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I was baking cookies last week using granulated sugar (white and brown) and they were great.

The recipe says to put all 3 sugars into the molten butter and to stir for a while. Yesterday I thought it would be easier to grind the sugars into powdered sugar and add it that way.

The cookies this time are drier and taste less like vanilla than before. Could that have something to do with the powdered sugar?

I hope the question is on point enough. Sorry for the metric units.

250 g     flour
2 g       baking powder
0,33 tsp. salt
170 g     butter, melted
110 g     brown sugar
50 g      white sugar
1 pck.    vanilla sugar
1 pck.    vanilla pudding powder
1         egg
1         egg yolk
200 g     chocolate chips
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    Don't worry about metric units - this is an international site! Welcome!
    – Stephie ♦
    Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 12:30
  • Is it possible that you simply didn't spend enough time mixing the dull, because your sugar dissolved quicker? Spending enough time on preparing the dull is crucial in many recipes, and even if the thingy already looks mixed, I usually continue mixing for a good while, just carefully enough so that the eggs don't get beaten in case of liquid stuff. (I hope I use the correct vocabulary here.)
    – yo'
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 6:29
  • @yo' Could you give me a pointer to what a dull is, all I find is about knives :)
    – Minix
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 9:04
  • @Minix Damn, a wrong word :D Sorry for that, I meant dough.
    – yo'
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 9:13
  • @yo' Thoguht so, but you used it twice, so I was unsure. How do I know when it is enough, then? When the consistency doesn't change for a while?
    – Minix
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 9:16

1 Answer 1

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This answer touches on the problem:

Superfine sugar will dissolve too quickly and won't allow enough air to be incorporated.

Powdered or superfine sugar will still give you the same sweetness property as the granulated sugar. However, the step of creaming butter and (granulated) sugar is not just for mixing. It also incorporates some air into the fat; a well-creamed mixture will look "fluffy" and paler in color.

In creaming the butter and sugar together, you are using the sugar to aerate the butter and fill it with bubbles that can capture the gasses released by your leavener. The more fine bubbles you have in your network, the lighter in texture your cakes will be and the finer the crumb. This is true for your muffins as well, while it makes your cookies light and crisp instead of hard and dense. (King Arthur Flour blog)

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    However, the OP's recipe uses melted butter, so there is no creaming step.
    – YosemiteMark
    Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 15:38
  • Hmm, good point. Not sure what the explanation is then :)
    – Erica
    Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 15:47
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    There's also cornstarch added to powdered sugar, at least in the US. That'll soak up a little water by itself.
    – Wayfaring Stranger
    Commented Sep 6, 2015 at 17:31
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    But OP said that she grinded the sugar herself, so there should not be any cornstarch added.
    – Mien
    Commented Sep 7, 2015 at 9:12

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