlorophyll in sunflower seeds reacts with baking soda, causing a green color inside the cookies after they cool. This is completely harmless! Depending on the recipe you can reduce baking soda by about one third or a splash of lemon juice may help prevent any “greening”.

An oven that hasn't reached the correct baking temperature causes the fat in the dough to melt before the cookie bakes through. As a result, cookies spread too much. Heat the oven for at least 10 minutes. A good rule of thumb is to turn the oven on just before you begin measuring ingredients.

The easiest way to soften cookies with bread is to place the cookies in an airtight container with a slice of bread and leave them for a few hours. The bread will release moisture and help to rehydrate the cookies, making them soft and chewy once again.

Keep Them Sealed

The key to keeping cookies fresh and soft is to seal them in an airtight container, like a resealable freezer bag. And here's a nifty little trick: add a piece of bread to the bag. You might think that the bread trick works because the cookies absorb moisture from the bread.

Soften Them Up! The best way to soften up those hard cookies is something you probably already have in your kitchen… bread! That's right, a piece of fresh bread will make those tough treats soft and chewy.

Just wrap a cookie or two in a damp paper towel and then put them in the microwave for about 10 to 15 seconds. The moisture from the paper towel should soften the cookies right up. So if you wonder how to soften hard cookies quickly? Microwave is the way!