How can I fix my dry crumbly cookie dough?

How can I fix my dry crumbly cookie dough? - Selective-focus Photography of Brown Surface

After following the recipe for sugar cookies, I chilled the dough wrapped in plastic for 2 days (recipe specified that I could chill anywhere from 2 hours to 2 days).

As I'm trying to kneed/roll the dough it is very dry with cracks forming, and I'm afraid if I just roll it out and cut cookies that the cookies will crack easily.

Is there anything I can do to "fix" the dough? Should I even worry about it?



Best Answer

My own sugar cookie recipe is quite dry as well. It cracks along the edges when pressed or rolled and is easily "broken".

I've never experienced a problem with the dough being so dry it doesn't take to cookie cutters, but if your dough is literally falling apart you may want to just spritz (or in the absence of a kitchen water spray bottle, sprinkle with your finger tips) cold water on it. (Like adding water to pie dough) Give it one sprinkle/spritz and kneed it in. Repeat until it just stops breaking. Don't go overboard and make it gooey.

I'd use water over oil or milk because it's the least likely to change the structure of your cookie in the baking process. Such minuscule amounts of water shouldn't yield a detectable change in the end product.

If this is a consistent problem with the recipe, in the future I'd decrease the flour by a tablespoon or two and see if that helps.




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How can I fix my dry crumbly cookie dough?




More answers regarding how can I fix my dry crumbly cookie dough?

Answer 2

Crumbling dough indicates a problem with your recipe. There is no way that two days in the fridge will cause the dough to lose so much moisture, unless you didn't wrap the cling foil really really well.

However, the safest way to go with refrigerated dough is to roll it a tube of cling film, refrigerate it, then just cut slices of it and bake it.

Answer 3

I would try small amounts of water. Oil or butter will change the taste and mess up the recipe.

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