Here's Why Your Cookies Spread When They're Baked—and How to Prevent It

Achieving the perfect cookie can be a delicate balance of science and art. Taking the time to make homemade cookies gives you a reward like no other, so it's particularly upsetting when cookies spread too much in the oven while they're baking. Luckily, a few simple techniques can help you prevent such a disaster. We spoke to a baking expert to learn what details are important—and which aren't—to make sure your cookies come out of the oven perfect every time.

Why Do Cookies Spread in the Oven?

Cookies of any variety—whether they’re classic chocolate chip, sugar cookies, lemony brown butter cookies, or many more—are prone to spreading for a number of reasons. 

Type of Sugar Used 

White sugar is the most common type of sugar used in cookie recipes, but because of its ability to attract and retain moisture, that moisture makes cookies more likely to spread. When cookies are baked, the sugar begins to caramelize. This is what makes cookies beautiful golden brown and crisp, but if there’s too much moisture in the dough, the cookies may spread too much as the sugar melts and becomes more fluid. An example of when you want this to happen are these honey lace cookies, where sugar and honey are the main ingredients.

Liquid in the Dough

The higher the proportion of liquid to other ingredients, the more likely your cookies are to spread. This is especially important to consider when incorporating eggs into a recipe. Be mindful of the size of the egg the recipe is calling for, and be sure not to use an egg that is jumbo if a recipe only calls for large. Similarly, recipes that call for brewed coffee, milk, or even fruit juices run the risk of spreading if you don't measure carefully. 

Fat Content 

“How cookies spread has a lot to do with fats,” says Kierin Baldwin, chef-instructor of pastry and baking arts at the Institute of Culinary Education’s New York City campus. Too much fat will make the cookies spread because fat becomes liquid when heated, she explains. Make sure there is enough flour to absorb the fat; otherwise, they will melt into puddles in the oven. Also, not all fats are equal! Different fats have different melting points. Using a fat for your cookie with a higher melting point, like shortening, means the fat will melt more slowly and thus not spread as much, she says. 

Temperature 

Temperature is probably the most important factor when considering how cookies spread in the oven. Not only the temperature of the ingredients makes a difference, but the temperature of the oven, too. "A higher temperature will make the exterior of the cookie bake more quickly, which means it will set at the edges sooner and be less likely to spread," says Baldwin. A higher oven temperature is also her trick to getting the perfect crunchy on the outside and gooey center in cookies. 

Things That Don't Actually Make Cookies Spread 

There is plenty of chatter about what makes cookies spread, but much of it isn't true. Baldwin dispels some of the myths.

Making Sure the Butter Is Cold

Being fastidious about using cold butter is not necessarily important in preventing cookies from spreading. “I don't worry about this too much,” says Baldwin. “Even if my butter is a bit too warm when the cookie is mixed, if you let the dough cool before baking it you should be fine. There are plenty of cookie recipes that use melted butter, so this can't be a hard and fast rule. But if your recipe calls for butter at room temperature (as many do), then you should follow the recipe.”

Overmixing Dough

Some home bakers worry that overmixing cookie dough incorporates too much air into the dough, which might cause cookies to “deflate” in the oven, but Baldwin says this isn't necessarily true. “Most cookie recipes have a high ratio of sugar to butter, and because of this, the creamed butter and sugar mixture is so dense it is not able to take on much air even with a lot of creaming,” she says. That said, you still want to avoid overmixing the dough to ensure it doesn’t become tough from developing gluten in the flour. 

Does Baking One Cookie at a Time Help? 

"Who has time for this?" asks Baldwin. It may produce more consistent results, “but I promise you, there is no professional kitchen where they're doing this, and I don't do it at home,” she says.

Tips to Prevent Cookies From Spreading 

Measure ingredients properly: Use dry measuring cups for dry ingredients and liquid measuring cups for liquids. And, because no two people scoop a cup of flour the same way, pros say a digital scale is a surefire way to ensure accurate measurements for all ingredients going into your cookies. 

Use a combination of sugars: If you have a cookie recipe that spreads when it shouldn’t because the sugar is melting, try using a combination of sugars, swapping some of the white sugar for light or dark brown sugar or coconut sugar. You can also try reducing the overall amount of white sugar in the recipe slightly, to help control the spread.

Use parchment paper: Baldwin much prefers using parchment paper over oily, non-stick cooking sprays. The parchment paper has a non-stick coating, but it's not too slippery and doesn't add fat to your cookie, she says. So it doesn't make your cookies spread in wild and unpredictable ways.

Keep your cookie dough cold: Baldwin is enthusiastic about this tip. Refrigerating cookie dough is beneficial, she says, as it helps to give the fat time to set up a bit so it won't melt and spread as easily in the oven. Generally, she likes to let her cookie dough chill for a few hours before baking. “The smart way to do this is to portion your cookie dough before you chill it, so it’s ready to go straight in the oven afterward and you don't have to torture yourself by trying to scoop or roll rock-hard dough.” Another of her favorite tricks is to leave the cookies pretty thick when she shapes them. Her tool of choice? An ice cream scoop, of course. 

Preheat properly: Make sure your oven is properly pre-heated by using an oven thermometer in addition to relying on your oven’s thermostat.

Rotate baking sheets: A professional trick that home bakers can do is to even out your bake by both turning your trays halfway through baking, and by swapping their position in the oven top to bottom. 

Don't use hot baking sheets: In between batches of baking cookies, be sure to fully cool down your baking sheet under running water (or in the freezer) before loading it up with another round of cookie dough. Putting cold dough on a hot baking sheet will cause the bottoms to melt faster and bake unevenly, while the middle might still be underbaked or raw.  

How to Save Cookies That Have Spread

Even a poorly baked cookie is still a cookie, which means that it’s worth saving and probably still delicious. Baldwin suggests pushing any over-spread cookies back into shape by using a round cookie cutter that’s slightly larger than the cookie itself. You can do this right on the baking sheet while the cookies are still warm; set the cookie cutter on the pan around the cookie and make circular motions to gently nudge the sides into a nice—and no one will be the wiser.

If your cookies are too far gone for repair, repurposing them into another dessert just might be the better solution. A too-greasy batch of cookies that spreads everywhere makes a delicious crumb crust for a pie or cheesecake, says Baldwin, who suggests using the food processor to grind them up, adding a bit more flour or butter as necessary, just enough to get the mixture to stick together. 

Baldwin even suggests experimenting with using cookie crumbs (which last quite a while at room temperature) in place of the flour and part of the butter in a brand-new cookie recipe. “I made these once after a cook of mine somehow mis-scaled a recipe. We ground them up and made what I dubbed ‘mistakies’ out of them and we served them for family meal. They were one of the tastiest cookies I've ever had, and they were irreplaceable since we had no idea how much of each ingredient was in the original messed up cookies."