# Can this cookie dough be salvaged? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170 "2008-08-07T14:50:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/1 "2008-08-07T14:50:17Z")
So, I don’t cook or bake, but yesterday I attempted to make chocolate chip cookies. Without the chips. Anyway, I didn’t have the purpose flour and baking soda/powder\* so I used self rising flour. I forgot to add the egg to the creamed butter-sugar mixture until after the flour was mixed in. I baked a few of the cookies and they were soft, but dry. Is the dryness because the egg got added last? Is there anything I can do to get decent cookies out of this dough, or should it just be tossed? They were also slightly baking powder/soda-y tasting, but I figure that’s a lost cause. \*I know they’re not the same, but I’ve forgotten which one the recipe called for. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/2 "2008-08-07T14:54:30Z")
Does the dough taste OK raw? If they won’t bake up nice, just crumble up and add to ice cream, or you know, eat it all plain. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/3 "2008-08-07T15:06:11Z")
So you made the dough yesterday? Where has it been since then? IANABaker, either, but I think it’s probably a lost cause. The baking powder (from the self-rising flour) is only leavening for so long after it’s moistened and then the chemical reaction that produces all those bubbles stops. You’ve probably shot past that by now. And since it already tastes of leavening, you don’t want to add more. You might be able to salvage it by beating another egg until light in color, add 1/4 cup brown sugar and beat until smooth and the add the batter to it and mix until combined. I wouldn’t attempt it without a stand mixer, though. But it might provide both additional leavening and moisture without the baking powder taste. I’m also not sure if it will make good cookies at that point - spreading the whole thing into a baking dish and calling it either “bar cookies” or “cake” (depending on what comes out) might be your best bet! ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/4 "2008-08-07T15:36:19Z")
Thanks for the replies. \*\* Hockey Monkey\*\*, I didn’t try tasting the raw product, but that could work if it tastes good. Yes, I made it yesterday night, and put it in the refrigerator. I didn’t think about the leavening only working for a finite amount of time, but it makes sense. Since I won’t be able to get to it until the evening, I’m sure its chances will be long over by then. I’d try the extra egg and sugar thing, but don’t own a stand (or any other kind) of mixer. Oh well, maybe I’ll try again at some point. ---
**Author:** ![lunar\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lunar\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunar_elf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/5 "2008-08-07T16:22:54Z")
Baking is a pretty particular science, following the directions and knowing when to deviate is an art form. IANAPB, but I have fun making cookies! Alton Brown kind of explains it [here](http://www.goodeatsfanpage.com/Season3/Cookie/CookieTranscript.htm) in some transcripts from one of his cookie shows. The purpose of the egg is to puff the cookie and the purpose of creaming the butter and sugar together is to help rising and spreading. Most recipes I use generally start with creaming the butter and sugar, adding the egg and the rest of the wet ingredients. The butter + sugar + egg mixture seems to provide the basis for the rising process, and then the liquid absorbs the flour and together makes the cookie rise and spread. Maybe you can use the dough as a crust? I wouldn’t try to salvage it too much at this point, I’m sure all the flour and other dry ingredients will have been absorbed and trying to get an egg into the mixture might be really difficult at this point. At least it’s a pretty simple recipe and a few dollars of ingredients lost, much less than if you bought a box mix and forgot to add an egg in. Good luck! ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/6 "2008-08-07T21:31:56Z")
FWIW - [on letting dough sit before baking](http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=chocolate%20chip%20cookies&st=cse&oref=slogin) > [@](#): > > Given the opportunity to riff on his cookie-making strategies, Mr. Rubin revealed two crucial elements home cooks can immediately add to their arsenal of baking tricks. First, he said, he lets the dough rest for 36 hours before baking. > > Asked why, he shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “They just taste better.” > > “Oh, that Maury’s a sly one,” said Shirley O. Corriher, author of “CookWise” (William Morrow, 1997), a book about science in the kitchen. “What he’s doing is brilliant. He’s allowing the dough and other ingredients to fully soak up the liquid — in this case, the eggs — in order to get a drier and firmer dough, which bakes to a better consistency.” > > A long hydration time is important because eggs, unlike, say, water, are gelatinous and slow-moving, she said. Making matters worse, the butter coats the flour, acting, she said, “like border patrol guards,” preventing the liquid from getting through to the dry ingredients. The extra time in the fridge dispatches that problem. Like the Warm Rule, hydration — from overnight, in Mr. Poussot’s case, to up to a few days for Mr. Torres — was a tactic shared by nearly every baker interviewed. > > And by Ruth Wakefield, it turns out. “At Toll House, we chill this dough overnight,” she wrote in her “Toll House Cook Book” (Little, Brown, 1953). This crucial bit of information is left out of the version of her recipe that Nestlé printed on the back of its baking bars and, since in 1939, on bags of its chocolate morsels. Of course it takes a supreme act of willpower to leave chocolate chip cookie dough alone for that amount of time. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2008, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/7 "2008-08-07T21:56:04Z")
**lunar elf** , thank you, thank you, thank you for the link in your post!!! That is absolutely my favorite episode of Good Eats, and it illustrates perfectly how Alton Brown can be funny and at the same time teach well. As my username suggests I bake for a living, and I live for the episodes when he does baked goods. Of course I love of the shows, baking or not. I’d buy Good Eats but right now the budget is tight and I can’t afford to. But someday… ---
**Author:** ![jonasbfunkley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e36b37/32.png) [@jonasbfunkley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonasbfunkley)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2012, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-this-cookie-dough-be-salvaged/459170/8 "2012-03-30T00:30:22Z")
likely the reason that this dough came out dry wasnt that the egg was added too late, or even that it was refrigerated, but that you mixed it too much because you added the egg after you added the flour. you wouldnt think it, but the flour is one of the most delicate parts of this mixture. when flour is mixed with the soda and liquids, it becomes elastic, which is what makes bread springy and cookies fluffy. if you beat dough too much after you’ve added the flour, it loses the elasticity and thus you get dry cookies. (the same reason why repeatedly rolling out pie crust and sugar cookies makes them dry) if your cookie dough were to be made with just oatmeal, or mostly oatmeal, you wouldnt have to worry about beating in the egg after the other ingredients. as a rule, only mix on low with your mixer after you add the flour. and then just mix until combined. then stir in any chocolate chips or other stuff by hand. Hope that helps anyone else out there having cookie dough problems. 🙂