Overbaking: If you bake your cookies for too long, they can become dry and hard. Make sure to check your cookies frequently as they bake and remove them from the oven when they are just starting to turn golden brown around the edges.
Why Do Cookies Get Hard?
Like all baked treats, cookies are subject to getting stale. Over time, the moisture in the cookies evaporates, leaving them stiff and crumbly. Its the same thing that happens to breads, muffins, and other baked goods. The longer they sit, the more stale they become.
Thus, the best, most foolproof way to prevent cookies from going stale is to eat them the day they were baked. Seriously! You can make a batch of cookie dough and refrigerate or freeze it, then just bake however many you plan to serve that day. Stale cookie problem solved.
But suppose you have more cookies than you and your household can eat in one day. Or maybe youre sending some cookies through the mail and they wont arrive for a few days. What can you do?
Keep Them Sealed
The key to keeping cookies fresh and soft is to seal them in an airtight container, like a resealable freezer bag. And heres a nifty little trick: add a piece of bread to the bag.
You might think that the bread trick works because the cookies absorb moisture from the bread. But whats actually happening is that the extra moisture from the bread creates a humidity level inside the bag that slows down the moisture loss from the cookies.
Its like going out on a hot, humid day. The extra humidity in the air makes you feel hotter because you cant perspire fast enough to cool yourself down. Its the same with the bag of cookies. The air inside the bag is already so saturated that theres no room to add more. So the moisture in the cookies stays in the cookies.
Some folks recommend using flour tortillas, especially if youre shipping your cookies in a round tin. The tortilla works the same way as the bread, but since theyre round and flat, you can stack the cookies with a tortilla between each layer.
Ask Betty: Why do all of my cookies turn so hard when cooled?
FAQ
How do you keep chocolate chip cookies from getting hard?
Why do my cookies get hard right after I bake them?
Why are my chocolate chip cookies turning out hard?
What is the secret to making cookies soft?