Learn the skill behind fill in bar flour in your cooky , plus tips on how to make your best mass yet .
Whether you ’re fresh out of all - design flour or are merely look for shipway to use up cake flour from yourclassic cake formula , you might be enquire , " Can you practice patty flour for cookies ? " rightful , few cake flour cookie subsist — by that , we have in mind cooky recipes that already call for cake flour in the ingredients tilt — but using cake flour for biscuit is possible . And we promise it wo n’t bankrupt your intact batch ofcookie kale . ( Just be trusted to bake ‘em first . Here ’s a quick reminder whyyou should never eat raw flour . ) hear the science behind cookies made with cake flour , plus score some extra baking inspiration to customize your next cooky jounce stars to make your well batch yet .
Can You Use Cake Flour for Cookies?
So you invested in a full bag of cake flour forClassic Shortcakes , Pumpkin Spice Latte Bundt Cake with Whipped Cream , Chiffon Cake , or another of your family’sfavorite birthday cake recipes . While we ’d never say no to another slice of cake , you do have more options for putting that cake flour to delicious utilization .
When the protein and gluten in any variety of flour are hydrated , they proffer the structure necessitate to give parched goods their fundament and rotter . The amount and case of flour in cookie can make them chewy or cakey , crispy or soft .
Cake flour is a lower - protein flour ; it has about 7 % to 9 % protein compared to the 10 % to 12 % protein in all - purpose flour . If you opt for all cake flour cookies , less gluten is formed when you conflate the cookie dough . The resulting cooky consistency post - baking is touchy , easygoing , downlike , and , well , more cake - like . The gloss may terminate up paler , and the edges might not be as crispy . But the flavor should still deliver . And if you ’re a fan of mild slew cookies or those remarkably tender frosted sugar cookie , you might even relish cake flour cookies more than the original version .

Credit: Andy Lyons
Gluten 101
Gluten acts like a spring . When mixed with a liquidness , it can stretch and expand to tot to the structure and shape ( for example , making layers inflaky cooky ) , ambush gasses ( like those that givefocaccia breadits signature bubble ) , and bid chewiness ( such as in al dentehomemade pasta ) . The amount of gluten formation varies ground on how much you mix and what flour you use . A general gluten regulation of thumb : The more protein there is in the flour , the more gluten in the last product , which leads to more chew .
rate from high to small protein , here are the most common flours for bake :
How to Make Cake Flour Cookies
If you ’re craving soft , cake - like cookies or have patty flour to use up , cookies made with patty flour can be a stellar solvent . Feel free to swap in 75 % patty flour ( with 25 % all - purpose ) for the all - purpose flour call for in your cookie recipe ( so 1½ cups patty flour plus ½ cup all - purpose in a formula that ask 2 cups flour ) . you could even substitute 100 % of the all - purpose with patty flour — particularly if you adore flabby cookies and are topping them with afrosting recipeto overlay the paler top .
If you want to tinker around with using patty flour for cookies but do n’t have any in your pantry at the moment , try this homemade patty flour formula : Accurately measure1 loving cup all - purpose flour , absent 2 tablespoon of the flour , then interchange those with 2 tablespoons cornstarch . Sift to combine , then apply in cake flour cookies .
confessedly , cooky made with cake flour are dissimilar in texture than your classic chewy - on - the - inside , crunchy - on - the - outsidehomemade chocolate scrap cookies . But you wo n’t sacrifice at all on the nip front if you make patty flour cookie . And if you adore super - soft cookie , you might even enjoy the results more .