I accidentally added butter into flour/cocoa powder/baking soda without beating first
I am making cookies and accidentally added my butter directly into my dry ingredients. Now I have chunks of butter and dough that is basically powder.
Is there any way to salvage this even if the cookies don't come out perfectly?
Best Answer
Think shortbread / pie dough:
If you have a food processor, dump the butter & dry ingredients in, pulse until you have a coarse crumble. Add some liquid - either your egg (beaten!) or, even simpler, just as much milk as needed to help the dough to stick together. I personally would use milk instead of egg for lighter cookies. Eggs might make them too dense. Chill for half an hour or so, then roll and cut or shape otherwise.
If you don't have a food processor, a pastry cutter or two knives works just as well. Or rub the butter into the flour mix.
You might not end up with your planned cookies, but the result should be nice enough to eat. No need to discard the ingredients.
And remember:
Sometimes the best recipes started as accidents!
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What happens if you add ingredients in the wrong order?
Mixing ingredients in a different order can cause the cake to be dense, light, or standard depending on what you add first. If eggs are added first it will be light, if flour is added first it will be dense, and if butter is added first it will be a standard cake.Does baking soda react with butter?
That's part of the reason it keeps so well in the fridge\u2014the acid and alkali don't truly mix until the butter melts, which means the reaction doesn't really start until you've put the cookies in the oven.Does it matter what order you mix ingredients?
Liquid ingredients should ALWAYS be mixed separately before they've been added to the dry ingredients. Mixing the dry ingredients by themselves means you will evenly disperse the raising agents, spices, sugar etc throughout which is important for an even batter.What happens when you rub butter into flour?
Rubbing in is a technique whereby butter is lightly rubbed into flour with the fingertips to make things such as shortcrust pastry, scones or crumble topping. Sift flour into a large mixing bowl. Chop chilled butter and add it to the bowl. The butter should be very cold for a lighter crumb.Chocolate Cookies Recipe | Homemade cookie recipe | making cookies | choco cookies| best cookies
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Answer 2
Put the bowl into the microwave for 30s to melt the butter then stir. Butter as a fat absorbs all the microwaves! If you have already added baking powder, then it will activate so put in the oven immediately or wait for it to cool down and add a bit more baking powder, but not as much as before.
Alternatively, scoop the chunks of butter out and put into a bowl in the microwave and melt the butter only, then stir back in.
Alternatively, scoop the chunks of butter out, add a tiny bit more flour/cocoa powder/baking soda in the same proportion to make up for the powder stuck to the butter. Then use new butter that is melted.
Alternatively, scoop the chunks of butter out, and use slightly less new melted butter to match the powder that was removed with the old butter.
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