Question: My cookies come out cake-like. Should you always refriderate cookie dough before baking?
By: Cynthia Corpuz
Published: December 2, 2010

I have been trying various cookie recipes and whenever I make them my cookies come out being more cake than the lovely chewy cookie kind. Should I refrigerate the dough before cooking? Or is my cake-like cookie a result of something else? Perhaps I am overworking the dough?

Answers:
Chris Paulk

You could be overworking the dough- or over measuring the flour. I always make cookies with butter -not margarine and refrigerate my dough before baking. (superstition). What kind of cookies are you making?
Michelle Tancioco

Chris is right! Maybe you're overworking the dough. And use butter instead of margarine. You don't have to refrigerate the dough before baking. And please check your flour. Don't substitute flour types. If your recipe calls for all-purpose flour, that's what you need to use. Cake flour and bread flour will not behave the same.
This is a baking must. Follow your cookie recipe to the tee (you can always experiment with later batches, testing how alterations affect the final product). One common cause of cooking failures is inaccurate measurement of ingredients. You can use the best ingredients in the world, but if you do not measure correctly, the recipe will not come out properly. Also always use level measurements (all measurements in a recipe are level).
Know the difference between liquid and dry measures, and use the appropriate one for each task. While they hold the same volume, they are used differently.
debbie

If you are "handling" cookies, then refrigeration is usually necessary.  For drop cookies, you should be able to make them without refrigeration.
I have found that over-mixing can cause a cake like texture.  If you are not sifting flour, be sure to fluff it before measuring as it tends to settle and there is a significant difference in a cup of flour that has been fluffed and one that has not.
Dan Headlee

Chris, Michelle and Debbie are all correct about over-working the dough.  The more you mix, the more air that is incorporated.  Mix just long enough to integrate the ingredient.  Obviously, aeration is good for cake, but not if you want a chewy chocolate chip cookie.
Dan