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My cookie dough is falling apart. What should i do? I have tried everything! Including more flour, more milk, more everything but its exactly the same!

SAJ14SAJ
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user20444
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2 Answers2

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Usually when cookie dough falls apart, it is because the flour is not sufficiently hydrated, that is to say, it has not absorbed enough water.

There are two factors at play:

  • The ratio of liquid in the recipe (from eggs, milk, water, juice, coffee, or any other source) to flour (by weight)
  • The amount of time that the dough has had to rest and absorb the water.

Typically, when you are saying your dough is crumbly, it is going to be a rolling type cookie, like a sugar cookie. These often benefit very much from a resting period of at least four hours in order to fully hydrate the flour.

Another common cause is measurement. Flour, especially when measured in a measuring cup, is very easy to mis-measure, and the ratio of flour to liquid is extremely important. I strongly recommend weighing flour for all baking purposes. Quality recipes and cookbooks will indicate flour by weight, or tell you how much their standard cup weighs. If you cannot find this information for a particular recipe, using 4.25 ounces of flour by weight for each cup is a good guess.

What you don't want to do is add flour to the recipe; that will only exacerbate the problem.

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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  • In a cookie recipe, the culprit could be too little butter as well (though that would be much harder to add later). – SourDoh Sep 26 '13 at 22:56
  • @sourd'oh And a less likely mis-measurement.... – SAJ14SAJ Sep 26 '13 at 23:08
  • Yes, the ratio would probably be off due to mismeasuring the flour. I was just mentioning it as the butter adds a lot of "moisture" to the cookie dough without most people thinking of it as a liquid. – SourDoh Sep 26 '13 at 23:13
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There are many reasons.

  1. Add a little milk or water until it reaches the right consistency. Add a very little at a time. When making cut out cookies try not to overwork the dough as it tends to become tough.
  2. Bake Cookies on a SILICONE MAT.
  3. Bake them frozen (I cut out the pieces a few days in advance).
  4. Add more flour. My recipe is about the same .. it's 4 whole eggs but I put about 6 cups of flours. And I don't have that much flavoring.
  5. Not enough liquid - try adding another egg, or some more butter, or golden syrup.
Shrey Patel
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