Re: Drop Cookies
The recipe doesn't look "bad" - so let's start with what you did. Sometimes doing something "different" will cause problems with a recipe.
1) Did you use an electric mixer to blend in your flour? If so, there is a good chance that you overmixed the dough. Overmixing develops gluten which produces tough cookies. The recipes says to sift a bit at a time - it makes no reference as to whether you should beat (which means using an electric mixer) or stir in (using a wooden spoon).
2) Did you scoop your flour out of your flour container?? Or did you spoon it from your flour container into your measiuring cup?? Scooping out of the flour container causes the flour to "pack" or compress. That means that you are adding more flour to your recipe than is called for. Spoon your flour into your measuring cup and level with a metal spatula for a perfect measure.
3) Did you use a glass measuring cup with a pour spout and a handle?? That is a liquid measure - use the cheapy plastic measuring cups for dry ingredients. (the "nested" type - 1/4 c., 1/3 c., 1/2 c., 1 c.)
4) Did you use stick margarine instead of shortening?? If so, too little fat was used or the vegetable oil spread contains less fat and more water than butter or margarine. Check package to make sure the product you used contained at least 70% fat. Spreads with less fat contain more water, which affects the tenderness of cookies and other baked goods.
5) Or - Margarine was incorrectly measured. Too little fat will result in dry or hard cookies. Carefully cut on lines found on the margarine stick wrapper. Or pack margarine into dry (nested) measuring cup, then use a spatula or straight edge of a knife blade to level even with the top of the cup.
I hope this helps.
KW
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