Baking Cookies in Space
It's surprising what will work
Crank up that Mariah Carey, kiddos, it’s that most magical time of the year again.
I’m personally more akin to the Lil Jon Christmas song, but to each their own.
Christmas can be stressful, and I’m no exception. Work becomes a madhouse with finishing all of our projects before everyone goes on break. My kids have a thousand events to go to. There’s that weird little elf on the shelf that one of my cats keeps ripping apart, even though he’s supposed to be watching my kids like Chris Hansen’s about to barge in.
Oh, and I’ve got multiple cookie exchanges to go to.
To be honest, those cookie exchanges are the highlight of the Christmas season for me. I have a major sweet tooth, and I’m also fairly adventurous when it comes to both baking and eating desserts. Given, some have not been great (Gochujang snickerdoodles?!) but some have surprised me (Black sesame rice krispies, toasty goodness that they are), and some have since become house staples (Alison Roman, you shortbread chocolate chip GODDESS you).
But as I write and come up with science fiction, I realize that cookies are not really included. All baking, really. My husband and I noted this during an episode of Deep Space Nine, where meals and drinks are made with the click of a button, but alien cocktails require traditional shakers.
(I don’t know, I wasn’t on deck with anyone on the Enterprise or otherwise back in the 90’s).
I actually got somewhat annoyed during the episode. Why don’t we see more cooking? Baking? Wouldn’t the Starfleet captain like a donut or a stroopwaffel with his coffee? Would Klingons approve of stroopwaffel? I feel like the engineering focused Vulcans would be all up in the caramel waffle business, but let’s move on.
In case you haven’t read more of my previous work, I focus a lot on food within the future. I love baking, but more importantly, I love thinking about what’s delicious, what the new rules might be, new combinations of flavors, and how all of that might work.
We always figure out how to make something taste good. It’s a good reason for staying cautiously optimistic.
Now that brings me to ask this question:
Which cookies would work in a space station?
A good base of rules I remembered reading in Popular Mechanics: a cookie in space/lower gravity must be contained (no crumbs that could get into an air filter), sturdy enough to not fall apart in uneven gravity, and not create a major mess that requires water to clean up.
Here’s my 3 Suggestions (in no particular order):
Bar Cookies / Cookie Bars
These are your blondies, your brownies, your lemon bars. I’m a big fan of Mollie Yeh’s myself. Why would they work in space? Well, you don’t need to worry about cutting them into shapes, about flying crumbs. These types, as you might know if you’re a brownie or bar fan are baked in a single. solid sheet.
That means no loose dough and minimal crumbs. I can’t speak for if you want powdered sugar or nuts on those, which would complicate things.
In addition to baking in a solid place, that deep, gooey density that makes bar cookies and brownies so good, also means a lack of loose dough. This not only assures that the batter will still stay together in microgravity, but it will also ensure that the batter will stay together in microgravity–much as we might like brownie batter, we would not want it clogging up the air filters. Finally, an even heat distribution (a necessity within a station that would need to have fairly unified, even engines) is easier to work with thicker batters.
Drop Cookies
These are your easy ones. The 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies. The heavy sugar cookies (before they have icing and sprinkles on them, of course).
They’re not your easily crumbled, easily floatable niblets. They’re sturdy, and not likely to produce tons. Best of all, they’re very predictable–you generally bake each type at the same (not terribly hot) temperature, roughly between 350-400 F.
So if they float, there’s no need to worry. It’s when those things break apart, that’s when you worry. One speck could mean everything from a clogged filter to a potential fire.
No-Bake Cookies
These are your general oatmeal + nut butter + add ons (chocolate, coconut, cigarette butts, birth certificates, toenail clippings, you name it), and they usually end up as rolled balls.
I made a lot of these when my oldest was home from school during the 2020 pandemic, as she was little, and could easily whip them together in her tiny little bowl. She’s indifferent to these chewy little buggers, but as a hiker, cyclist, and runner, I enjoy them and their fiber-filled fun. I could see future space colonists trying them out and enjoying them as well.
Does anyone else eat no bakes as a cheat breakfast when you really, really want a massive cookie with your 24 ounce of Italian Roast and your brain’s like ‘Nah, fam, that’s how you end up on TLC’?
If you’re a fan of Kodiak, you’ve probably tried them out.
(I’ve had a box of this stuff in my cupboard consistently since 2017. Image from Google.)
They work due to the simple fact that there’s no oven needed. None! This, should we be without a traditional oven in a space environment, is a no brainer. The ingredients quickly coming together also mean, once again, a lack of crumbs, which means no need to worry about anything getting stuck in an air filter. Finally, they are incredibly easy to prepare–simply roll them together. You can even do it in a sealed bag–perfect for space.
So, what would I bake for a theoretical cookie exchange on either Europa Station or Titan Station (my two biggest O’Neill cylinder cities in my short stories/novels)?
Let’s go with no-bake, oatmeal-peanut-butter cookies:
Zero crumb risk
No oven
Sticky, cohesive
Quick to make in microgravity-safe pouches
Here’s a recipe (that’s not mine) if you’re curious.
Happy baking/exchanging!