BAKING is a SCIENCE: cinnamon

Dear baking world,

What a tough day for Wisconsinites. First a funnel of cold sent from the mouth of Satan himself is currently settling in to freeze everyone during the night. That's an exaggeration but it's supposed to reach -65 tonight. And on top of that, the Packers lost at Lambeau in the first round of playoffs game 23-20 to the 49ers.

But there's a silver lining. I spent the first half of the game working on my latest kitchen experiment.

I love Snickerdoodle cookies. There's something extra special about them. Perhaps it's the cream of tartar that gives them a bit of tang or the hint of cinnamon (but when I bake them, it's more like an avalanche of cinnamon.) Whatever it is, they're one of my favorites. I prefer fluffy, puffy, round, tall Snickerdoodles but my most recent batch didn't stand up to the test of puffiness. So what to do? Shirley Corriher to the rescue!

There are a couple of ways to increase the puffiness of a cookie and reduce spread.

Option 1: Replace some of the butter with shortening.

The Science: Butter melts at a much lower temperature than shortening, which means butter promotes cookie spread. If some of the butter is replaced with shortening, the cookies simply won't spread nearly as much. However, shortening lacks flavor, which is why I kept a little bit of the butter in the recipe. (I do love the rich flavor of butter.)

Option 2: Replace some of the granulated sugar with brown sugar.

The Science: I know, I know! Snickerdoodles are supposed to be white on the inside, but brown sugar gives them a darker hue but in the name of experimentation, I had to try it. Brown sugar is more moist than granulated sugar, which means that brown sugar will make for a softer cookie.

Option 3: Replace the all-purpose flour with cake flour.

The Science: Cake flour has much lower protein content than all-purpose flour. (Cake flour is at about 7.5 percent protein, while all-purpose flour is between 9.5 to 12.) All-purpose flour is much better at absorbing water, which leads to a drier, crispier cookie. Cake flour, on the other hand, has less of these water loving proteins and the water then turns to steam in the oven. Oh the joys of science!

Additional ways to reduce spread:

One way to reduce spread is to make sure that the dough is chilled before baking. If the dough is chilled, the butter takes longer to reach its melting point, thus reducing spread. I put two pieces of the control group in the freezer so I could test what frozen cookie dough bakes like. For the experiment, all 4 groups were chilled for about 15 hours. This was to reduce spreading but also to ensure that temperature/chilling did not affect the outcome.

The Experiment:

I started with a control, which was my mom's classic Snickerdoodle cookie recipe.

My independent variables were the modified control recipes, stated above. I also added a fifth group, which was the control group frozen overnight, instead of simply putting them in the refrigerator. I was curious about how the initial temperature of the dough itself affected spread.

My dependent variable was how little the cookies spread. The success of the recipe, or which one I preferred, depended on a few factors, including puffiness, amount of spread and taste. (Taste is important because shortening lacks in the flavor department, so even if the shortening cookie proved extra puffy and perfect, if it sucked flavor wise, then it was a no can do.)

My hypothesis was that in general, chilled dough will spread less, but I hypothesize in terms of taste, tenderness and minimal spread, the cake flour Snickerdoodles will be the best in each category.

Other notes: I baked my cookies on convection at 325 degrees. If you're baking in a non-convection oven, bake them at the regular 350 degrees. However, Shirley Corriher recommends convection because it promotes a more even bake. The butter was at just above room temperature. I creamed the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes for each batch.

The Recipes:

Snickerdoodle Cookies

The original & the control

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Sugar + cinnamon to roll the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350 (325 if baking with convection.) Cream the shortening, butter and sugar. Add the egg. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and cinnamon. Chill for at least 2 hours. Form into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Cookies: Shortening

I chose to keep a little bit of butter in the recipe because I love the flavor of butter.

2 Tbsp. butter, 6 Tbsp. shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Sugar + cinnamon to roll the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350 (325 if baking with convection.) Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and cinnamon. Chill for at least 2 hours. Form into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Cookies: Brown Sugar

1/2 cup butter

6 Tbsp. brown sugar, 6 Tbsp. granulated sugar

1 egg

1 1/4 cups + 2 tbsp. flour

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Sugar + cinnamon to roll the cookies in

Preheat oven to 350 (325 if baking with convection). Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and cinnamon. Chill for at least 2 hours. Form into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake for 8-12 minutes.

Snickerdoodle Cookies: Cake Flour

Because cake flour does not replace all-purpose on a 1:1 to ratio, I increased the amount of cake flour by 2 Tbsp.

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Sugar + cinnamon to roll the cookies in

The 4 variables (+ the frozen ones in the freezer)

Rolled out and rolled in cinnamon sugar!

Two minutes left of baking.

The frozen ones at about the same time. Look at how puffy they are.

The Results

So, what happened? Well, typical me, I stood with my nose pressed to the oven the entire time they baked. (I baked the four controls separate from the frozen ones because the frozen ones would need an extra couple minutes of bake time.) It was fascinating to watch how they spread. The shortening cookies didn't start spreading until the final two minutes, whereas the other cookies started spreading almost immediately. The brown sugar did not spread as much and remained puffier than the others, but surprisingly the cake flour ones spread more than the controls.

Also, the controls never finished cooking. They were in as long as the others, but could've used an extra few minutes, but the others risked burning if I kept them in. I'm not sure if it was the oven and the side they were on was cooking differently, or if it was the cookie itself.

Then I put the frozen control snickerdoodles into the oven for 12 minutes. Once again, I pressed my nose against the glass as I watched the cookies bake. Like the shortening cookies, these cookies did not fully spread until the last two minutes. In fact, they more resembled the shortening cookies while baking than the control at fridge temperature. Also, they remained really puffed throughout cooking with nice, puffy rounded edges.

I let the cookies cool, after admiring their beauty, and my little sister (who is more of a "Nickerdoodle" fiend than I am), my mom and I taste tested them. Each cookie had a distinct flavor.

Control Snickerdoodle: The controls were classic Snickerdoodles. Cinnamony and sugary but for some reason they were a few minutes under baked. However, I couldn't leave them in because the other cookies would've been too crispy. A game is afoot!

Shortening Snickerdoodle: The shortening had that shortening flavor. There's really no other way to describe it, except it simply isn't butter. But it wasn't bad. But just less flavorful.

The inside of the shortening Snickerdoodle

Brown Sugar Snickerdoodle: The brown sugar snickerdoodles simply weren't Snickerdoodles. The brown sugar overpowered the cinnamon flavor. But it was none the less delicious.

Inside of the brown sugar Snickerdoodle

Cake Flour Snickerdoodle: These had a distinct cake taste about them. It was weird, but delicious. And they were very tender, almost melty.

Inside of the cake flour Snickerdoodle

Frozen Control Snickerdoodle: These were hands down the winner. They had the best flavor and they stayed much, much thicker than the regular controls. They were as thick, if not thicker, than the shortening cookies. And they had that classic, unmistakable Snickerdoodle taste.

Same cookie dough, but totally different thickness.

Disclaimer: After a little bit of thinking, yesterday I rolled these out without a cookie dough scoop. The frozen dough may have been slightly bigger, but freezing still reduce spread significantly. Although there may have been more dough, the frozen cookie spread as much as the smaller, chilled cookie. Interesting!

Best Looking: Shortening

Least Spread: Shortening/Frozen Control

Most puffiness/thickness: Frozen Control

Best taste: Frozen control (unanimous)

My concluding remarks: The Frozen control Snickerdoodles were by far closest to my most desirable Snickerdoodle. They were thick and gooey, but crispy on the edges. They also had that classic taste. It's funny how my favorite Snickerdoodle didn't even involve altering ingredients, but rather playing with phase changes. What fun.

Further experimentation? Well, yes. One way to reduce spread is to reduce the amount of fat and sugars in the cookie. It would be simple to reduce the sugar amount from 3/4 cup to 1/2 cup without affecting too much about the cookie. But for now, my family and I need to finish the Snickerdoodles in the fridge...

Citations:
CookWise by Shirley Corriher (Thanks Shirley! If you're reading this, which I really hope you are, this book is a god-send)!

Dear baking world,

Sorry about two posts in two days. It can only mean two things: exam week and procrastination. (The exam is tomorrow about mammals if anybody was wondering/cares.)

What a crazy week. I interviewed to work at a camp this summer where I would teach kids how to bake. What better job could I ask for!? I've already started mentally planning lessons (What kind of flour does what?! What is the difference between oil and butter?! The necessary vanilla cupcake!!!), but I'm trying not to count my chickens before they hatch, but I want to count, I really do.

Any who, here is a recipe I've been hankering to make for a few weeks. Nothing reminds me of fall more than applesauce. My parents make homemade applesauce every fall and frankly it's the only thing I've been eating for every meal these past three weeks. (They gave me a bunch.)

This recipe is a special one and there is a teaching moment here. First, there is very little butter in this recipe. Why? Because applesauce, or any fruit purée (which is why fall is such a great time to make "healthy" desserts) act as an oil replacement. They also make the baked good really moist (My roommate, through a large bite, says, "These are so moist!" There's some proof if you needed any). I still need to try out avocado (ole!) and tomato (WHAT?! But seriously.)

Second, these babies are better when they're refrigerated overnight. Their main flavor comes from their spices, a heady/seductive/mind-boggling blend of ginger, clover and cinnamon. In order for these spices to take hold, they must sit overnight.

When I whipped up the frosting this afternoon and threw one of these down the hatch was probably one of the best moments of my day. I've missed you, cupcakes, I really have. (Dumps cookies, which I've been dating/making for the past month and I'm not exactly sure why.) The only criticism I have is not enough spice. I followed what the recipe asked for, but I wanted a little more cinnamon and a little more cloves.

So lather on the cream cheese frosting, take a bite and sit back as the flavors of fall, captured in this unassuming little cupcake, flood your senses. MMMM!!! It made me happy, too.

Spiced Applesauce Cupcakes

yield 12

half stick unsalted butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 large egg

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce (although I accidentally used cinnamon and it made no difference taste wise.)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/8 tsp. cloves

Cream together butter, sugar and the vanilla for 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and beat well. Add the applesauce. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. At low speed, add the dry to the wet ingredients until just incorporated. Split evenly amongst the 12 cups. They won't be huge cupcakes, but they pack quite a punch.

(With a tablespoon of cream cheese frosting, these cupcakes come in at about 166 calories, so throw a few back if you must. I know I did.)

Cream cheese frosting

1 oz. cream cheese

1 tbsp. butter

dash of milk

dash of vanilla

powdered sugar to your liking

dash of cinnamon

Cream the cream cheese, butter, milk. Add vanilla to taste. Add powdered sugar to desired thickness. Throw in a little bit of cinnamon. (See, frosting is not an exact science.)