Can my cookie dough be rescued?

I was a hurry last night to make some sugar cookie dough. I have been using this recipe for the past year and a half. Well being in a hurry and very overwhelmed, I forgot to add the 2 tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of salt. I didn't even realize my omission until I had already rolled out the 3 dozen cookies I needed. I am devastated, I want to cry. I am very pressed for time and don't have enough ingredients on hand to make another batch of cookies. The dough is pretty soft. Can I dump all the dough back into the mixer and add in the missing ingredients? Or will this GREATLY compromise my cookies? Please help! Thanks

I would go ahead and try and bake a few and see what happens-
cookies don't really rise all that much anyway, and the salt is merely to temper the rising power of the baking powder so they don't rise too much.
They may be different, and a little harder, but I bet they'll be edible.

I'll bet Cookie Monster would know for sure...

I agree. If that doesn't work, press it into a pan, bake it til it's set, then top with jam and a quick streusel, bake til the streusel is browned (5 minutes or so) and you have bars. If the cookies you test look or okay but they're just hard, make 'em into sandwiches.

Pie Lady wrote:I agree. If that doesn't work, press it into a pan, bake it til it's almost done, then top with jam and a quick streusel, bake til the streusel is browned (5 minutes or so) and you have bars.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I should note that I am making this for a baby shower this weekend. They are going to be in the shape of onesies and baby carriages to be distributed as favors. If it weren't for this, then I wouldn't care about salvaging my dough.

Pucca wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:I agree. If that doesn't work, press it into a pan, bake it til it's almost done, then top with jam and a quick streusel, bake til the streusel is browned (5 minutes or so) and you have bars.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I should note that I am making this for a baby shower this weekend. They are going to be in the shape of onesies and baby carriages to be distributed as favors. If it weren't for this, then I wouldn't care about salvaging my dough.

Sounds adorable. Hope everything turns out! Please post what happens!

Pucca, I'd bake a little test batch and see how they turn out - I'd be afraid that you'd activate the gluten if you put them back in the mixer. I did a bit of googling, and found this thread on a baking forum that may be useful - they're talking about chocolate chip cookies, but they mention that the dough didn't rise and fall again, the cookies were slightly more dense, but in the end they were fine.

With big sugar cookies, I'm guessing they're liable to end up a bit harder and more brittle, but might have a nice chew to them. They might burn more easily (in my google that's something I'm seeing, I can't think why except for the densit) so I'd watch them carefully.

irisarbor wrote:the salt is merely to temper the rising power of the baking powder so they don't rise too much.

Damn! I know I wrote this but it seems to have disappeared into the ether.

My question/comment was this: while what you say may well be so (I'm too ignorant to agree or disagree), my sad empirical evidence is that salt also affects flavor--not notably, but distinctly (if that makes sense), no?

You are of course, correct, the salt does affect the flavor very slightly.
Of course we all have such distinguished palates around here that we can definitely tell the difference.
I do like the counterbalance of a bit of salt in chippers and shortbread.

If one were eating the cookie uniced- they might be able to tell,
but cutting the cookies into cute little baby shower shapes, I going to hazard a wild guess that they will be frosted with something incredibly sweet, and the absence of a smidgen of salt will not be noticed by anyone.

irisarbor wrote:You are of course, correct, the salt does affect the flavor very slightly.
Of course we all have such distinguished palates around here that we can definitely tell the difference.

Well, my point was not so much that one can taste the salt as one is likely to notice--without knowing what it is precisely--the absence of salt. I'm not suggesting that I have a supersensitive palate but that most people will notice that salt was omitted because things tend to taste a little "flat" for lack of a better word.

UPDATE: I baked a single cookie last night. I should've baked 2 so I can eat one and save the other for a comparison. The cookie was baked for 7 min. The resulting cookie was light in color, slightly raised, but definitely not as bumpy as I have occasionally experienced in previous batches. It was definitely flat/dull in flavor compared to my memory. Usually, I would happily eat the cookie w/o any icing, not this time, so to answer Gypsy Boy's question, I do think the salt helps. Yes, after I ice it, it probably doesn't matter that much.

I decided to let the dough come to room temperature and added the missing ingredients on the Stir speed of my KA. I wrapped it back up and put it back in my frig. I will be rolling them out, cutting and decorating tonight. Wish me luck.

Good Luck,
let us know what happens.

irisarbor wrote:Good Luck,
let us know what happens.

Ditto.

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement. The cookies turned out fine. They rose a little unevenly compared to the usual (not too noticeable after being iced), but that is probably to be expected. The texture was better than baking them w/o the missing ingredients. I only tasted one iced cookie before sending them on their way this morning. It was my friend's first time decorating cookies. I had her do a lot of the cookies above, and I think she did a pretty good job for a rookie.

Pucca wrote:Thanks for all the tips and encouragement. The cookies turned out fine. They rose a little unevenly compared to the usual (not too noticeable after being iced), but that is probably to be expected. The texture was better than baking them w/o the missing ingredients. I only tasted one iced cookie before sending them on their way this morning. It was my friend's first time decorating cookies. I had her do a lot of the cookies above, and I think she did a pretty good job for a rookie.

Very cute! Glad they turned out!

Adorable, almost makes it worth going to a baby shower

Hi,

Those are really lovely. Anyone receiving them will be charmed.

I especially like the giraffe cookie.

You've honored your friend very well.

Regards,

I like the onesie with the necktie! Well done by both of you.

Those are very cute! Thanks for posting your question and results--I'm glad for the info.