PSA: Do not add extra baking soda to cookies because you think it will make them puff more, I learned this the hard way on Sunday

Alice Kim · 2026-10-03T09:45:05.056343+00:00

So last Sunday I was making chocolate chip cookies for a friend's birthday and I got this bright idea that adding an extra half teaspoon of baking soda would make them fluffier and taller instead of flat. I have made cookies maybe 50 times and they always come out decent, but this batch spread out into one giant greasy sheet on my pan in about 4 minutes and the edges burned while the middle stayed raw and tasted like soap. The whole apartment smelled like a chemistry lab for two hours and I had to open every window even though it was 38 degrees outside. I learned that baking soda needs acid to react and I only had a tiny bit of brown sugar, so the extra soda just sat there and turned everything bitter and dark. I ended up tossing all 24 cookies in the trash and driving to a grocery store at 8pm for a tube of pre made dough, which honestly tasted better than anything I made that night. So my question is, has anyone found a way to get thick chewy cookies without them turning into a science experiment, because I am scared to touch the recipe again?

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PSA: Do not add extra baking soda to cookies because you think it will make them puff more, I learned this the hard way on Sunday | Baking Fails And Wins - Thought Shares