Soft and chewy cookies are always a delightful treat to people. So today, you can learn how to keep cookies soft.
Nothing can match the taste of freshly baked soft, chewy cookies. They are just awesome. I personally love cookies so much, so if you visit my house anyhow, you will find a bunch of cookies in the house.
When we talk about cookies, our faces automatically blush because I think no one in this world would hate cookies .cookies our love for the dessert lover.
The only thing that can bother a cookie lover is that if you store the cookies for days, they become hard, and trust me nothing worse than eating those cookies. You would believe me or not, but sometimes hardened cookies can break up your teeth.
If you are reading this article, this means that you are facing this problem. So, friends, you are at the right place because I have some fantastic ways to keep your cookies soft, so let’s learn how to control cookies quietly.
What Makes Cookies Soft?
Before learning how to keep cookies soft, first, we need to understand what makes the cookies soft. And the reason for the softness of cookies is moistened. Butter, brown sugar, or egg yolks are the reason for the cookie’s moistness.
Cookies can be soft, snappy, cake-y, or crispy, depending on the ingredients used. It all comes down to moisture. On the other hand, cookies like shortbread and biscotti cookies are permanently hardened because they have a very small amount of those ingredients that make cookies soft and chewy.
While tinkering with baking ratios might be risky, trying new things can also pay off. Try adding an extra egg yolk or replacing part of the white sugar with brown sugar when you make your next batch.
Like any baking goods, cookies are also stale. The moisture in the cookies evaporates over time, making them hard and crumbly. It occurs to bread, muffins, and other baked items in the same way. They grow stale when they sit for an extended period. There are many reasons by which a cookie gets harden up:-
- Cookies become airy:- when you put the cookies open at room temperature, then the moisture of cookies evaporates; this makes cookies hard.
- Overbaking:-This is a common mistake that anyone makes sometimes; we forget that we are baking cookies, so this makes our cookies overbake. Our cookies become harden, so we need to be careful about timing when we are baking cookies.
- Overworking your dough:- this is also a common problem. Overworking your dough may cause making extra gluten strands that make your dough stiff and tough.
- Fat content may be a factor:- Butter enables the cookie to spread when baking; too much butter results in thin, brittle cookies.
Thus the best foolproof approach to prevent all of these problems is to eat cookies the day you bake. But what could we do to keep our cookies soft for long days if you don’t want to eat cookies on the day you have baked? So let me give you some personally used ways to keep the cookies soft.
How to Keep Cookies Soft :-
So now you know why cookies become onerous, so I will give 3 ways to keep your cookies soft.
- Keep them sealed:-
To keep cookies soft for a long time, we need to prevent moisture from escaping. The best way to do this is to seal the cookies in an airtight container. So they can’t come in contact with air, and they don’t dry up.
Airtight containers or Ziploc bags are preferable, but if you don’t want to leave with your old cookie jar, simply place a Ziploc bag inside. - Store the cookies with bread:-
You probably saw your mom is keeping the cookies with a piece of bread because it increases the life of cookies .you might think that cookies absorb the bread’s moisture.
But this is not like that actually; the extra water of the bread produces a humidity level within the bag, which slows down the moisture loss from the cookies. It is like going out on a hot, humid day. Because you can’t sweat quickly enough to cool yourself off, the increased humidity in the air makes you feel hotter. It’s the same with the cookie bag.
There’s no more air to add because the air within the bag is already saturated. As a result, the moisture in the cookies remains in the cookies. - Eat them the day they’re baked:-
Or apart from these two, I have an extra option to eat them the day you have baked. You simply have to freeze the cookies dough, and when you want to eat the cookies, you can bake that cookies dough and enjoy them.
Also Read:-
Now let me give you some other ways to add moisture to your cookies during the baking time that your cookies become more chewy and soft.
- Use brown sugar:-
It is the most common way to increase the self-life of cookies because brown sugar has high moisture than white sugar. You can use brown sugar by adding two tablespoons of light or dark brown sugar to your cookie recipe. You might know how brown sugar works:- these work in two manners. The first one is because of its molecular structure. The second one is the glucose and fructose found in brown sugar are hygroscopic, which means they suck up hang on to moisture. - Use bread flour:-
using bread flour in the cookies is also expected; the science behind this trick is that bread flour absorbs more liquid and contains more gluten than all-purpose flour; it would make a chewy dough. But I would warn you to do proper research before replacing your flour with bread flour. If you are compatible and ready to change your regular recipe method, you can try this. Using bread flour might make your cookies softer and chewier. - Use melted butter:-
A chewy cookie is not only moist, but it is also dense. And creaming the butter adds air to the mixture, making it airy but not necessarily chewy. Because melted butter cannot be creamed, no more air is introduced to the dough. As a result, the cookies are thick and chewy. - Bake at a low temperature:-
Always try to bake cookies at low temperatures from the required temperature because baking at a high temperature can make your cookies harder. If any recipe is demanded 375C, then try to make cookies in 350 or less. - Don’t overbake them:-
When baking cookies, always be careful about the timing because if you get distracted, then maybe your cookie is overbaked that causes overbaking. Overbaking evaporates all the moisture of the cookies. by this, your cookies become harder.
tips to Moisten Hard Cookies:-
Above, we have many ways to make cookies soft and keep them soft, but what to do with the hardened cookies so? My dear friend, I have three significant ways to moisten your hard cookies.
- Steam them in the microwave:-
Whenever you find your cookies become more burdensome, then place them in the microwave with a glass of water. The glass water is heated up, resulting in the steam later being absorbed by the cookies. Cook them both for 30 seconds, and you’ll get a delicious, steamed cookie. - Wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave:-
By wrapping, you harden cookies in the damp paper or towel for 10sec, which provides soft cookies because the cookies absorb the moisture from the towel. - Use the bread trick in reverse:-
Using white bread for cookies is always beneficial because we use white bread to maintain the cookie’s moisture and softer for a more extended period. But when your cookies become more burdensome, then also you can use white bread. In the container holding your cookies, place a slice of white bread. Allow sitting overnight. The next day, enjoy a freshly baked soft cookie.
