The guy who told me to "just add more eggs" to my cookie dough was dead wrong

So last week I was trying to make chocolate chip cookies from a new recipe and they came out flat and greasy. My buddy Mark, who "bakes all the time," told me to just toss in two extra eggs to fix the texture. I did exactly that and ended up with these weird cake-like pancakes that spread everywhere in the oven. Turns out extra eggs add too much moisture and make cookies puff up instead of staying chewy. I should have just chilled the dough for 30 minutes like the recipe said. Has anyone else had a friend give baking advice that backfired this bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

wesley_martin1mo ago

Toss two extra eggs in and see what happens. That's like telling someone to fix a leaky faucet by adding more water to the pipes. The problem with your cookies was probably too much butter or not enough flour, not a lack of eggs. Eggs are for structure and binding, not for fixing flat cookies. Adding two extra just makes them spread more because the dough gets too loose. Chilling the dough firms up the fat so it doesn't melt too fast in the oven, that's the real fix. Your buddy Mark needs to stick to giving advice about things he actually knows.

nancy_ross1mo ago

Wait, is Mark also giving faucet advice now?

ben_ross5119d ago

You know what, I used to be one of those people who thought adding more eggs was a magic fix for everything? I really did. I had this idea that eggs were the secret to making any baked good better, so I'd toss an extra one in my banana bread or pancakes without thinking twice. But then I messed up a batch of brownies the same way your cookies went wrong, and it finally clicked. Your buddy Mark means well but he's dead wrong about eggs, too much moisture makes things spread out and get cakey instead of chewy. I'm glad you called him out because it took me way too long to figure out that chilling the dough is actually the move for flat cookies.