Are Undercooked Cookies Safe? (2024)

FAQs

Are Undercooked Cookies Safe? ›

While eating slightly underbaked cookies generally isn't dangerous if all the ingredients are safe to consume raw (like pasteurized eggs or egg substitutes), they can be unsatisfying in texture and may have an uncooked flour taste.

Slightly underbaked cookies yield chewier results, but you definitely don't want to end up with raw cookie dough either. To prevent this from happening, Southern Living recommends letting your cookies cool right on the baking pan instead of on a separate cooling rack.

Observe the texture and colour of the interior crumb. Texture and colour: If the cookie crumb is still wet, doughy, or appears raw, the cookies need more time in the oven. Fully cooked cookies should have a slightly dry and crumbly texture.

Raw cookie dough is not safe to eat because it contains uncooked eggs and flour, which can cause food poisoning if they are contaminated with harmful bacteria. Pregnant women, children, older adults, and people with compromised immune systems should not eat raw cookie dough because of these risks.

Oven thermostats can change over time, requiring temperature adjustments by the baker or calibration by a professional. To assure the correct temperature each time you bake, always use an oven thermometer.

Raw cookie dough contains uncooked flour and eggs. These have the potential to cause food poisoning and bacterial infections like salmonella.

Adding too many eggs can result in gummy, cake-like cookies. Adding too few eggs can result in dry, crumbly cookies.

One of the best ways to know that your cookies are ready to come out of the oven is when they're firmly set. They shouldn't be rock hard, but they also shouldn't be moist or mushy anymore.

The ingredients you use and how you shape your cookies both play an important role in whether your cookies turn out crispy or chewy. The type of flour and sugar you use, if your cookie dough contains eggs, and whether you use melted or softened butter all factor into the crispy-chewy equation, too.

You can get sick if you eat unbaked dough or batter made with flour containing germs. Germs are killed only when flour is baked or cooked.

Is it rare to get sick from raw cookie dough? ›

But it is best to avoid eating raw cookie dough, she said. Experts said those with compromised immune systems are at the highest risk for serious food-borne illness, which the CDC estimates affects 1 in 6 people each year in the United States.

Symptoms to watch for if you have consumed raw dough products include stomach cramps, fever, vomiting or diarrhea. If you or a family member experiences any of these symptoms, contact a doctor immediately.

So, if your cookies are undercooked and you let them sit for a day before realizing it, don't take any risks and throw them away. The conclusion of all this is not to eat undercooked cookies and that it's safe to bake them if they haven't been out for more than a couple of hours in a warm temperature.

When cookies turn out underbaked, they can still be salvaged. Quickly return them to the oven if they're fresh, or reheat at a lower temperature if they've cooled. For cookies too soft to crisp, repurpose them in desserts like parfaits or trifles.

Insert a toothpick into the centre of a cookie. If it comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, the cookies are done. If the toothpick comes out wet or with raw batter, the cookies need more baking time.

Once it's clear that you do have limp cookies or less-than-crispy crackers, put them back into a preheated 300° F or 325° F oven, regardless of the original (presumably higher) baking temperature. I tend to use 300° F for items that can't afford to get darker, and 325° if a little extra color won't hurt.

Using a kitchen timer will give you a ballpark amount of time for the cookies to be in the oven, but visual cues and an oven thermometer are the real MVPs. Our Take and Bake cookies should be cooked at 300 degrees for about 16 min, with a few extra minutes added if you're baking the cookies from a frozen state.

If the dough is shiny as it bakes (thanks to the butter or other fat in it), that shine will significantly reduce or go away once the cookies are set. As soon as they reach that stage, remove them from the oven. Even if they don't feel firm yet, they'll continue to set and harden as they cool.

your oven: it might not be preheating to the set temperature and might be going way above that or you are setting your oven to a very high temperature, too high for your cookies. oven rack position: if you are baking your cookies on the bottom rack of the oven, they might have too much heat directed to the bottom.