Oatmeal Cookies 3 Ingredients - Recipe Diaries (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.

However they won't be particularly chewy and they should not spread out on the baking sheet that much. There are several reasons why the cookies may have become dry and crumbly but the two most likely are that either the cookies were baked for too long or too much flour was added to the dough.

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

Most researchers agree that Fannie Merritt Farmer wrote the first recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies in 1896. The cookies quickly became popular as they were considered a healthier alternative to other baked goods. Quaker Oats started putting oatmeal raisin cookie recipes on their oatmeal containers as early as 1900.

If you enjoy your cookies soft and chewy, chances are likely the recipe contains a common ingredient that serves a very specific purpose. No, it's not granulated sugar, nor the butter. It's not the egg, all-purpose flour, or even the vanilla extract. The simple, yet oh-so-necessary component is cornstarch.

Use a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar. Brown sugar contains molasses, which adds moisture to the cookie dough and helps create a softer texture. Use melted butter instead of room-temperature butter. Melted butter incorporates more easily into the dough, creating a more cohesive and pliable 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.

The bread/apple trick

Here's a baker's trick you'll find in our new Monster Cookies recipe: Adding a piece of fresh white bread to the storage container will keep cookies from becoming hard or stale.

Adding too much butter to your cookies can turn them from delightful treats to crumbly disasters! Here's why: Greasy mess: Extra butter means more fat, making the dough greasy and difficult to handle.

*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”.

How do you tell if oatmeal cookies are done? ›

Pizzelles are the oldest known cookie and originated in the mid-section of Italy. They were made many years ago for the “Festival of the Snakes” also known as the “Feast Day of San Domenico”.

The term "porridge" is used in Britain and Ireland specifically for oatmeal.

On this day in 1912, Oreo cookies were first developed and produced by Nabisco in New York City. It's time to celebrate the iconic crunchy chocolate sandwich cookie with the sweet vanilla cream filling that Americans have enjoyed for over one hundred years. March 6th is National Oreo Cookie Day!

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.

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.

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.

Oatmeal cookies require more moisture to stay soft. Consider adding an extra egg yolk or a touch of milk to your dough to enhance moisture content.