Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Too Dry: What to Do?
Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix is a welcome addition to many kitchens. Easy to activate and even tastier to eat, the cookie mix will save you time making cookies and turn your kitchen into a bakery, minus the mess. Still, as well as Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix works, sometimes the cookies can turn out too dry, so what to do when the Betty Crocker sugar mix turns dry?
When the Betty Crocker sugar mix is dry, it lacks liquid, oil, resting, egg yolks, or kneading. Adding liquid such as milk or water, grease from oil or butter, or mixing the mix with flour could significantly improve the dough’s texture. Letting the dough rest or kneading it more could also be effective solutions.
Since Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix is the go-to solution for many, I am certain that we’ve all faced some disappointment when the dough or the cookies turned out dry or too crumbly. Therefore, in the following paragraphs, I will share some solutions for dry cookie mix and why that may happen.
Why Is Your Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Too Dry and Crumbly?
Your Betty Croker sugar cookie mix can be dry due to several reasons. Your mix may need more liquid, oil, kneading, or rest. It may also be dry if you leave it in the fridge for too long.
If it needs more liquid, your Betty Crocker sugar cookie dough will be dusty and will be very hard, almost impossible to work with. You also won’t be able to shape it knead it without it tearing apart.
If lack of oil is the problem, your dough will probably be sticky, and you won’t be able to shape your cookies. If you don’t add any oil or butter, the cookies will become very hard and very crumbly.
You will recognize if your dough needs more kneading because it won’t be elastic enough, and its color will be a lighter shade than the right one. Your dough should be somewhere between beige and yellow. If it is white-ish but smooth, it needs more kneading.
If your dough needs rest, it will be very soft and won’t be able to keep its integrity. However, it won’t be moist, just softer than usual.
If you’ve left it in the fridge for too long, your dough will start to break on the outside and get softer on the inside.
How To Fix Dry Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix?
Dry Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix isn’t anyone’s favorite, but it can happen from time to time. Luckily, there are things you can do to repair this.
Add Liquid Ingredients
Whether you add more water, milk, or even cream cheese to the dry sugar cookie mix, it will improve its consistency. The extra liquid will act as a bonding agent and stabilize the mix without making it runny. However, whatever you decide to add, add it slowly and mix to let it get absorbed and then add more or none.
Up the Grease
Even though the recipe calls for a certain amount of butter/margarine/spread, sometimes the mix needs more. Therefore if the given amount isn’t enough, don’t be afraid to add more if it is clear that the mix needs it. A tablespoon of oil or melted butter can be what your sugar cookie mi needs.
Add Egg Yolk
Adding an entire egg won’t fix your dry mix problem, but an egg yolk might do the trick. Whisk the yolk until it’s foamy and add it to the mix. It would be even better to add some milk to the egg yolk to increase the moisture.
However, you cannot add the yolk after you’ve already fully kneaded the dough, as it will just make it sticky and won’t solve your problem. It is best to add the yolk when you start kneading the second you notice that the dough may turn out dry. Also, you can use the yolk as a preventative measure and add it to the liquid ingredients before you even merge them with the dry ones.
Knead
If you added all the right ingredients, and your dough seems pale and rigid, try kneading it some more. The extra kneading will help activate all the ingredients and help them bond together. When you see a color between yellow and beige, that’s your signal that your dough is ready.
Let It Rest
There’s such a thing as kneading too much. In this case, the dough’s color gets darker and darker due to the breaking of the bonds. It will also get sticky and inflexible.
If this is the case, make a ball with your dough, cover it with a very thin layer of oil and let it rest for half an hour. It will likely repair itself.
Take It Out of the Fridge
Refrigeration of the dough is a recommended step, but no more than two hours before baking the cookies. If you forget to take your dough out and leave it longer in the fridge, it will lose stability because the molecules holding it together will start shrinking.
If this happens, knead your dough when you take it out of the fridge and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. This will help the bonds repair, and your dough will plump up again.
How to Soften Baked Betty Crocker Sugar Cookies?
If your sugar cookies turned out dry and hard after all, there’s still hope, so don’t worry. The best way to soften dry cookies is to cover them with a towel, place tin foil over the towel, and then cover the foil with another towel. This will lock in the moisture, which will be reabsorbed by the cookies, making them softer and chewy.
Another way is to sprinkle some water over your cookies the second you take them out of the oven and cover them with a towel.
You can also place your Betty Crocker sugar cookies in a plastic baggie or a plastic box after taking them out of the oven and placing them in the fridge. Leave them there for about half an hour. They should soften due to the sudden change of temperature and reabsorb the moisture from the container.
If nothing else works, you can always dip them in some milk or chocolate to make them softer.
What Do You Do With Failed Betty Crocker Sugar Cookies?
The great thing about Betty Crocker sugar is that you can still use it as an ingredient in another dessert even though they fail.
You can place the cookies in a zip lock baggie and roll over them with a rolling pin. The cookies will break into tiny pieces perfect to put in a mug of hot chocolate or a pudding bowl.
Blend the cookies and turn them into a fine flour-like substance, perfect for adding to your baking recipes. Or you can soak the failed cookies in milk, chocolate, or rum and make a cookie-layered no-bake cake; add some chocolate pudding between the cookie layers, and have a delicious dessert.
Put some honey or jam in the blended sugar cookies, make balls, roll them in crushed nuts, and enjoy a light and elegant snack.
What Are Some Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Substitutes?
Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix is widely known and the first thing we think of when we want a ready-made sugar cookie mix. However, some other mixes are a good substitute for Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix.
Kursteaz, Food Stirs, and King Arthur are suitable substitutes, especially since they are also available as gluten-free variants. Another bonus is that they are available online at a reasonable price.
You can make your sugar cookie mix, as the composition is pretty simple. You need sugar, flour, a pinch of salt, baking soda, and a bonding agent.
Is Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix Good for Cut-Outs?
Betty Crocker sugar mix is great for cut-outs. The trick is not to overburden the mix with additional ingredients. Activate the mix by adding eggs, melted butter, and water.
Going overboard with additional ingredients will disturb the stability of the dough, making it hard for you to cut out the shapes you want.
