T’is the season for baking madness, so I thought I’d indulge you with some cookie tips and fixes for crumbly cookies.
Ask and you shall receive, my dear. Here are some of my best cookie tips and tricks. Or, I’ve also got some great cake baking tips as well.
First, let’s work on the crumbly cookies, because that sounds like an immediate problem. There are lots of reasons sugar cookies crumble after baking. These tips also go for that chocolate chip cookie recipe you can’t seem to get a handle on, uncooperative gingerbread men, and most other cookies you want to be somewhat tender or chewy.
Not enough liquid There are a few things you can do if your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly. First, try adding more liquid to the dough. This could be milk, water, or even just additional eggs. If that doesn’t work, you could also try melting some butter and adding it to the dough.
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Overworking = tough, misshapen, and crumbly cookies
Overmixing your dough usually makes cookies tough and shrink into weird shapes, but it can also make them crumbly. Generally you only want to mix just until the flour disappears, and then stop mixing! You can also overwork your dough by rolling it too much, which looks like either 1) taking too many turns with the rolling pin to get it flat, or 2) rolling your scraps too many times. The goal is to roll the dough as little as possible, because the gluten begins to freak out and tighten up. If you’re rolling scraps out more than twice, wad the remaining scraps into a ball, wrap it up, and set it in the fridge for an hour before rolling some more.
Too much flour = crumbly cookies
Too much flour = too much dryness. Beside the possibility of a bad recipe, this can caused by measuring your flour out in such a way that you’re packing too much into each cup. This is why pro bakers always measure by weight — flour always weighs the same no matter how much space it takes up. If you don’t want to measure by weight, try sifting your flour first and scooping flour into your measuring cup with a spoon, and don’t pack it down into the cup. If all else fails, try reducing the amount of flour in the recipe by 10%.
Baking Soda vs Baking Powder in Cookies
FAQ
What makes cookies powdery?
Why do my cookies taste chalky?
Why are my cookies dry and crumbly?
Why do my cookies have a sandy texture?
Why is my Cookie Dough dry?
Cookie dough can be a bit temperamental. Thankfully, however, there are a few common (and easy to make!) mistakes that result in dry dough. Not enough fat – fat acts as a lubricant in cookie dough so it is essential to get the measurements just right. It’s also important to use to correct type of butter
What happens if you over mix cookies?
Over mixing your cookies will leave you with a dry and even crumbly dough. This is because as you mix the flour with the other ingredients, it starts to develop more gluten, which will make the dough harder in consistency. When you omit or substitute any ingredients as called for in the cookie recipe, it can result in a dry cookie dough.
What happens if you add too much liquid to cookie dough?
If you add in too much liquid, your cookie dough can become too sticky. Softening cookie dough is an essential step when baking homemade cookies. Softening the dough can be done easily with a little time and simple ingredients such as butter and eggs.