What made my chocolate chip cookies do this?

Factual Questions
1

I have a baking question based on some chocolate chip (actually, I used M&Ms instead of chocolate chips) cookies I observed in the wild this morning.

I used the recipe on the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip bag, except instead of using the chocolate chips, I substituted mini-M&Ms. I will describe as fully as I can what happened, in the interests of scientific research:

Mixed up the batter per instructions, creaming the butter, sugar, and vanilla together first, then mixing in the eggs, then gradually mixing in the flour/baking soda/salt mixture, finally stirring in the M&Ms. I dolloped out the cookies onto two baking sheets, one insulated and one regular (because those are the only two cookie sheets we have). Into the oven at 375. 9 minutes later, I notice that I accidentally turned the oven off instead of on when I put the cookies in. They cooked a little bit from the residual heat but are still basically raw. I turn the oven heat on and finish baking them.

They come out – both sheets – kinda flat, like cookie frisbees.

Next batch. I dollop out cookies onto the two baking sheets again, this time taking a little more care to make them nice round balls, just in case that’s why the previous ones came out flat. Back into the oven, which this time is actually on, and 10 minutes later, I have beautiful, nicely risen cookies instead of the flat discs I got the first time.

So what was the difference? Was it that the leavening ingredients had more time to sit and combine with each other in the batter while the first batch was cooking? Was it the whole snafu with the oven temperature on the first batch? Was it that the second batch got put onto cookie sheets that were already pretty well warmed? Was it the perfect round balls I made for the second batch, vs. the kind of irregularly rounded mounds I did for the first batch? Or what? I really want to figure this out so that I can make sure the next time I make cookies, they all come out like the attractive and chewy second batch, and not the flat, overly crunchy first batch.

2

It was the temperature of your oven. It melted the butter in your cookies, but didn’t set the protein matrix in time to catch the bubble space left behind by the melting butter. You can achieve flat thin cookies by using melted butter instead of softened butter in your recipe, if you like thin flat cookies.

In your second batch, the heat was better. The protein from the flour set around the butter bits as the butter bits melted, leaving teeny tiny holes, which means fluffy goodness in baked goods.

3

What happend is the butter melted. Butter is actually structural in cookie dough. It holds the cookie up until the protein in the flour starts to set up enough to be structural. Then as the butter melts, the flour holds the shape of the cookie. In your case, the oven was warm enough to melt the butter, but not warm enough to set the protein matrix. In the future, cooking with your oven on will prevent frisbee cookies. :wink:

If you want all the gorey details, catch Good Eats on Food Network where he makes cookies. It appears to be on today Three Chips For Sister Marsha.

4

God, I love this message board. Thanks, guys. That was quite informative. And next time I’ll make sure to turn the damn oven on when it’s cookie baking time.

5

You also could have lost some of the “oomph” of the leavening as well, since you had that residual heat.

6

My solution to this problem is just to eat the cookie dough and skip the whole baking part. Mmmm… sticky doughy goodness PLUS salmonella roulette!

7

Cookies flat…next batch fine…whatever. Can I have one? :smiley: