Hints for Drop Cookies

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Published 2000

Don’t overmix the dough or batter, especially if the recipe begins by mixing butter and sugar. Overmixing drop cookie batters can overaerate them. If that happens the cookies puff up too much in the oven then fall miserably into flat, greasy pancakes. Your objective is gently risen, light cookies.
Make sure you drop only as much dough or batter as the recipe tells you. Otherwise your cookies could become gigantic. Space the cookies far enough apart on the baking sheets so there is room for them to spread. Most drop cookies spread quite a bit while they are baking.
If you drop too much batter on the pan too close together, all the cookies may run together into one vast rectangular cookie—maybe that’s how some bar cookies were invented!
Review the rules for baking in “Baking Cookies”—most drop cookies are delicate and need to be handled carefully and the pans moved around often for even baking.
Drop cookies will keep at room temperature for up to a week or so. Freeze for longer storage. It is not recommended to freeze delicate drop cookies such as tuiles or they will soften.

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