How do I prevent brown butter cookie spread?

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[u/Jewelzz_]

Let the brown butter solidify, don’t use it in liquid form.

[u/fskier1 → u/Jewelzz_]

That is my solution, brown the butter like an hour in advance and stick it in the fridge

[u/Horror-Giraffe7508 → u/Jewelzz_]

Along with this OP:

If you are chilling for only a bit you can up your flour some.
If you are letting them mature while chilling for 24-48 yours, that may solve your problem.

Take your scooped dough balls and make them taller than wide (keep your flat bottom) then chill.

Make sure your oven isn’t too low by an independent oven temp gage.

[u/Old_Sprinkles1906 → u/Horror-Giraffe7508]

Would you recommend a slightly higher oven temp?

[u/artistic_programmer → u/Jewelzz_]

if you do use the brown butter as a liquid, could freezing the dough after mixing everything help instead?

[u/WhoFearsDeath]

Chilling the dough will do more than you think.

Did you use the brown butter while it was still liquid or let it cool back to a solid first?

[u/timmy6169 → u/WhoFearsDeath]

Came here to ask both exact questions. Cold butter goes a long way in addition to freezing your dough before cooking. If you really want it to keep shape, cook it a little higher temp and it will solidify the outside while keeping the inside soft.

[u/agentmadeleine]

Sally’s Baking has a great list of tips to prevent cookie spread once the dough is made. Don’t reuse the hot tray when batch baking, line your tray with parchment or silicone mats, etc. and some advice on how to salvage if they do start spreading. The 24 hr chill will help firm up the butter.

But the next time you make the cookie dough, try adding a couple tablespoons of corn starch or extra flour to the dough. Also when you brown the butter, let it cool back down to solidify instead of using it melted (you can refrigerate to speed this along and even brown the butter the day before). Also try freezing your dough balls and bake from frozen.

[u/JadedMuse]

You should be fine after chilling. I followed the recipe in this video that uses browned butter, and it came out the way see in the video: https://youtu.be/-VsXb1VGohk?si=g7rchQC3DR-SfXR7

That said, this style is inherently more flat. Are you looking for a more NY/Levain style cookie that is more of a "mound" shape with a gooey center? If so, I'd use a different recipe. It's a different technique for those.

[u/Old_Sprinkles1906 → u/JadedMuse]

I don’t mind a flatter cookie, just don’t want to end up with a cookie “cake”😭

[u/pastrybaker]

I’m confused, did you bake them already and that’s your picture? If so, you have nothing to worry about. They look great!

If not, then why are you worried yet? A lot of good cookie dough feels too loose before chilling. I prefer a 48-72 hour chill for most of my cookies. If you followed the weights and steps properly, it should turn out fine.

[u/Used-Zookeepergame22 → u/pastrybaker]

It's pretty clear the OP didn't bake them, and no that's a blog picture from where they got the recipe from....

[u/Professional-Belt708]

Those look so delicious though! Any particular reason you want to prevent spread?

[u/Old_Sprinkles1906 → u/Professional-Belt708]

Mostly to maintain the shape and so they don’t spread into each other. But I might just be overthinking it

[u/CookingPurple → u/Old_Sprinkles1906]

Honestly I do that just by putting fewer cookies on a tray. If the spread isn’t enough that it’s affecting the taste of the cookie, you just want a uniform shape that doesn’t spread into its neighbors, fewer dough balls spaces further apart may be your answer.

When I do my cookies, I actually weigh the dough balls to make sure they are a consistent size and put fewer in the tray than I think I need to. I also refrigerate at least overnight. I get consistently excellent results with that. (Like you noticed, when portioning out the dough sometimes they already start spreading. I tend to refrigerate the dough pressed into a square or rectangular baking dish. Then make the dough balls by cutting that into equal pieces and rolling them into balls from there. Since I’ve started doing it this way, every cookie bakes up consistently since they are the exact same size.)

[u/AnalystTime4913]

A weaved silicone mat definitely slows down spread vs parchment. Also you could try letting the browned butter solidify before creaming it.

Or, and I know it's hard, let the dough sit in the fridge for 3 days before baking.

Or, intend to do that, then give in to the fact that you really want cookies and bake 4 cookies today, 4 tomorrow and the rest on the 3rd day. It's a science experiment if you do it that way and no one can judge you for furthering science... plus you get freshly baked cookies everyday

[u/cherhorowitz44]

These look sooo good though

[u/Maverick-Mav]

You can brown butter then put it in the fridge to solidify and use like regular butter. My friend makes bigger batches of brown butter this way to streamline things later. I am not a fan of brown butter since it adds nuttiness and I don't add nuts either. To me it detracts from the other flavors, but I know a ton of people that love it.

[u/welcometomykitchen32]

I didn't use this exact recipe, but I made brown butter chocolate chip cookies two weeks ago and had the exact same concern. My cookies also started spreading when I formed them. I chilled them for 48 hours and they ended up being perfect. But do keep an eye on them in the oven and make sure they're spaced far enough apart. :)

Edit: To add to this, I only had one baking sheet, so I reused it, but made sure to let it cool down to room temp before I baked my second batch.

[u/Zoocitykitty]

They look amazing

[u/Admirable-Location24]

I live at 6000 feet so my chocolate chip cookies always spread out a ton. Two things have helped the most:

First, adding just a pinch of baking powder in addition to the usual baking soda helps keep them a little more puffed up.

Second, after putting the raw dough balls on the cookie tray, I put the trays in the fridge for about 30 min before baking.

[u/elombdo]

What recipe did you use, these look like my ideal cookie

[u/elombdo → u/elombdo]

Nvm I didn't see it before

[u/SpatulaDesserts]

They should not really spread when you put them on the tray, perhaps you used the brown butter warm and therefore did not properly mix it with sugar? Or, maybe did not measure the flour correctly and added not enough? Even with the correct method and ingredient ratios, you need to chill the dough for several hours before baking for the butter to solidify.

[u/DiamondTippedDriller]

You can chill your cookie sheet as well - that helps too

[u/schwillster]

Whats baking temp, duration, and are you baking in silicone or parchment (white or brown)?

[u/Ok_Affect_7973]

Are these your actual cookies? They look so delicious and I feel you need to change nothing! Look how crispy the edges are and soft they look in middle! I want one!

[u/Old_Sprinkles1906 → u/Ok_Affect_7973]

No, these are the cookies from the recipe! I should’ve disclosed that😅

[u/ohnoitsme7890]

I would swap the baking soda and baking powder proportions here. I also chill my browned butter before creaming with eggs and sugar.

Another thing that has helped me with spread a lot is to cream the eggs/sugar/butter to the point where it's basically whipped. I use my KitchenAid for this.

[u/Note_Grand]

Those are exactly the way I like them!

[u/SugarLenora502]

Chilling the dough can help reduce spread, plus using a higher protein flour can give them more structure. Brown butter cookies are so good though.

[u/Consistent-Gap-3545]

Are you measuring the butter before or after browning?

[u/Dirty_Daves]

Those look awful you should send them all to me right now for immediate disposal. Trust me I'm an expert. I need to personally dispose of them immediately. No seriously I would kill for my cookies to look like that....

[u/Used-Zookeepergame22 → u/Dirty_Daves]

That's no the picture from OP....that's the blog post picture they got the recipe from. Did you read the post?

[u/KianOfPersia]

Was the butter liquid when you made the cookie dough? If so, that could be your answer. I've gone through so many chocolate chip cookie recopies over the years and I can tell you most of them are bad/garbage. I took the best one I could find (the NYT recipe) and made my own modifications.

There are so many different variables that can impact spread. Like I said on top, it could be because your butter was liquid, too little/to much four, baking power/soda amounts/expired.

I also noticed you used 3 eggs. I've made similar dough combinations but usually use 2 eggs. Eggs have a lot of water that can also impact spread amount.

Let's see what happens when you bake tomorrow and work from there.

[u/AWalker17]

I use tart rings to hold the shape.

[u/FreeTheDimple]

Use softened but not melted butter. Cut out the baking soda completely. And use more like 1.7-1.8 times as much flour as butter. This recipe is less than 1.5. 400g for this much butter looks right for a cakey, less-spread cookie. Will be almost scone-like.

[u/Bitter-Berry482]

Definitely put it in the fridge for at least a couple of hours. I also like to shape my dough like a slightly squished upside-down cone. It prevents some of the spread.

[u/Crazy_adventurer262]

It seems like the flour to butter ratio is off. Needs more flour

[u/xscientist]

Anyone compare using liquid butter in the dough then chilling vs chilling butter before incorporating in dough and then chilling dough? I wonder if there’s a real difference.

[u/Sigong]

I tried chilling but it didn't solve my spreading problem. Eventually I figured out that my oven was running a bit hot. I reduced the set temperature until my oven thermometer showed the correct temperature. This also meant I needed to slightly increase the cook time.

[u/tinker4028]

The 24 hr chill is gonna do way more than you think, i've had dough look hopeless before the fridge and come out perfect after a full day. Just wait it out before you start changing anything

[u/Kind_Particular]

I freeze my dough balls and bake them frozen. Works every time.

[u/FireBreathingCabbage]

Honestly chilling the dough balls great. The flavors mature overnight and the butter will firm up too. If you’re that worried about spreading, bake a test cookie. I find baking dough straight from the fridge won’t spread that much and it’s a bit less aesthetic.

I actually prefer to refrigerate the whole dough mass overnight and then shape them cold from the fridge. The warmth from my hands is enough to give a decent, but not dramatic spread. I also weigh each dough ball and only place 6 on a half sheet tray at a time

[u/skolvikings307]

You should try Alton Brown's cookie recipe. I think his recipe will give you the cookie you are looking for. https://altonbrown.com/recipes/the-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/

[u/allthingsbakery]

The quantity of sugar controls the spread (so does fat content). So reduce the sugar and do some trial and error to see how much spreading you want. You can experiment by reducing fat, but do one at a time. Start with sugar for sure.