This Is Why You Should Chill Your Cookie Dough Before Baking (2024)

Updated: Sep. 28, 2023

Still trying to make the perfect cookie? It's easier than you think! All you need to do is chill cookie dough before you bake it.

There are few things in the world more satisfying than cookies fresh out of the oven. If you’ve been baking long enough, you probably have all the cookie supplies you need, plus a few secrets for baking perfect cookies. But there’s one thing many folks forget. You need to chill cookie dough before baking it!

Hey, baker! Come on over to Bakeable, our online baking community,
where you’ll find our best tips and top-rated recipes. Then, share your bakes in our Bakeable Facebook group. We’d love to see ’em.

Why You Need to Chill Your Cookie Dough

For starters, chilling prevents cookies from spreading out too quickly once they’re in the oven. If you use a higher fat butter (like Kerrygold), chilling your dough is absolutely essential. Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you’re more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies.

Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful. This is thanks to a few different factors.

The dough becomes hydrated as the dry ingredients soak up moisture from the wet ingredients. This subtle hydration makes the dough less wet, concentrating the flavors. The result is cookies with a nice even bake and lovely golden brown color. And if you use brown butter in your cookie recipes, chilling the dough overnight allows the flavors to develop so you get a richer, more decadent cookie.

While this hydration is taking place, the flour also breaks down into sugar, making the dough taste sweeter. After as little as half an hour, your dough transforms into a bowl of goodness with an additional kiss of sweetness. Is it worth the wait? You bet.

How Long You Should Chill Cookie Dough For

This is really up to you. If you’re short on time, try and squeeze in at least half an hour if you can. 30 minutes will do the trick if you’re simply looking to avoid your cookies spreading all over the place. If you have the luxury of chilling the dough overnight to develop flavor, go for it.

@bromabakery cookie science 👩‍🔬🔬 #cookiedough #bakersoftiktok #chocolatechipcookies. (inspired by @Tastemade ♬ original sound – Sarah Crawford

According to this in-depth video by TikTok user @bromabakery, how long and whether you chill your cookie dough can have a significant effect on your final product.

As she says, not chilling the cookie and baking at 350 degrees can result in a more crackly cookie, since the dough hasn’t had enough time to absorb the flour. Chilling it for half an hour, however, gives you thicker, chewier dough. Chilling for 2 hours, however, resulted in the best cookie—giving it a deep flavor, crispy edge and the optimal amount of spread.

The Best Cookies for Chilling

People always recommend chilling chocolate chip cookies but shortbread, sugar cookies and even these terrific ginger cookies all benefit from a little time in the fridge. Feel free to test it out using your favorite recipes and compare the results.

Ready to become a cookie-baking master? Check out our complete guide to baking cookies and easy cookie recipes for essential tips and tricks to make can’t-resist cookies every time!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes You're Not Making (Yet!)

1 / 19

Air-Fryer Chocolate Chip Oatmeal CookiesI am crazy about chocolate chips, and this chewy cookie has enough to satisfy me. My husband and kids love these cookies. This big batch is perfect for our family. —Diane Neth, Menno, South DakotaGo to RecipeCostco chocolate chips are a must-try for any chocolate chip cookie.You'll win hearts—and maybe a ring—with this recipe for Marry Me cookies. It's loaded with two kinds of chocolate!

Chocolate Pecan Skillet CookieBake up the ultimate shareable cookie. For variety, replace the chocolate chips with an equal quantity of M&M's or chocolate chunks. Or go super fancy by mixing the chocolate chips and pecans into the dough, then gently folding in 1-1/2 cups fresh raspberries. —James Schend, Taste of Home Deputy Culinary Editor

Go to Recipe

P.S. Cookies don't have to be the final product of a recipe to stand out. Here are 50 creative ways to eat cookies.

Coconut Chocolate Chip CookiesHere's a new type of chocolate chip cookie. They're great for coconut lovers, textured by the coconut and flavored by the extract...a compatible combination that results in a crispy, chewy cookie. My whole family agrees this recipe is a winner. —Laura Bankard, Manchester, Maryland

Go to Recipe

FAQs

This Is Why You Should Chill Your Cookie Dough Before Baking? ›

Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.

See Details ›

Why should you chill cookie dough before baking? ›

The colder your dough is before it heads into the oven, the less it will spread during baking, which makes for loftier cookies. The chilling phase also gives the flour in your dough time to hydrate, just like pie dough, which translates into a cookie that's more chewy than cakey.

Show Me More ›

What is the reason for chilling the pastry before baking? ›

Cool and relaxed pastry is far more likely to hold its shape when cooking. Relaxed gluten won't shrink nearly as badly, so that's why you rest pastry cases before blind baking. If, when you get the pastry out of the fridge after resting and it seems too stiff to roll, don't let it warm up.

Learn More ›

What happens if I chill cookie dough too long? ›

After 72 hours, the dough will begin to dry out and you risk it going bad, especially if chilling pre-portioned balls of dough instead of the entire mass of dough. If you want to store longer than 72 hours, see the freezing tips below.

Discover More ›

Why should you let your cookie dough rest? ›

There's another benefit to this trick: Resting your cookie dough before baking also helps the cookies hold their shape in the oven, leading to more browning and caramelization of the dough itself and keeping the cookies from spreading out too thin.

Learn More ›

Why is it necessary to relax a dough before baking? ›

It means to let your dough rest (I give it 25-30 minutes) before kneading. This allows the flour to become thoroughly saturated, and provides time for the gluten chains to start forming up before you even lay a hand on the dough — more pre-kneading.

Explore More ›

Does chilling cookie dough make it less sticky? ›

This improves the flavor of the cookies. Makes the cookie dough less sticky and easier to handle. This is especially important for rolling and cutting out cookie dough, such as in these sugar cookie and lemon poppy seed cookie recipes.

Tell Me More ›

Can I bake cookie dough straight from the fridge? ›

As a general rule of thumb, you should refrigerate cookie dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours. More than that, and you won't see a noticeable difference in the final product. Once the dough has chilled, let it warm up at room temperature until it's just pliable (about 5 to 10 minutes).

Get More Info Here ›

How many minutes should I chill cookie dough? ›

For most cookie recipes, it takes at least two hours in the fridge to fully chill the dough; an annoyingly long time when you're in the mood to eat cookies ASAP. In the interest of (almost) instant gratification, I've fast-forwarded through this resting time with the help of some ice.

Tell Me More ›

Is it better to freeze or chill cookie dough? ›

Most recipes recommend chilling cookie dough for several hours in the refrigerator, but the good news is that you can use your freezer in a pinch. Better Homes and Gardens says that you can freeze cookie dough for one-fourth of the recommended refrigeration time with good results.

View Details ›

What happens if you don't let dough rest? ›

The potential outcomes you might encounter if you don't let your dough rest are given below. The yeast will not get ample time to release carbon dioxide (CO2), which will make the dough unpleasant and flat. The dough might end up with a rubbery and denser texture.

How long to freeze cookie dough before baking? ›

Let the dough freeze until it is completely solid — at least 4 hours and up to overnight. It's crucial that the cookie dough freezes completely so the balls don't fuse together when you store them.

Know More ›

Why are my cookies flat? ›

If your cookies consistently come out flat, you may have selected the wrong baking temperature. If you bake cookies using too much heat, the fats in the dough begin to melt before the other ingredients can cook together and form your cookie's rise.