Gingerbread Crinkle Cookies - RecipeMagik (2024)

FAQs

Why don't my crinkle cookies crinkle? ›

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies can come out flat if the dough wasn't chilled long enough before rolling or the rolled dough balls sat at room temperature too long after being popped into the oven. The dough should be chilled at least for 3 hours and the cookies baked as soon as they are rolled.

Why didn't my chocolate crinkle cookies crack? The most common reason for cookies that don't crack is either that the oven was not hot enough or the baking powder was expired.

One of the most common causes of cookie spread is that the fat is too warm. Make sure to chill your dough thoroughly if the recipe calls for it. If you're forming dough balls and the dough is too sticky to work with, this is a sign that your dough may be too warm. Try chilling the dough for at least 15 minutes!

From doubling up on molasses to using too much flour, there is a lot that can go wrong. Forgetting the molasses resulted in a crumbly cookie that was light in color. Combining all ingredients at once created lumps in the finished product.

Scoop the dough into balls (about 1 tablespoon each). Roll first in the granulated sugar, then in the powdered sugar to coat completely. Place on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Bake until the tops of the cookies are cracked and the edges are firm, 10 to 12 minutes.

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.

Not enough leavening (it needs to be strong enough to crack the top once it's set) Using a single-acting baking powder (double acting gives extra rise when it gets heated) Not creaming the fat long enough (creaming cuts little air pockets into the fat, which means the leavening has to do less work)

To avoid this, try using as little flour as possible while preparing to roll your dough. 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.

You didn't press the batter down before sliding them into the oven. Your cookies will end up chewy when you leave the batter as-is. How can I make my cookies crunchy? Adding more butter to your recipe, baking your cookies longer, and letting them cool on the baking sheet will help give you crunchier cookies.

When cookies are too cakey, there are two main culprits: too much leavening (baking powder or baking soda) or too much egg. If there is too much baking powder or baking soda in the dough, the cookies will rise too much when baking, creating a cakier structure.

Why are my crinkles not spreading? ›

This is down to the ratio of ingredients in the dough, mainly. There is a high proportion of dry ingredients (i.e. flour, cocoa powder, ground almonds) to liquid ingredients (eggs, butter). This results in a drier dough which stops the cookies from spreading when baked.

Hard cookies: you are over mixing, baking too long, baking at too high a temperature, or some combination of these. Cakey cookies: not enough brown sugar, too much or too little egg, too much flour, maybe you used baking powder instead of baking soda?

An excessive amount of butter makes it where the flour is unable to absorb the combined fat, which causes the cookie to spread too widely and the sugar to carbonize more easily because it's surrounded by too buttery a dough.

Mistake #2: Not resting your dough

After the gingerbread is cut out, Lomas recommends putting it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes and up to three days. Chilling the dough before it goes into a hot oven gives the butter a chance to firm up and reduces how much it spreads when baking.

Firmer Dough

Firm dough prevents the cookies from spreading too much, which is why chilling the dough is a crucial step for cut-out and rolled cookies. "The colder and more solid the fat is, the less the cookie will spread," says food stylist and recipe developer Caitlin Haught Brown.

Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator.

The cookie dough is sticky and unmanageable, so chilling is necessary. Sometimes I chill it overnight, but 3 hours is perfect. Chilled cookie dough is not only easy to handle and roll into balls, it also bakes thicker cookies.