I just made a batch of molasses cookies and I've made them before just not the exact recipe. I actually couldn't find the original recipe so I went out to allrecipes and found one very similar. Anyways... they came out like little discs. It is raining here - could that be the problem?
Thanks everyone! The butter in the recipe asked for it to be melted, so I'm wondering if that might have contributed to my flat cookies.
I'm guessing too much fat, shortening or butter, which will cause the cookies to flatten out, rather than rise. And thinking the humidity may have played a role as well, though I've never really noticed it with cookies, primarily when making candy or melting chocolate.
I did find some advice on making/baking cookies:
http://allrecipes.com/HowTo/perfect-cookies/detail.aspx
Hope the cookies taste good anyway : )
What kind of butter/margarine did you use?
Try a little more flour?
That's how I made my chocolate chip cookies poofier... if poofier is a word. :-)
LBC
It could be flour. Some recipes call for crunchy ginger snap type cookies and other recipes are for puffy, chewy cookies. You may just have found a recipe that is slightly different and produces the other kind of cookie! I'm sure they are still tasty though, but you might need to look some more!
I've never done molasses cookies, I usually just do chocolate chip, but I have noticed a difference in texture when I use shortening with butter as opposed to all butter. The shortening makes the cookies more thick and "puffy" while with just butter they are more flat and crispy. I also once made a patch with baking soda that apparently was on the old side because the cookies wouldn't puff up at all - made another batch with a new box and they were fine.
Sorry no help...but now I am craving my Great Aunt Betty's Molasses cookies. Think I might get the recipe from my mom tonight.
I make molasses cookies that are a shortening recipe and are intended to be a chewy cookie. Anyway I have to chill mine for like 2-3 hrs. before I drop them 1st of all just to deal with the sticky dough. But also b/c if they are too warm (room temp) when I put them in the pan they go flat on me
Here is a great summary (from the book "Cookwise") of the role of various cookie ingredients:
High protein flour (all-purpose flour usually falls in this category) makes cookies darker and flatter.
Low protein flour (like cake flour) makes cookies pale, soft, and puffy.
Fat with a sharp melting point (like butter) makes cookies spread.
Fat that has same consistency over a wider temp range (like shortening) makes cookies that don't spread as much.
Reduced fat spreads make cookies soft and puffy.
Corn syrup makes cookies browner.
Brown sugar and honey make cookies that soften upon standing.
Also chilling dough and then putting into a hot oven will allow cookies to retain their shape better. In other words warm dough spreads more. Also make sure you know that the temp of your oven is accurate.
Good luck! And let us know what works.
