Don’t Give Up, You Can Re-Soften Outdated Cookies
Freshly baked cookies are the best food, and if stored properly, they should stay intact for about a week. But sometimes accidents happen. Soft cookies are left on the counter or forgotten on the counter and spoil prematurely. No one is more disappointed than I am when soft or chewy cookies turn crispy. I don’t support this, and neither do you. Make hard cookies soft again by placing them in bread.
How to make dry cookies soft again
It’s always cookie season in my world. I hope you live there too, but this trick is especially valuable before the upcoming winter holidays, when cookies are always in the house. If you notice that a batch of cookies has lost moisture, don’t throw them away, just add them back. Carefully. Place all the dry cookies in a container with a tight-fitting lid. You can also use a large zip-top bag or bowl that can be covered tightly with plastic wrap. The goal is to keep the air closed. Before closing the container, add a piece of soft bread.
Store cookies and bread, sealed, in an unopened container overnight or for at least four hours to allow the cookies time to soften. Moisture naturally evaporates from moistened bread into the surrounding area, be it an open room, a plastic bag full of bread, or a container of cookies. Cookies kept indoors will absorb some of the available moisture and become pliable again. Dry cookies always become softer when you add more hydrated treats to them. This is one reason why cookies should be packaged one-by-one when stored or shipped.
I find store-bought soft sliced bread in a bag works great for this purpose, but you can use similarly moistened baked goods, such as a piece of cake, a soft flour tortilla, a muffin, or some other (soft) cookie – something… something that won’t leak or stick to your cookies and still stays soft. However, make sure you are prepared to change the soft object. Dry cookies essentially suck the moisture out of another, causing them to become noticeably drier.
What not to do with legacy cookies
Do not re-bake or microwave stale cookies to soften them. The cookies have already lost moisture and heating them will cause more water to come out. Placing the cookies in the microwave or oven will reheat the fats and melt the sugars again, causing temporary pliability. This may make you think you have toned down your cookies. Unfortunately, after about five or ten minutes, the sugar will recrystallize, the fats will solidify again, and any remaining moisture will be forced out. You’ll end up with even crispier cookies than you started with.
Stick to bread and patience. If you have a large batch of cookies that need to be moistened, add two or three slices of soft bread to the container. When you open the container the next day, discard the now stale bread (or toast it) and your cookies will be soft and chewy again.