Ask a Vegan Baker

I would pretty much always advise people to add liquid to a cookie dough recipe slowly (maybe a tablespoon at a time), and because, like most recipes, the ingredients were listed by volume and not weight, so how tightly you packed your flour as you measured could have had an impact. Don't blame yourself!

A mushy dough can usually be remedied by adding more flour or a starch (corn, tapioca, etc). One can add quite a bit of flour throughout the process of flouring the surface rolling it out several times--I wouldn't say it was the main cause of your issue, but it probably didn't help any.

You could also try adding a small amount (no more than 1/2-3/4 tsp) of something like guar or xantham gum, which help thicken, but I would only do that if you have a mixer with a dough hook that you could use or you are very committed to kneading the dough a lot to evenly distribute. Coconut flour is also quite absorbent and might help.

A good description I have heard that might help is that a good dough for rolling out & cutting should have the consistency of an earlobe--a little bit of give, but mostly holds its shape/doesn't mush. If I don't get this after following a recipe, I throw instructions out the window and start working to achieve this consistency. I would say 9 times out of 10, it has been better to follow my instincts than just trust the recipe when something seems wrong. If you go that route, just be sure to incorporate the ingredients a little bit at a time, so you don't tip the scale in the other direction.