16
Turns out I was creaming butter and sugar WRONG for over a decade
I only figured this out last month when my sister watched me make cookies and literally laughed out loud. I've been just mixing them together until they looked 'combined' - not actually creaming them until they're light and fluffy. She pointed out my butter wasn't even at room temp. I was 38 years old, been making cookies since I was 15, and never knew. My cookies always came out flat and dense. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you've been doing a basic step completely backwards?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
brianl5324d ago
Ha! Yeah that was literally me with pie crust. I spent years wondering why my pie dough always came out tough and shrunk in the pan. Turns out I was overworking the dough like crazy and using ice cold water straight from the tap instead of actual ice water with visible ice cubes floating in it. Once I switched to barely mixing it and handling it as little as humanly possible, my pies started coming out flaky and actually holding their shape. The butter thing with cookies is real too - my wife finally showed me the "light and fluffy" test and I felt like an idiot watching her beat it for like 3 minutes straight.
2
averymartin24d ago
The "actual visible chunks" of butter was my game changer too, still can't believe I used to blend it in completely.
9
felix_hayes6424d ago
The "barely mixing it" thing is exactly what clicked for me too. I used to mix my biscuit dough until it looked smooth like bread dough and wondered why they came out like hockey pucks. Once I started leaving the butter in actual visible chunks and just barely bringing it together with a fork, night and day difference. Same thing with muffins now, I leave the batter lumpy on purpose and they come out way more tender.
1