What To Do If Your Cookie Dough Is Too Sticky

Are you finished with making your cookie dough and you realize it’s too sticky? Cookies are mouth-watering yummy treats loved by all people. But sometimes there could be tricky issues when trying to make that cookie dough to satisfy your cookie craving. 

There are all types of issues that could come with baking cookies, could be the dough comes out wet, runny, or too sticky. Or the dough comes out too hard, or difficult to work with. With this, do not think to use it that way, because the outcome won’t be great. Thus, let’s talk about how you can fix too sticky cookie dough.

One of the best ways to fix your sticky cookie dough issue is adding more flour as a dry ingredient to help thicken the batter, Refrigerating it for about 30-60 minutes (depending on the volume of the batter), or adding tablespoons of cornstarch. 

Just remember to be careful with your dry ingredients, add a little and stir first, and continue until you achieve the desired result.

Baking comes with strict adherence to the food recipe, to achieve a satisfactory result. Sometimes a tricky mistake can occur and we all need some tips and advice on how to make it better again.

Let’s Talk About Cookie Dough 

A well-prepped-up cookie dough determines how good your cookies would come out, and we all know all meals are enjoyed when they come out nicely. So when you notice your cookie dough is too sticky, and it’s sticking to your kitchen tool, rolling pin, or baking pan, then there’s an issue. 

Although, some cookie recipes call for cookie dough to be a bit sticky like chocolate chip cookies, or dough that is scooped instead of rolling out. But if it’s too sticky or runny, then there’s a slight issue. While recipes for cut-out cookies or rolled-out cookie dough require it to be non-sticky at all, kitchen tools are to be used. 

Therefore, in all, too sticky dough is bad for your cookie baking business and shouldn’t be used to bake as is. Not to fret, this article is to suggest simple tips to use to make your too sticky dough come out better. 

What Caused- Too Sticky Cookie Dough? 

To find a solution to an issue, Let’s start with what caused the problem; 

The heated temperature could result in too sticky dough. Funny how it sounds weird, but using too hot or too warm baking ingredients, working with cooking dough in an overly hot environment, or your hands being too heated, are factors that could make your dough too sticky. Let’s ensure the room is cool, the ingredients in use are chilly when making it. 

How To Fix A Sticky Cookie Dough? 

It may be heavily laden with butter, large-sized eggs, or little flour was used. Balancing is key in cooking, your cookie dough shouldn’t be too thick or heavy, so ensure the butter and egg usage are light and follow the recipe to the letter.

1. Refrigerate It

When your cookie dough is too sticky cause of hot butter, hand-kneading, or heated temperature, cooling it helps. You can also get your hands a bit, to help you work with sticky cookie dough. 

• Wrap your dough between two layers of parchment paper or food wrap.
• Keep it refrigerated for about 30-60 minutes (depending on the volume).
• When removed, work with it quickly, because it can return to its too sticky state very quickly. 
• Doing this, helps both wet and dry ingredients absorb together into the dough better. 

Remember to not use a heated or room temperature food wrap and baking sheet when cooling and working with your dough afterward. 

2. Adding More Flour 

If you don’t have time to wait for the chilling process, you can try this method instead. Well, for flour use, all-purpose flour is best to use although you can also use bread or cake flour alternatively. Seeing your dough is sticky and wet, adding more dry ingredients can help make your dough less sticky. 

• Sprinkle each kitchen tool into flour-like your rolling pin, cookie cutters, hands, working surface, or mixer. 
• Impart the flour little by little and carefully knead or mix until you reach the desired consistency.
• Lightly coat your cookies with flour, to avoid sticking to the baking sheets. 

3. Lightly Add Cornstarch 

Use your cornstarch for a bit too sticky cookie dough, and don’t use it for extremely sticky dough. You can use cornstarch as an alternative dry ingredient to make your cookie dough less sticky. 

• Add cornstarch teaspoon at a time and mix, until the desired consistency is achieved. 
• They help to make cookies nicely soft. 
• Also, help to soak up extra moisture from your too sticky dough. 

You Can Also Use a Spoon, Cookie spoon, or Ice cream Scoop- To get your sticky cookie dough to your baking tray and to avoid your hands sticky or messy. This is great for dough that requires a bit of stickiness or does not need to be rolled out or cut- out.

You can also roll the dough into balls and sprinkle powdered sugar on them before baking. This helps to fix chocolate cookies, sugar cookies, or cake mix cookies, when the dough comes out a bit too runny or sticky. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Summary 

We all love our cookies to come out crunchy and taste great. But that can’t happen when the dough is too sticky or runny. This article has suggested easy and simple tricks to help you manage too sticky cookie dough and make your baking easier. 

Always remember a cool atmosphere and baking ingredients are key, don’t use too little flour and too much egg or butter. Ensure to use dry ingredients (all-purpose flour or cornstarch) to solve the issue or refrigerate the batter.