The Bread Hack That Will Keep Your Fresh-Baked Cookies Soft

Based on the popularity of cookies in America, it's safe to say people who claim to have a powerful sweet tooth would rarely turn down a gracious cookie offering. Statista noted that 245 million Americans willingly ate packaged cookies in 2020, yet most cookie lovers actually prefer to make their own based on a recent poll. In a 2022 survey conducted by OnePoll and Crumbl Cookies, out of 2,000 participants, 82% preferred to make their own round confections, with chocolate chip ranking as the champion of cookie flavors (per Swns Digital).

In the debate of whether or not cookies are better hard or soft, National Today claims that 65% of cookie lovers prefer a chewier cookie. Yet, how can home bakers guarantee a soft texture each and every time? Before taking the additional steps to make the perfect chocolate chip cookie, Bob's Red Mill stresses the importance of using room-temperature ingredients. Even-temperature ingredients, including eggs, butter, and milk, bind together in cookie dough resulting in a uniform texture. These ingredients also expand and create an evenly distributed proportion of air throughout the cookie batter, which results in a chewier, lighter cookie. Bob's Red Mill states that using cold butter or eggs can cause your freshly baked cookies to turn out flat or wonky in texture. Just like bread, there are specific ingredients you can use when mixing cookie dough that result in softer cookies every time.

Land O'Lakes outlines the basic ingredients every home chef needs to make a standard cookie recipe. You can adjust usual butter, flour, sugar, eggs, salt, and baking soda, just slightly, to ensure a softer cookie next time you decide to bake a batch.

According to Food Network, using melted butter or moist brown sugar can make a softer cookie, but that's not the only ingredient you can tweak. King Arthur Flour claims using bread flour makes for a chewier, lighter loaf of bread due to the higher protein content in bread flour. Conversely, cookies need a lower protein count yet just like bread, benefit from the use of a specific flour. Food Network claims that cake flour has a lower protein count than standard all-purpose flour and when used in cookie batter, results in lighter, fluffier cookies. While bread and cookies differ in the types of flour recommended for each, there is one way bread can ensure your freshly baked cookies last longer once out of the oven, cooled, and ready for storage.

After you make a big batch of everyone's favorite potato chip cookies, taking some extra storage steps to keep your cookies soft will only broaden your taste buds' happiness. Food Network recommends keeping freshly baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. But there is one extra thing you can add to that resealable bag or pyrex bowl to extend your cookies' tenderness: a slice of bread. According to Southern Living, adding a slice of sandwich bread removes any moisture trapped inside the container which leads to longer-lasting tender cookies. However, PureWow recommends not adding more than one piece of bread since too much can make your cookies lose their form completely. Also, choose a bread variety with a neutral flavor, without too many additional nuts or seeds, so that the flavor of the bread doesn't affect the taste of your freshly baked treats.

If you've unfortunately allowed your newly baked cookies to harden on the counter for too long, Food Network recommends reheating for 10 seconds in the microwave or using a brown sugar saver or terra cotta disc. There are numerous additional tips you can follow to ensure you pull soft cookies out of the oven. Yet, if you find your baked goods to be a little too crunchy for your liking, bread can surprisingly save the day.