Combining the two leavening agents produces a biscuit that is both light and tangy. In baking as in life, it's all about balance. Many recipes need both kinds of reactions to achieve the intended overall balance of flavor and texture, which is why you'll often see both baking soda and baking powder in a recipe.
Some cakes tend not to rise as well if just baking powder is used, often those that contain cocoa powder or bananas such as Nigella's Gluten-Free Banana Bread, so a combination of baking powder and bicarbonate of soda is used to help to give extra lift.
Can the two be substituted for one another? The quick answer is yes, but only in one circumstance. While baking powder can be a baking soda substitute, baking soda cannot be used in place of baking powder because it does not contain the proper acidic ingredients to make the baked good rise.
Bicarb soda has 3 to 4 times more power than baking powder, so if you need baking powder and only have bicarb soda on hand, you will need to increase the amount of acidic ingredients in your recipe to offset bicarb's power.
If you use baking powder instead of baking soda, add a total of three times the amount of baking powder than the recipe recommends for baking soda to “fix” the mistake. However, keep in mind that adding too much baking powder can cause the baked goods to taste bitter. The batter can also rise too quickly and then fall.
YES!!! Many cookie recipes call for both baking soda and baking powder, like this Chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe and these Funfetti Cookies. The key and the most important thing to remember is both baking powder and baking soda are only the background artist.
Baking soda and baking powder are both leavening agents, or ingredients that make baked goods rise.
The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.
If you're out of baking soda, use baking powder instead. Double or triple the amount of baking powder because it contains less baking soda.
Baking powder simply adds carbon dioxide to the equation, providing a more forceful pressure that encourages a dough to spread up and out. Without the well-developed elasticity of a bread dough, the strands of gluten in cookies would sooner snap than stretch, cracking along the surface.
If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure. Therefore, as the butter spreads so does the whole liquidy cookie.
Q: Why are my cookies so puffy and cakey? Whipping too much air into the dough. That fluffy texture you want in a cake results from beating a lot of air into the room temperature butter and sugar, and it does the same for cookies. So don't overdo it when you're creaming together the butter and sugar.
Why Did My Cookies Come Out Cakey? When cookies are too cakey, there are two main culprits: too much leavening (baking powder or baking soda) or too much egg. If there is too much baking powder or baking soda in the dough, the cookies will rise too much when baking, creating a cakier structure.
Baking powder is mixed with the flour. When water is added to this flour to make dough, baking powder undergoes a chemical reaction during which carbon dioxide gas is produced. This carbon dioxide gas gets trapped into the dough and bubbles out which causes the cake to rise making it soft and spongy.
Baking soda helps cookies spread more than baking powder.
Rest the Dough A secret baker's trick is to rest your cookie dough in the fridge. You can rest it for at least an hour, which will evaporate some of the water and increase the sugar content, helping to keep your baked cookies chewy.
Warm cookie dough or excess butter will cause the cookies to spread too much, baking quickly on the outside but remaining raw in the middle. Next time, chill your cookies in the fridge for 10 minutes before you bake them. If the problem persists, use less butter.
If you "accidentally" add too much sugar to your dough, it can cause the bottom of your cookie to caramelize and burn.
You can also poke the side with your finger – if the edge doesn't fall inwards they're done, if it leaves a noticeable indentation then they need more time.
In short, your cookies may have burned on the bottom because your oven temperature readings are off, your cookie sheet is too dark, your cookies were baked on a lower rack, the heat was too high, or you baked the cookies right on the sheet without any parchment paper.
If the recipe calls for softened butter and you accidentally melted butter instead of softening it, it's best that you set aside the melted butter for future use. Both kinds of butter will yield a very different final result in every baked good.
Brown sugar, meanwhile, is dense and compacts easily, creating fewer air pockets during creaming—that means that there's less opportunity to entrap gas, creating cookies that rise less and spread more. With less moisture escaping via steam, they also stay moist and chewy.