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I found a recipe online that required making cookie dough from scratch and then wrapping the cookie dough in wax paper and refrigerating for 2 hours. I made the cookie dough and it was way too crumbly and dry for me to be able to put it in one piece in the wax paper without it falling apart. What should I do?

Mien
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courtney
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  • Welcome to Seasoned Advice! Please consider editing your Question to include a link to the recipe in question. That may help people give you a well-informed answer. – Preston Mar 14 '13 at 18:02
  • Can you push the dough together that at least some of it stays together? If you can do this, there is no problem. – Mien Mar 14 '13 at 18:29
  • I'll put this in a comment since it doesn't answer the question with cookies as a result; I would scatter the dough crumbs on a sheet pan and bake a little less than the directions call for to account for smaller size. While not cookies, the resulting crumbles could be further broken into crumbs for a cookie crust or used as a garnish on desserts. – Emily Anne Mar 16 '13 at 02:33
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    Possible duplicate of [How can I fix my dry crumbly cookie dough?](http://cooking.stackexchange.com/questions/10743/how-can-i-fix-my-dry-crumbly-cookie-dough) – Joe Dec 16 '16 at 20:28

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Part of what is going to happen during the resting period is that the moisture is going to more evenly distribute throughout your dough, and begin hydrating the starches, so that they it will become more cohesive.

Assuming there is enough moisture present, you just need to give it time. 2 hours may not be enough time--4 would be better. Overnight would certainly be good.

If there is insufficient water, carefully distributing a few drops (maybe a tablespoon or two, maximum) before refrigerating will help, but you need to be sure this is the case. Try letting it rest for four hours as is, and if it is still crumbly, then add some water.

Lastly, you may find that plastic wrap (sometimes called film wrap) may be easier to use than wax paper. You want to roll your dough tightly, holding it together while it hydrates. Normally, the two shapes that would be used would be a log (for sliced cookies) or a disk (for cookies that will be rolled out).

See also: What does an overnight chill do to cookie dough, that a 4 hour chill doesn't?

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SAJ14SAJ
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  • Also consider a mistake may exist in the recipe or in the OP's implementation thereof. – Preston Mar 14 '13 at 19:22
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    That is certainly true, but an unknown mistake in an unknown manner is very hard to address in the abstract :-) – SAJ14SAJ Mar 14 '13 at 19:51