I don't know why I bothered (a baking thread)

[flybye023]

I usually don't do too bad at baking. Most things I make turn out ok. But two things are my baking nemesis: pie crusts and sugar cookies.

I just tried baking a batch of sugar cookies. With the recipe I used they should be smooth, light, crispy, barely golden around the edges. What they are: porous, thick, kinda chewy and lumpy.

I have no idea what happened. I honestly am wondering if I used the correct recipe or if I picked another sugar cookie recipe by the same person.

I don't usually like sugar cookies but for some reason I was really craving this one specific recipe but I still didn't get what I wanted

[Dave1982]

What recipe did you use?

[KiaKat]

You may be over-beating the dough. Cookie dough doesn't want to be highly beaten once you've introduced the dry ingredients.

Try:

Separating the eggs and beating the egg whites until frothy, then adding the yolks and sugar, and beating again until mixed.

Add the flavouring to the wet ingredients so you're not beating the dough too much once you've added the dry ingredients

Once you're done integrating the dry ingredients, stop the machine. If you have any add-ins, fold them in using a spatula instead of beating them in with a mixer.

Sugar cookies are a fragile recipe, and generally want gentle handling. Also follow the directions exactly in regards to the butter - most recipes want it room temp, and that can affect the final texture.

[flybye023]

It's out of an old church cookbook of my Mom's. It's her favorite recipe that she's used often, and is of the tried and true variety.

4 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 c butter
1 heaping c sugar
2 eggs
1 t soda
1/4 c milk
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla

Sift flour, baking powder & salt; cut in butter with a pastry blender (like with pie crusts). In another bowl, add the soda to the sugar and when well mixed add to eggs, milk and vanilla. Now pour this into the flour mixture and mix until smooth. Roll and cut with cookie cutters. Bake 350 until lightly browned. (for me it's usually 8-10 minutes)

I tried to be really careful because this particular recipe can be overworked and become tough, but I don't think the cookies are tough, they're just wrong somehow.

ETA: I used the mixer a little bit but then finished it by hand. Like I said, I tried to be careful when handling.

[KiaKat]

Interesting. Opposite of the one I have - but then the one I have you actually mash down the cookies using a sugar-dusted mallet.

Try freezing the butter. If it's similar to a pie crust, you want the butter as cold as possible to ensure maximum flakiness. That also means, once you start cutting the butter in, work quickly so it doesn't warm up much. If you have a granite or marble countertop or cutting board, use that to roll out the dough. Otherwise, make sure the surface is as cold as possible (I soak a plastic cutting board in ice water, then wipe it dry, as an alternative). The colder you keep the butter, the lighter and flakier the cookies.

[flybye023]

Well, Mom just got home and she thinks it's a combination of things.

1) She thinks that she did give me the wrong recipe. I should have used the one in the Betty Crocker cookbook

2) The flour is a little old

3) I rolled them out thicker than she does.

Oh well. If at first you don't succeed...

[Food Lady]

I'd try creaming the butter and sugar together, then adding eggs and flavorings, and finally stirring in the dry ingredients.

[lordlundar]

Interesting. Opposite of the one I have - but then the one I have you actually mash down the cookies using a sugar-dusted mallet.

I just had an image pop up of you beating on the cookies like they were fence posts.

Oh well. If at first you don't succeed...

Hear hear! No one gets everything right on the first try.

[Kittish]

Oh well. If at first you don't succeed...

....Then skydiving is not for you.

[Zaiida]

I'm seconding Food Lady with what she suggests, it usually works. Everyone has a nemises in baking. Mine is pecan pie at the moment. How the flying technicolour toadstools does one royally stuff up the easiest recipie in the world is beyond me. I've cooked it 4 times identically and it's wrong differently each time. My almond and pistachio bread on the other hand is great.

Could also be the oven. Mine's 50 years old and as tempremental as a cat. 180 one day is 250 the other and don't ask about the hotplates. 1 on works like it should but turn another plate on the tempreture dials are just a suggestion and forget being able to boil water then. Weird ass thing. I have to bake/cook everything in a closed tin or it burns to hell because of the silly jet fan. Oven fans should not sound like a jet taking off and turning it off does not work either.

[WoodenSunshine]

I can't make Snickerdoodles or grilled cheese. I only recently figured out pancakes.

I cheat when it comes to sugar cookies. Betty Crocker makes a bag mix that is fabulous and you just add water.

[42_42_42]

Here's the recipe I use. Takes abuse rather well.

No Fail Sugar Cookies – NFSC

Ingredients
6 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (white granulated)
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. salt

Instructions
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1 to 2 hours. Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies.