I recently spoke to a friend of mine about a baking issue they were having. Their cookies were spreading out in some areas, with lacey ends and unintentional differences in texture, even while using a stand mixer. This conversation came during a slew of instances where people were dealing with similar problems, whether for their cookies, cakes, or even breads. After chatting with each of them, I noticed one key issue: They were undermixing their doughs and batters. 

Oftentimes you hear that you don’t want to overmix during baking. But, really, undermixing is an issue too, and one with a strong impact. If you don’t fully incorporate ingredients like butter, eggs, sugar, and flour, you’ll end up with improper results. You’ll see lumpy or dry spots, lacey spots in cookies, dense bottoms in cakes — the list goes on. And after my own trials and tribulations, I found that the best and only way to mitigate this is with one tool: this $16 GIR silicone spatula. 

GIR Get It Right Silicone Spatula 

So, what makes this silicone spatula so integral? Scraping the bowl. I’ll say it over and over again until anyone and everyone gets tired of hearing it. You need to scrape your bowl between each step, and this GIR spatula is by far the best option I have used to do this. 

Scraping the bowl is important to make sure everything is properly incorporated throughout the entire batter, especially if you’re doing the creaming process, which involves beating butter and sugar, adding eggs, then adding flour. If butter isn’t fully mixed, you’ll end up with melted bits (like lacey spots on cookies) which is sometimes ideal (in biscuits, for example) but not for most recipes. If eggs and flour aren’t fully mixed, you risk damaging the structural integrity of your recipe. Going in between each step to make sure you’re scraping the bowl’s sides and bringing the batter from the bottom to the top is key to ensuring things are smooth and homogenous. And you still don’t want to overmix your flour. Mix it enough with the stand mixer, and finish it by hand with your spatula. I learned my lesson the hard way with this, after I ruined a massive batch of cookies in culinary school (which we were supposed to serve at the cafe). After troubleshooting my steps with my chef, we figured out that the batter was fully undermixed, resulting in cookies that overspread with an uneven texture. It’s a great example of an easy recipe being irreparably impacted with such a simple mistake. 

While you can try to use any old spatula, I highly recommend the GIR one. It might seem like a simple tool, but this spatula has really improved the success of a lot of my recipes thanks to its thoughtful design. It has the perfect level of stiffness, which makes it really easy to fully mix even heavier mixtures. It still has the give and flexibility a silicone spatula should have, molding itself to the bottom of bowls and the edges of containers well. The size is also ideal. The 11-inch length reaches down into my mixing bowl fully, while the spatula itself isn’t too big or too small, which means it’s easy to control and I can use it for a wide range of tasks. 

I also love that it’s one solid, smooth piece, which makes cleaning a breeze and prevents ingredients from getting stuck in hard-to-reach areas. The handle is comfortable to hold, with a smaller, rounded width that gets thicker toward the top. Plus, I know I can safely use it to stir or mix anything that’s hot, since it’s heat-safe up to 550℉. 

My kitchen wouldn’t be the same without this $16 GIR spatula. Shop it now, and stop undermixing your batters. Trust me, your future baked goods will thank you for it. 

Shop More of My Baking Essentials: 

Escali Primo Digital Scale 

Pyrex 3-Piece Glass Prep Bowl Set 

Ateco 4.25-Inch Offset Spatula 

KitchenAid Classic Series 4.5-Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer 

Pyrex 3-Piece Glass Measuring Cup Set 

At the time of publishing, the price was $13.