I decided to make sugar cookies and everything was going really well until I removed them from the oven and saw this monstrosity.
Dough balls too big
What happens when you roll cookie dough balls that are too big? Well, basically, they spread. A lot. They can go rogue, infringing on the other cookies’ turf and when this happens it either forms one giant cookie or cookies so molted together that you have to peel them apart.
More often than not, smaller bite-sized dough balls make tidy cookies. Not only does this keep them from spreading too much, but it also makes the perfect sized cookie for 2 – 3 bites.
Flattening the dough too much
I flattened the dough much more than halfway because I honestly didn’t think they would spread as much as they did but with all my years of baking experience I should have known better.
While the cookies didn’t turn out the way I wanted them, this was a good reminder to always give cookies an adequate amount of space on the baking sheet so that they don’t spread into each other.
Improper cookie spacing on the baking sheet
The general rule of thumb is 2 inches (5 cm) of space between each cookie. Yeah, I definitely didn’t follow that rule this time around.
So, why didn’t I? Because I’ve made this recipe before and the cookies didn’t spread that much at all but what I failed to remember was that this time I added more sugar and reduced the flour so of course they were going to spread.
This was like a domino effect. Each thing I did made the next thing worse! Lesson learned.
P.s. Despite all this, the cookies were still delicious.