Know your cookies: fat

I'll start by telling you all that this week's cookie experiment was just as successful as last week's, and a hundred times tastier. This time, I varied the fat, with somewhat surprising results. I stuck the liquid level at a constant (somewhat - it went over in the upper levels of fat, just because of how much water was in the butter) 50%.

I totally love doing these recipe development posts, as I hope you all do. I started this trial by making cookies with no fat, 25% (based on flour weight), 50%, 75%, and 100% fat weight. This was calculated by subtracting the weight of the water from the weight of the butter to get the weight of the fat.

vvbvgfcv. (My dog's contribution to the post)

The real shocker came in the 0% fat cookies. They were amazingly, surprisingly delicious. They came out super gooey. They were also fairly chewy, and a bit coarse. But in no way were they horrible. I would definitely make them again. (Oh, and full disclosure, they have small amounts of fat from the egg yolk and milk, but I don't count that, compared to the possible 4+ ounces of butter)

The 25% cookies were actually worse. They were chewy,  but rather tough.

The 50% cookies ended up fairly chewy and fairly soft, and decidedly richer than the previous two.

The 75% cookies were soft, but still had some height. They melted in the mouth and were a bit richer than the 50%.

The 100% cookies were very soft (falling apart) and flattened in the oven. They also melted in the mouth, and were very rich. They took on a caramel flavor which the previous cookies didn't have.

And that was this week's experiment in cookie recipe development. Do with it what you will. I suggest somewhere between 50% and 100%, keeping in mind that the higher the percentage, the richer the cookie and the more spread you get.

Oh, and here's the recipe for the butter-free cookies. Mix together the dry ingredients, then add the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces AP flour
• 4 ounces brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• .6 ounces milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

What characteristics do you enjoy in a cookie?

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Know your cookies: moisture

I know I've mentioned it in a few posts, but I'm glad to be done with cakes for a little while. Really, there's only so much cake a person can eat, and only so many cake-related posts a person can write before he starts to go a bit loopy.

I can now testify that the same thing happens with cookies. After making four batches of cookies today, with more planned soon, I'm seeing them when I close my eyes. But it was all in the name of science (or at least pseudo-science), and because of it I now know a bit more about the role of moisture in cookies.

Each batch was made by using a standard cookie recipe and changing the amount of liquid in the recipe (counting the water in the eggs and butter) based on the flour weight. So if the cookie had 10 ounces of flour in it, the water weight for a cookie with 50% water would be 5 ounces.

Batch #1: 30% water
This batch was with no milk added. All of this water came just from the butter and eggs. I had to knead in the last of the flour at the end, and it was a very crumbly dough. It turned into a fairly dry and crumbly cookie as well. It reminded me of a snickerdoodle when I bit into it. This cookie was fairly chewy, but a bit to dry for optimum chewiness. They did not spread at all, and I had to flatten them manually during the baking.

Batch #2: 50% water
These cookies were a bit easier to work with, being a more moist dough, and reminded me of my mom's cookies (cakey). They were slightly less chewy than batch #1 and had some spread.

Batch #3: 100% water
These cookies had considerable spread. The consistency was very light, soft, and cake-like. They had a very fine and soft grain (little holes inside cakes, muffins, etc).

Batch #4: 50% water + 200% baking powder
I knew what to expect from a higher moisture content that 100% (more cakey texture), and so I decided to try a different variable: baking powder. I honestly expected more of a difference between these and batch #2. These cookies were slightly more airy than batch #2, but that didn't change them much at all.

And so went my day. I still have two very large containers full of cookies that I'm not sure what to do with. But I did learn a very important factor for cookie recipes. Moisture content for dry cookies should hit about 30%, and super soft cookies 50-100%. That puts my perfect chewy cookies somewhere around 40% water content. My series on recipe development for cookies is off to a good start, folks.

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The most viewed recipe on FoodGawker: A review

If you've ever visited the site FoodGawker (which my traffic stats tell me you probably have), you've probably seen these cookies. They're the kinda funny looking square chocolate chip cookies which are (as of this post) the most visited link from the site, and the third most favorited. So I had to try them.

Recipe can be found here.

I followed the recipe exactly (which I rarely do) and the cookies looked beautiful.

The taste, though, is not for me. I'm not a big shortbread fan. Shortbread is dry and doesn't have a lot of flavor. And, honestly, these cookies were just like every other shortbread I've tried. If you like shortbread, you might love these. I, however, did not. That's not to say anything bad about the cookies, they're just not my cup of tea.

Have you tried these? What're your thoughts?

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More chocolate chip cookies

Today, I baked chocolate chip cookies. I baked them because chocolate chip cookies are nearly the best dessert to make when you're short on time. And because everyone loves them. Today I wanted to bake something and then get back outside. At this point in the year, my mentality is to snatch any sun I can. It's possible that this will be the last, the way this summer is going. But I'm so glad I made these, because they're a different kind of chocolate chip cookie. They're a lot like the chocolate chip cookies you find in an ice cream sandwich. My favorite plain old chocolate chip cookies are still Jacques Torres's, but these are awesome ice cream sandwich vessels. And they're from one of my favorite books, In the Sweet Kitchen by Regan Daley.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons AP Flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 16 oz chocolate chunks

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla, scraping down the bowl between additions.
4. Sift the flour, soda, and salt together and add to the dough until just combined.
5. Knead in chocolate chunks.
6. Spoon onto baking sheets and bake for 12 to 17 minutes until golden.

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The start of month two and the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever eaten

Let me start off by saying thank you to all of you who've visited Confectious in the last month. Your pageviews and great comments have been a real blessing. And to all of you visiting for the first time, thanks for making (fingers crossed) this month even better.

These cookies are based on Jacques Torres's chocolate chip cookies. In fact I set out to make that recipe. Due to a lack of foresight, however, I ran out of butter, so I substituted in some yogurt. And I used all AP flour, since I'm out of cake flour. They turned out amazing (though I have yet to make the normal recipe from Jacques). Maybe I'll make up some following the recipe to the letter and compare them, but for now, here's the recipe I used:

Ingredients:

• 8 oz butter at room temperature
• 10 oz brown sugar
• 8 oz granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup yogurt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 17 oz AP flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 lb chocolate, chunked

Directions:

1. First, get the butter and the sugar creaming until nice and fluffy.
2. While that is happening, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
3. Next, add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter and sugar mixture, letting each incorporate fully before adding the next.
4. Stir the vanilla and yogurt into the butter mixture.
5. Mix together the butter and the dry ingredients until combined. Mix in the chunked chocolate.
6. Chill the dough overnight.
7. Bake the cookies at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden.

Truthfully, the cookies are great if you don't let them chill overnight, too.

Do you have a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe?

What's your favorite characteristic in chocolate chip cookies?

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Insanely easy chewy peanut butter cookies

I've tried dozens of peanut butter cookie recipes over the years. Not because I can't find one I like, but because there are so many different textures and PB intensity levels (I'm pretty sure it's an official scientific measurement). So here I present my humble offering to the ranks of peanut butter cookies. If you're always looking for another PB cookie recipe, or if you need some cookies you can whip out in 10 minutes or less, look no further.
Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup instant oats
• 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. First, beat the peanut butter until it gets a bit fluffy (this shouldn't take long at all and can be done quite easily by hand).
3. Next, beat in the sugar.
4. Once the mixture is again workable, beat in the egg.
5. Next, stir in the remaining ingredients and scoop onto a cookie sheet.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden around the edges.
7. Cool and enjoy!

What's your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe?

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