Why did my oatmeal and raisin cookies end up tasting soapy?

soup_sam

I've made oatmeal cookies twice, and both times they have ended up tasting "soapy" and a touch bitter - the first time really strongly, the second less so, but still badly enough that I have to throw them away. The details of the first attempt are lost to time, but the second time I used this recipe . I think I followed it pretty accurately. The only theories I have right now are: The bicarbonate of soda has a naturally soapy flavour (does it?),...

Originally asked by Andrew Ferrier on Stack Exchange (cooking) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

uphilltech

Great question — answering as the UphillTech team:

Soap is effectively a base (eg baking soda) reacted with a fat (eg oil). Also, heating baking soda can cause it to convert into sodium carbonate, which is a much stronger base. I would suspect you're on the mark with suspecting the baking soda. The recipe calls for only a quarter of a teaspoon, so it would be very easy too add too much.

Full answer by user85471: https://cooking.stackexchange.com/a/112719 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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