How to Fix Flat Cookies

We’ve all been there—we’re waiting for our delicious cookies to come out, and they’re just… flat. It’s a pretty anticlimactic ending to the end of a 13-minute bake job, and while they may taste good, there’s something about having cookies that look good, too.

Luckily, there are reasons your cookies might be flat—and ways to fix them! Read on for why your cookies might be pancakes, and how you can solve this.

Why Are My Cookies Flat?

One of the main reasons: your butter was practically melted. There’s a meaning behind softened, room temperature butter: the fat binds the cookie together, and when it’s baking, it spreads out. When your butter is already melted, the cookie spreads out… but it isn’t held together. So, if your cookies ask for room-temp—or even cold—butter, follow the directions!

Another common reason your cookies might be flat is if you didn’t use enough flour. It sounds kind of obvious, but dough doesn’t always seem too runny when you’re touching or eyeballing it (and we wrote an article on how to fix runny dough!). But cookies rely on the perfect ratio of ingredients, so measuring out your flour precisely rather than guessing is important.

How to Fix Flat Cookies

One simple fix: lessening the amount of soft butter and white sugar. Too much of these can make cookies flatten; slightly removing them gives you a chance to have the perfect cookies you’re looking for. Balancing out the ratio of all ingredients is also an option—just like with measuring your flour, you want to measure ALL of your ingredients.

And finally, heat is important in two ways. 1. Never bake cookies on a hot pan, or they’ll start spreading immediately. On the other end of the spectrum, 2. Make sure your oven is hot enough. Cooking at too low of a temperature equals melting butter without baking the other ingredients at the same time.

We hope these tips help you out the next time you’re baking! Do you have any inside tricks? Let us know by leaving us a comment!