Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe Without Baking Soda or Baking Powder (2024)

FAQs

What can I use if I don't have baking soda or powder for cookies? ›

There are several pantry-friendly ingredients that you can use as baking soda substitutes, including egg whites, self-rising flour and even club soda. Or, you can use baking powder - and even a couple of extremely scientific sounding items that perhaps you just happen to have lying around - baker's ammonia anyone?

You technically can leave out baking soda in certain recipes (like chocolate chip cookies or pancakes) in a pinch, but you need to understand that your finished product will not be as light and fluffy as the recipe intended. Unless you have no other option, you really should use a leavening substitute.

Without baking soda or baking powder, these cookies will remain a little flatter then other recipes but because of the eggs and creaming of the butter and sugars in this recipe they will still puff up a little in the oven. They will have crispy edges and a soft, chewy center.

Baking soda, a/k/a sodium bicarbonate, was produced industrially for many years by the historically-important Solvay process. You can duplicate this by adding dry ice (solid carbon dioxide) to a saturated salt solution (sodium chloride) and concentrated ammonia (ammonium hydroxide).

Expect about one teaspoon per five ounces of flour; thin and crispy cookies may need a little less, thick and chewy cookies may need a little more. Even without baking powder, a well-aerated dough will still puff with steam. If that supply cuts off before the cookies set, a soft dough will collapse in on itself.

For every teaspoon of baking powder, you'll want to substitute in ¼ tsp of baking soda with ½ tsp of cream of tartar. If you don't have any cream of tartar, you can also substitute one teaspoon of baking powder with a mixture of ¼ tsp of baking soda plus ½ tsp of either vinegar or lemon juice.

If you don't have baking soda, you can use baking powder, at three times what the recipe calls for. So if a recipe calls for one teaspoon of baking soda, you can use three teaspoons of baking powder. Baking powder also contains a little bit of salt, so it's also a good idea to halve the salt the recipe calls for.

Many brownie recipes don't contain baking powder or baking soda; these recipes tend to be for the dense, sometimes chewy, kind. Cakelike brownies usually contain a leavening agent, which helps give them their fluffy texture. The technique you use also makes a difference in the texture of the final product.

Is baking soda important in chocolate chip cookies? ›

A recipe that calls for both ingredients probably contains an acid, but not enough to completely leaven the batter or dough. Baking soda also serves another important purpose when it comes to cookies: It encourages spreading by raising the mixture's pH, which slows protein coagulation.

To make baking powder, combine half a teaspoon of cream of tartar and a quarter teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. This provides the equivalent of one teaspoon of baking powder.

Using Cornstarch and Baking Powder Interchangeably

Let's cut to the chase. Cornstarch is not baking powder, and you shouldn't use cornstarch instead of baking powder or vice versa because they react differently and serve distinct roles.

Baking soda is a leavening agent whereas cornstarch is a thickener. These two ingredients may look similar, but they have very different purposes in cooking and cannot be used interchangeably.

To make baking powder using baking soda, combine two parts cream of tartar (potassium bitartrate) with one part baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). If you don't plan to use it right away, you will want to add some cornstarch to keep it from clumping.

Baking soda reacts with an acid to cause batters and doughs to rise and spread while baking. Baking powder reacts with liquid and heat to create a light, fluffy texture in baked goods. While they sound similar, baking soda and baking powder cannot be used interchangeably.