My sister-in-law said my cookies looked like hockey pucks

She was right, they were rock hard. This was about two years ago. I was just dumping all the flour in at once and mixing too long. She told me to fold in the dry ingredients gently and stop when the flour was just combined. I started doing that, and my chocolate chip cookies got soft and chewy instead of tough. It was a simple fix, but it made a huge difference. Anyone else have a baking fail that was fixed by one small change?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayes.joel2mo ago

Oh man, over-mixing is such a common trap. I read that it develops the gluten and makes things tough, just like you said.

sullivan.spencer2mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, is it really that big of a deal though? I mix my batter way more than I should and my stuff still turns out fine. People act like a few extra stirs makes it inedible. Feels like one of those cooking myths that gets repeated forever. Unless you're kneading bread dough, I just don't buy the panic.

sanchez.pat2mo ago

And @sullivan.spencer I used to think the exact same thing until I actually did a side by side comparison one time. I made two batches of muffins, one stirred until just combined and one where I kept going for a solid minute longer. The difference was super noticeable. The overmixed ones were almost rubbery on the outside and a lot denser inside, not light and fluffy like the other batch. It's not that they were inedible, they just weren't as good and that's the real point for me. If you're happy with your results that's all that matters though, everyone has different standards for what "fine" means.