Cookie Chemistry
Chemistry of Food and Cooking
There are all kinds of different foods with different contents. Depending on what these contents are, foods will taste different. In order to create certain flavors or textures, we mix chemicals to create reactions that in the end give us our food. It's all just one big experiment really. For our project we chose to create an experiment to make the fluffiest, softest, and chewiest cookies. By doing so, we chose our dependent variable, temperature, and baking soda, and we chose our independent variable, softness, chewiness, and fluffiness. In order to create puffy cookies, we needed to incorporate baking soda into the recipe. When baking soda is heated to 80°C or more, it begins to react and release carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide is the important part when it comes to puffy cookies because it causes the dough to rise because the rising gas is pushing against it. Most people don't rely on the temperature alone to react with the baking soda because some of the baking soda won't react and a white bitter powder will be left in the cookies. If you want the baking soda to have a complete reaction, you can add an acetic acid to the recipe. The acetic acid causes the baking soda react much quicker and creates a bigger reaction. This is because the baking soda is a bicarbonate and when an acetic acid reacts with a bicarbonate, it creates an acid base reaction. People use vinegar, buttermilk, and brown sugar, along with others, because these all contain acetic acid. When the baking soda reacts with the acetic acid not only is more carbon dioxide released, but also water and sodium acetate, a salt created from acetic acid. Thats cookie chemistry for you!
For our quantitative tests, we chose to alter the amount of baking soda we used in the recipe, and the temperature we cooked the cookies at. The different amounts and temperatures would ultimately affect the puffiness, chewiness, and softness cookies. We chose to make three batches of cookies, each batch cooked at a different temperature and within each batch there would be 3 different kinds of cookies. In batch one-three, we had 3 cookies with a ⅛ teaspoon of baking soda, 3 cookies ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, and 3 cookies with ½ teaspoon of baking soda. Batch one was baked at 300°F, batch two was baked at 350°F, and batch three was baked at 400°F. Once we finished baking the cookies, we gathered them up in order to conduct our qualitative test, or in other words, our blind taste test. For our blind taste test, we had our three different batches sitting out separately with a label saying either, “A”, “B”, or “C”. Within each batch, the three kinds of cookies were labeled either, “One”, “Two”, or ‘Three”. We then asked people to taste each kind of cookie in every batch and asked which cookie they though was the softest, chewiest, and puffiest cookie in each batch. The results showed that the best cookie was baked at 300°F and with a ¼ teaspoon of baking soda in it.
Cooking is a science and an art. People cook because they know what they are looking for and they know what they are creating. They go in it without questions but only a desire to show and feast on the finished product. A scientist is alway trying to proves themself wrong in order to find the truth. There are unlimited questions that scientist are always asking and they sometimes never know what to expect. Cooking definitely uses a lot of science but so does everything in this world. Chemistry is happening all around us, even of its cooking, eating, feeling, and everything. A chef cooks to explore the world of taste and beauty, a chemists explores the world of the unknown, the feared, and the world of innovation.
For our quantitative tests, we chose to alter the amount of baking soda we used in the recipe, and the temperature we cooked the cookies at. The different amounts and temperatures would ultimately affect the puffiness, chewiness, and softness cookies. We chose to make three batches of cookies, each batch cooked at a different temperature and within each batch there would be 3 different kinds of cookies. In batch one-three, we had 3 cookies with a ⅛ teaspoon of baking soda, 3 cookies ¼ teaspoon of baking soda, and 3 cookies with ½ teaspoon of baking soda. Batch one was baked at 300°F, batch two was baked at 350°F, and batch three was baked at 400°F. Once we finished baking the cookies, we gathered them up in order to conduct our qualitative test, or in other words, our blind taste test. For our blind taste test, we had our three different batches sitting out separately with a label saying either, “A”, “B”, or “C”. Within each batch, the three kinds of cookies were labeled either, “One”, “Two”, or ‘Three”. We then asked people to taste each kind of cookie in every batch and asked which cookie they though was the softest, chewiest, and puffiest cookie in each batch. The results showed that the best cookie was baked at 300°F and with a ¼ teaspoon of baking soda in it.
Cooking is a science and an art. People cook because they know what they are looking for and they know what they are creating. They go in it without questions but only a desire to show and feast on the finished product. A scientist is alway trying to proves themself wrong in order to find the truth. There are unlimited questions that scientist are always asking and they sometimes never know what to expect. Cooking definitely uses a lot of science but so does everything in this world. Chemistry is happening all around us, even of its cooking, eating, feeling, and everything. A chef cooks to explore the world of taste and beauty, a chemists explores the world of the unknown, the feared, and the world of innovation.
Cookie Chemistry Infographic (Photoshop)
Blind Taste Test Results
Procedure
Independent Variable: Temperature, baking soda, and temperature of butter(melted/frozen).
Dependent Variable: Softness, chewiness, and height (puffiness)
Original Recipe:
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Source: "Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies." Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart, 15 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
http://www.marthastewart.com/344840/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies
Dependent Variable: Softness, chewiness, and height (puffiness)
Original Recipe:
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter with both sugars; beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed, about 1 minute. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack, and let cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Source: "Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies." Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart, 15 Feb. 2017. Web. 10 Apr. 2017.
http://www.marthastewart.com/344840/soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies