The Underused Kitchen Tool That Makes Mixing Cookie Dough Easy

When sweet cravings hit, one easy fix is to whip up a batch of cookies. Whether you go for classic chocolate chip, cinnamony snickerdoodles, or another tasty cookie recipe, they always seem to do the trick. You may notice while perusing recipes that most advise you to use a stand or hand-held mixer. But there's another kitchen appliance that's perfect for the job. And that's a food processor. 

Food processors use blades that are designed for chopping and mincing, which is a little different from the typical beaters found in stand mixers. However, those blades can also be put to good work if you're making cookies. The food processor can mix and pulse your ingredients to form a dough, much like how it's used to bring together pie crust dough.

It also works well for recipes that call for brown sugar or other ingredients that tend to lump together. The device can help break up these clumps much like sifting would, but it avoids having to clean an extra kitchen utensil. Better yet, the pulse function on the device can help you bring together the ingredients without running the risk of overmixing.

If you weren't aware that you could use your food processor to make cookie dough and it's your first time, there are a few things to keep in mind. For one thing, you'll need to pay attention to the size of your appliance. If you have a smaller device, you may not be able to make an entire batch of cookies. In this case, you should cut your recipe in half.

Another thing to be aware of is that while the food processor can be particularly handy for basic mixing, it can also serve a few other functions. For one thing, you can use the device to cream butter and sugar. Some food processors also have whisk attachments that can assist with things like fluffing up egg whites. Those functions make it a great alternative to the usual stand mixer.

While the food processor can be great for making a smooth shortbread or sugar cookie dough, it's important to note that if you're working with mix-ins, things might look a little different. Depending on what mix-ins you're using and if they need to be chopped, the food processor can come in handy before you start the dough. For cookies like pecan sandies, which call for chopped nuts, you can put the food processor to work right away. Pop the pecans in the food processor to chop them up, and set these aside to fold them back in at the end of your recipe. 

Some recipes, such as chocolate chip cookies, may not need the mix-ins to be chopped at all. In this case, you want to be careful to not throw them in with the other dough ingredients. The device may end up pulverizing them, giving you chocolate flecks throughout your cookies as opposed to large, gooey pockets of melty chips. To get around this, once you've made your dough, fold in the chocolate chips by hand. So, next time you go to make a batch of cookies, skip the stand mixer and try using the food processor to help with every step along the way.