Cookie formulas are sorted by the equipment used to make them. The formula can have more sugar than flour and up to 100% shortening. The dough can be very soft or too stiff to mold by hand.
The quality of flour can affect cookie spread, but not as much as expected. Cookies made from hard-wheat flour are smaller than those made from soft-wheat flour. Starch gelatinization may affect the final cookie size, but not in dough made with sucrose. Other sugars like glucose or fructose may cause some gelatinization.
Starch is the main flour constituent in cookies but has a relatively small effect on cookie quality. Other ingredients such as shortening, sugar, and water also affect cookie quality.
Studies on cookies baked by different means showed little difference in their properties. DSC thermograms of cookie dough and fully baked samples show an initial endotherm due to starch gelatinization, followed by a smaller endotherm indicating melting of the amylose-lipid.
There were no significant differences between the cookie dough and fully baked cookies for any DSC parameters. Studies also show that no change occurs in the starch during baking.