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alexist at 08:46pm on 03/08/2003
alexist at 08:46pm on 03/08/2003Last night I decided to try troubleshooting my chocolate chip cookie recipe. The one I use is basically the one off the Toll House package (though I use dark brown sugar--I found out after I'd been making them for years that most people assume light when it just says "brown sugar". We always had the dark at home, so that's what I used.) After some trial and error over the years I worked out how to make them so they stayed chewy instead of becoming crispy on cooling (trick: bake just until the top of a cookie comes back when pressed. If you bake them the recommended time, they'll be overbaked.) But they were still too flat and spread too much. So after reading the section on chocolate chip cookies in The Dessert Bible, I decided to try substituting Crisco for ¼ of the butter.
They did spread less, but surprisingly, they also browned much less quickly. I'm used to judging them by the browning, so when they were as brown as I expected, they were overbaked. I need to test again. I couldn't remember if I used 2 parts all-purpose flour to 1 part cake flour, or 1 to 1, so I used something in between. (Cake flour is more acidic so it makes cookies brown faster--though the reason I use it is because my all-purpose flour is King Arthur and a little too hard.) Luckily, I only did a half-batch :-)
(I've been ordered to produce 16 dozen cookies for Wednesday again. Amy also expressed an interest. I said sure, if she paid for supplies, but she didn't leave me any money. :-) I worked out that 4 dozen cookies cost about $7 to make, at supermarket prices. The bulk of that is butter [$2.49/8oz] and chocolate chips [$2.69/12oz]. The rest is somewhere between $1 and $2; I can't be bothered to work out the exact cost. Last time I baked 12 dozen, and Carly ran out, so it's 16 this time.)
Also made pie pastry, but didn't do the pie today as I was lazy. The filling is easy (just mix the ingredients) but it's a lattice top. I'll do it tomorrow. With today's weather, the pastry probably would've softened faster than I could roll it, anyway (shortening's easier to roll, but I prefer a butter crust.) It's raspberry and redcurrant. Mmm. They also had the extra-rich heavy cream in the market the other day, so I'll lightly whip it to go on top. I love red currants, and we only see them for a few weeks a year. I know people who think raw currants are too sour, but I love them--you get an explosion of curranty flavor. Some sugar doesn't hurt, though. I like sour cherries too, but I bet I've missed them this year :-( They're very hard to find in markets; you've got to go to a farm stand. The Fruit Perfect ones in the jar are pretty good for pies, though. Must check for local peaches and apricots in the next couple of weeks--soo much better than the ones shipped from California. They always pick them unripe so they can be shipped.
(Speaking of ridiculous shipping: I was in the market and they were unpacking snow peas [mangetout] and the boxes said "Product of Zambia"!!! I'm all for shipping some things--I prefer Turkish dried apricots to California ones, for example, as they're fatter and moister. Dried fruit isn't perishable anyway, at least not for a long time. But how can it possibly be economic to fly snow peas in from southern Africa?! Especially in August when they can be grown closer to home.)
Not done much today; had a very nice swim, though.
They did spread less, but surprisingly, they also browned much less quickly. I'm used to judging them by the browning, so when they were as brown as I expected, they were overbaked. I need to test again. I couldn't remember if I used 2 parts all-purpose flour to 1 part cake flour, or 1 to 1, so I used something in between. (Cake flour is more acidic so it makes cookies brown faster--though the reason I use it is because my all-purpose flour is King Arthur and a little too hard.) Luckily, I only did a half-batch :-)
(I've been ordered to produce 16 dozen cookies for Wednesday again. Amy also expressed an interest. I said sure, if she paid for supplies, but she didn't leave me any money. :-) I worked out that 4 dozen cookies cost about $7 to make, at supermarket prices. The bulk of that is butter [$2.49/8oz] and chocolate chips [$2.69/12oz]. The rest is somewhere between $1 and $2; I can't be bothered to work out the exact cost. Last time I baked 12 dozen, and Carly ran out, so it's 16 this time.)
Also made pie pastry, but didn't do the pie today as I was lazy. The filling is easy (just mix the ingredients) but it's a lattice top. I'll do it tomorrow. With today's weather, the pastry probably would've softened faster than I could roll it, anyway (shortening's easier to roll, but I prefer a butter crust.) It's raspberry and redcurrant. Mmm. They also had the extra-rich heavy cream in the market the other day, so I'll lightly whip it to go on top. I love red currants, and we only see them for a few weeks a year. I know people who think raw currants are too sour, but I love them--you get an explosion of curranty flavor. Some sugar doesn't hurt, though. I like sour cherries too, but I bet I've missed them this year :-( They're very hard to find in markets; you've got to go to a farm stand. The Fruit Perfect ones in the jar are pretty good for pies, though. Must check for local peaches and apricots in the next couple of weeks--soo much better than the ones shipped from California. They always pick them unripe so they can be shipped.
(Speaking of ridiculous shipping: I was in the market and they were unpacking snow peas [mangetout] and the boxes said "Product of Zambia"!!! I'm all for shipping some things--I prefer Turkish dried apricots to California ones, for example, as they're fatter and moister. Dried fruit isn't perishable anyway, at least not for a long time. But how can it possibly be economic to fly snow peas in from southern Africa?! Especially in August when they can be grown closer to home.)
Not done much today; had a very nice swim, though.
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