We are currently living with my in-laws, and it’s been fun to see all the conversations that have sparked up with so much extra time with them. We’ve been on a bit of a cookie kick lately, baking tons of cookies and eating them to our heart’s content.

As my mother-in-law was baking another batch, she posed the question: “Why do we put water in cookies?” I realized it's something I’ve seen in many chocolate chip cookie recipes, but I've never really thought about. I’m usually too excited to just eat the cookies, but it’s a valid question!

The first thing that comes to mind is texture- we all know that for the perfect cookie, you can’t have too much flour, or your dough becomes too crumbly and won’t hold a shape. On the other hand, too much liquid makes for a very sticky dough that either doesn’t hold its shape at all, or is way too sticky to even handle.

But if that’s the only issue, why don’t we just add more egg, or vanilla extract? Why water exactly?

I’ll be honest- I didn’t find a clear answer. I came across a couple articles that talked about the benefit of adding water to your cookies; because water has a lower evaporation point, it will evaporate, but because it’s trapped inside the cookie, it will result in a puffier, softer cookie- because the water vapor is helping your cookie to rise. However, I have made some deliciously puffy cookies that didn’t require water, and so I don’t think that’s always necessary, if you have a good ratio of other ingredients.

I think after comparing dozens of chocolate chip cookie recipes, and reading several articles, it all comes down to flavor, texture, and price.

As I mentioned before, we need our dough to have the perfect consistency. If your dough is too sticky, you’ll make a real mess, and it’s a nightmare trying to get those cookies onto the cookie sheet in nice little balls. But if it’s too crumbly, your cookies won’t hold their shape, and they won’t be soft and chewy after baked! Hence, the added water. It’s never a lot, only 1-2 teaspoons to add just a little moisture to help our dough be just right.

So- why not add a little more of another wet ingredient?

A big factor is flavor. You could definitely just add more vanilla- and indeed, some recipes do call for more vanilla than others. But by adding more vanilla, you are giving your cookies a stronger vanilla taste- which is maybe what you’re going for, but sometimes maybe not.

I think price and consistency also play a part. When you add more butter, you’re giving it a richer buttery taste, but you’ll also have flatter cookies, as butter has a very low melting point, and the more butter you have in your cookie the flatter and more spread-out it will be.

You could add more eggs, but this will mess with the texture of your cookie a little. More eggs will make your cookies softer and chewier- but we also want to stick with a cookie texture, not brownie.

It’s also technically much cheaper/easier to add a teaspoon of water rather than an extra egg or a little extra vanilla or egg. Not that those costs are astronomical, but it can add up over time.

At the end of the day- I think it’s all about personal preference. If you like a stronger vanilla flavor in your cookie, feel free to use that instead of water! If you’re curious about changing the texture of your cookie, try adding an extra egg instead of water and see what happens. I think that’s part of the fun with baking cookies- it’s basically a super tasty science experiment every time! And really, chocolate chip cookies are pretty hard to mess up completely ;).

So I’m curious- does your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe call for water, or not?

    Camille Hoffmann
    Weekly Newsletter Contributor since 2014
    Email the author! camille@dvo.com