Copycat Potbelly Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies {easy, no chill recipe} (2024)

FAQs

Why are my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies so hard? ›

There are a few reasons why your oatmeal cookies may be too hard. Perhaps you left them in the oven a couple of minutes too long. To rectify this, simply bake the next batch for less time. Another reason could be the density of the dough.

Cookies become hard when the moisture in them evaporates. This can be caused by leaving them out in the air for too long, baking them for too long, or storing them improperly.

The short answer is no. Steel cut oats are much more dense than old fashioned oats. They require more liquid and longer cooking than their traditional cousins. While you can, in most cases and with some accommodations, substitute quick oats for old fashioned oats, and vice versa, steel cut oats are not interchangeable.

Chocolate chip cookies have less protein and fiber, and more fat, than oatmeal raisin cookies. Although both types of cookies should be enjoyed in moderation, oatmeal raisin cookies do provide more health benefits than chocolate chip cookies.

Eggs, particularly egg yolks. Eggs work to make your cookies soft in two ways: They add a ton of moisture, and the proteins add structure that prevents spreading. Cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. Low in protein and high in moisture, cake flour is used to leaven all sorts of baked goods.

Over-baked cookies will be dry, hard, and crumbly. Secondly, always store your cookies in an air-tight container. They should stay soft for up to 3 days. If they aren't as soft as you'd like, just add a slice of white bread to the container and they should soften right up.

Cornstarch Is The Secret To Soft And Chewy Cookies.

There are a few things you can do to add liquid to your cookie dough if it is too dry and crumbly. One option is to add milk, water, or another liquid until the dough is the right consistency. You can also try adding melted butter or shortening. If your dough is still too dry, you may need to add more flour.

Putting a slice of fresh white bread in the container with the cookies will help the cookies stay soft: fresh bread is moist, and that slice will give up its moisture for the greater good: keeping the cookies from drying out. We recommend white bread so that no flavor is transferred to the cookies.

If you're substituting old-fashioned oats for quick-cooking oats, your final dish will be chewier, and it might taste a little oat-ier. If you replace old-fashioned oats with quick-cooking oats, your dish will have less texture.

Can I use old fashioned oats instead of steel cut oats? ›

Steel-cut oats tend to have a firmer and chewier consistency, even when fully cooked. Rolled oats, on the other hand, have a more consistent texture, although they may still be chewier than instant or quick oats. A person can use either form of oats to prepare breakfast cereal.

Old Fashioned: Also called rolled oats, old fashioned oats are flat and flakey. They absorb more water and cook faster than steel-cut oats — usually in about 5 minutes — and are the oat of choice for granola bars, cookies, and muffins.

Consume With Caution

Even with healthy additions, an oatmeal cookie is still a cookie. Enjoying one occasionally is OK. They may contain more nutrients than other cookies, but they still contain large amounts of fat and sugar, which aren't so healthy and may be detrimental to your waistline.

(Don't mix too vigorously or too long – follow recipe directions.) Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour, which can produce tough cookies.

Don't Overbake!

This isn't a revolutionary tip and is probably quite obvious, but if you leave your cookies in the oven for even a few minutes longer than necessary, the mix will dry too quickly and lead to more rigid, dry cookies.

Adding too little flour can cause cookies to be flat, greasy, and crispy. Most recipes assume you'll use all-purpose, but if you want a lighter, crumblier cookie texture, choose one with a lower protein content such as cake-and-pastry flour. Baking soda helps cookies spread outward and upward while cooking.

The best oatmeal cookies, like the kind we're sharing here, are soft and chewy through the center with crispy edges.

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.