Cucina Cooking Projects: The Cookie Experiment

Weekly cooking projects & experiments perfect for the little chef(s) in your life!

Recommended: ages 6-12 with adult supervision

Here is a fun peak at what different ingredients do to cookies

Here is a fun peak at what different ingredients do to cookies

THIS WEEK… let’s find out what eggs, sugar, and baking powder do in the oven by testing four different cookies batches

We’ll begin by making a base cookie dough. The base dough is the only dough we will make.

We will then separate the dough into 4 different portions to test. One portion will be the control*, and the other three dough will have extra baking ingredients added, so we can see what their affect on the dough is!

What is a control? A control is used to compare results in a scientific experiment. The control cookie dough will be the most “normal“ dough, while the other three will have extra ingredients added to them. We can then see more clearly what the additional ingredients do to cookies by comparing the control to the other 3 dough.

Yes, we are conducting a science experiment by making cookies - hip hip hooray!

Materials & Equipment you’ll need

For the experiment

  • Measuring cups & spoons

  • 1 medium metal bowl

  • 4 small/medium metal bowls

  • Electric hand mixer

  • 1 whisk & 1 rubber spatula

  • 2 metal spoons

  • Sharpie

  • 4 paper plates

  • Parchment paper

  • 2 baking sheet trays

fop the Snickerdoodle’s Base Dough

  • 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature*

  • 3/4 cup sugar

  • 1 large egg

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (kosher)

  • 1 1/3 cup All-Purpose Flour

  • For the final coating:

    • 1/4 cup sugar

    • 2-3 tsp cinnamon powder

FOLLOW THE STEPS

STEP 1- Make the dough

garlic-knots-dough-cut-into-fourths2-600x400.jpg

  1. Cream butter and sugar together in a medium metal bowl: mix for 2-3 minutes with a hand mixer… or use your hands to mash the sugar thoroughly into the butter until creamy.

  2. Add egg and mix smooth. Add vanilla and salt.

  3. In another bowl- mix the dry ingredients together

  4. On low speed, mix in dry ingredients.

STEP 2- Separate the dough into 4 equal portions and preheat the oven to 375 F

STEP 3- Place dough on 4 paper plates… then follow directions below and label each paper plate

Dough #1 The control

No need to do anything to this dough.

Dough #2 Extra baking powder

Using a hand mixer or wooden spoon, mix in a 1/4 tsp baking powder for 1-2 minutes.

The-Best-Snickerdoodle-Cookie-Recipe-9jpg.jpg

Dough #3 Extra egg

Using a hand mixer or wooden spoon, thoroughly mix in 1 small egg, until the dough looks all the same.

Dough #4 Extra sugar

Using a hand mixer or wooden spoon, mix in an additional 1/2 cup sugar, until the dough looks all the same.

STEP 4- Working with one batch of dough at a time, shape the cookies and place on parchment-lined sheet tray(s)

  1. Mix sugar and cinnamon together to make snickerdoodle coating

  2. Roll the dough into small 1” balls, then roll balls in cinnamon sugar.

  3. Flatten cookies on parchment-lined baking sheet

  4. Once finished with each batch of dough - label them clearly on parchment paper - control, egg, sugar, or baking powder.

  5. Once they are all rolled out- bake for 8-10 minutes

  6. Allow to cool for 10 minutes

STEP 5- Once cookies have cooled… OBSERVE all 4 batches:

  • What sizes are the cookies

  • What colors are the cookies?

  • Which is the most or least risen cookie?

  • What else do you observe?

STEP 6- Now TASTE each cookie … starting with the control batch:

  • What do the cookies smell like?

  • Is the cookie sweet, bitter, bland?

  • Is the cookie soft, hard, crispy, or doughy?

  • What else do you taste?

Now, ask yourself do you have a favorite cookie?

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s experiment!

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