Why Your Oatmeal Cookies Are Cakey (Instead Of Soft And Chewy)

Oatmeal cookies may not get the kind of love that their chocolate chip or peanut butter-infused counterparts receive, but a soft, chewy, oatmeal cookie with hints of caramel is a thing of beauty. The rolled oats provide a texture and complexity that other cookies just don't have, and you can feel slightly good about the extra fiber and protein you're getting from the oatmeal. Like many classic recipes, oatmeal cookies are simple to make but can be fickle if you're not careful. There are several common baking mistakes that can ruin your cookies, like using cold ingredients or even simply overcrowding your cookie sheet. Sometimes, even when you carefully follow all the steps, your baked goodies come out not as good as expected. When it comes to oatmeal cookies, it is quite often an overly cakey or doughy texture that's the biggest letdown.

An oatmeal cookie is nothing without its texture, and you might as well crumble it into your bowl of breakfast oats instead (where it makes a delicious addition, to be fair). Fortunately, there are specific steps in every oatmeal cookie recipe that you can focus on to ensure they come out soft and chewy, and not like a dense, deflated cake. Flour plays a crucial role; from the type you select to how much is used to the way it's mixed in. Other factors include creaming butter and sugar to the correct consistency, using the right number of eggs and leavening agents, and checking for an accurate oven temperature. Let's take a closer look at the steps you should pay close attention to for the perfect non-cakey oatmeal cookie texture.

Because of the relatively few ingredients that go into making an oatmeal cookie, each one has a substantial impact on how they turn out. When a cookie recipe calls for flour, it usually requires all-purpose flour and not bread flour. Both types of flour have different levels of protein, which results in varying textures in the baked goods they are used in. The higher the protein (bread flour), the tougher and chewier the final cookie will be.

Read the label on the flour you use to ensure it does not contain baking powder, either. Some types, like self-rising flour, contain leavening agents, which can throw off the proportions your recipe calls for and lead to cakey oatmeal cookies. As a final note on flour, be more exact with your cup measurements, and employ the scoop and sweep method Ina Garten uses. While you can often eyeball ingredient amounts in cooking, baking requires a more exact measurement to avoid an overly tough cookie.

Eggs are arguably the ficklest cookie ingredients, and not just because of varying egg sizes. Egg whites and yolks have dramatically different effects on texture. The whites contain more water and can add fluffiness when beaten. Yolks, on the other hand, are heavy in fats and add rich texture but too much can lead to dense cookies. For soft and chewy cookies that aren't cakey, you need a mix of yolks and whites, with the proportion of yolks being a little higher. If your cookies have an unpleasantly cakey crumb, try incorporating an extra yolk into the mix.

How you incorporate butter also decides how cookies turn out. Fortunately, this is an easy one to remember since it's the same for cookies as it is for cakes. Whipping butter too much incorporates excessive air and makes lighter oatmeal cookies more akin to a fluffy cake. Using melted butter leads to more chewy and decadent cookies. However, keep in mind that some amount of aeration is required, so you will have to whip the butter and sugar mixture at some point. About 3 minutes with a hand mixer is sufficient, with a little more to then incorporate the eggs.

Baking soda is your friend for chewy oatmeal cookies. Baking powder is not. The former helps develop a chewy texture and a nice caramelization on the cookie's exterior. Baking powder, instead, will make the cookies rise in a very cake-like way. The objective is to ensure the cookie doesn't rise or spread out too much as it bakes.

Want a little bit of baking insurance? An ingredient with hidden cookie superpowers is cornstarch. As little as half a teaspoon per cup of flour can help keep the cookie from spreading too much, adding to its chewiness without making it too dense or cakey.

While fluffy treats like cakes and soufflés require well-whipped ingredients and egg whites that form stiff peaks, cookies need mellow handling. Cream the butter and sugar mixture till it is a smooth paste with some aeration, but not so much that it starts looking fluffy like whipped cream. Remember that oats also make the cookies dense, so don't worry if you feel that you've whipped the butter too much. 

Flour, on the other hand, needs the most careful handling to avoid excessive gluten formation. Unlike bread, which benefits from a well-formed gluten network, cookies need much less of it. Therefore, flour should be folded slowly into your cookie mix and gently combined to ensure minimal gluten activation. This is also why it's best to avoid a stand mixer once you've incorporated flour into the cookie mix. Try a spatula or wooden spoon instead, or only mix your dough for thirty seconds max in the stand mixer. Think of it like this, you don't want your oatmeal cookies to feel bready, so do the opposite of what you'd do when making bread. 

While not chilling your cookie dough enough or baking too long is more likely to give you dry and brittle cookies instead of cakey ones, these steps are nonetheless important in the quest for that perfect oatmeal cookie texture. Chilling the dough helps firm up the fats inside, which prevents it from spreading too much as it bakes. The cookie retains a moist, chewy center even as the exterior turns deliciously golden. The longer you chill the dough, the chewier the cookies will be; you can even leave it in the fridge for up to three days. This way, you have a tray of formed cookie dough balls ready to go whenever you want fresh cookies.

When baking, ensure your oven has properly preheated and reached the required temperature before putting the cookies in. Oven temperature gauges are often inaccurate, so don't let the fate of your cookies rest on them. Instead, get a simple oven thermometer to know exactly when it is at the right temperature. Avoid overbaking oatmeal cookies at all costs and take them out of the oven when they're slightly underbaked. Their middle should be moist and appear underdone while the edges look firm. Remember, the perfect chewy cookies finish baking as they cool down. Once you've mastered how to get them perfectly chewy, you'll have a number of all-purpose baking practices already mastered and ready to go for your next batch of cookies.