# The role of butter and eggs in batter **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 10, 2016, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347 "2016-12-10T15:39:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2016, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/21 "2016-12-11T22:03:03Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Kneading it makes the dough tough. And with cookies you don’t want everything to come together. Yes, you cream the wet stuff (took a while to wrap my head around sugar being wet), but you merely mix the wet with the dry. You don’t want long gluten strands, which is what kneading produces. Well, that’s why I put “kneading” in quotes. For drier dough cookies. I find I need to use my hands to get everything together/properly hydrated, but I don’t use a mixer for cookies, just a fork for creaming and getting the flour and fat to that pebble stage, a spoon for mixing, and then my hands to bring everything together . It’s not proper dough kneading as for bread. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/22 "2016-12-12T01:37:15Z")
That’s just squishing, some of which is okay. Kneading is more violent. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/23 "2016-12-12T02:30:20Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > That’s just squishing, some of which is okay. Kneading is more violent. Squishing, gathering up to press together, whichever phrase you want to use. Like I said in my initial post: " It’s not really proper bread-style kneading, but compressing the dough a bit so everything comes together." “Squishing together” seems to be the best word for it, but I may fold it over a couple of times and squish. That’s nowhere near enough to develop gluten, though. Oh, a video is worth a million words. Basically, [what you see here onward (at 3:28 in case the time stamp hiccups.)](https://youtu.be/SN4CyGECuCs?t=208). See how it’s chunky and gravelly? (This is more directed at the OP). She kind of gathers it all together, folds it over, smooshes it down, then takes it out of the bowl, and smooshes it a bit more. That’s what I mean by “kneading” in quotes and by the phrase “not really proper bread-style kneading.” I’m wondering if the OP kind of got to that point/texture and simply didn’t bring the dough together with his hands and squished it a few times to form a solid mass. ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e47774/32.png) [@quiltguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/24 "2016-12-12T17:01:14Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > American supermarket has everything. First time I go to American supermarket, I see powdered orange juice: “Just add water and you have orange juice.” I keep walking and I see powdered milk: “Just add water and you have milk.” > I continue walking through the store and I see… BABY POWDER! > > And I think to myself, “WHAT A COUNTRY!” You walked all over the store, and missed the POWDERED WATER section??? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/25 "2016-12-12T19:00:02Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > This is what I was wondering about. Cookies are made from a dough, not a batter. (Although, who knows, maybe there is some sort of “cookie” recipe out there made from a batter.) Cookies of the tuille, snap (as in brandy) or chinese fortune variety are batters. ---
**Author:** ![Cartoonacy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/848f3c/32.png) [@Cartoonacy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartoonacy)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/26 "2016-12-12T22:29:39Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Kneading it makes the dough tough. Tough dough makes me cough. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/27 "2016-12-12T23:10:07Z")
> [@Cartoonacy](#): > > Tough dough makes me cough. The Tough cough as they plough through the dough. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2016, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/28 "2016-12-12T23:50:47Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > The Tough cough as they plough through the dough. Enough! ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2016, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347/29 "2016-12-13T00:49:59Z")
I wondered if anybody would pick that up. Dopers are dependable! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-role-of-butter-and-eggs-in-batter/774347.md?page=1)