Skip to main content

Cookies... the final act

So, I got a lot of interest in the cookie story (go to Shaving the Yak to read that post) and wanted to know how they turned out. So, here are some lessons I learned.

The Oven
Just because you can do mathematical calculations, doesn't mean you can change cooking instructions from fahrenheit to celsius easily. The recipe calls for a 375F oven. So, I pull out my trusty web browser and type "375 fahrenheit to celsius." Trusty Google tells me it is 190.556 celsius. Fair enough. But the oven goes in 25 degree increments. So, my first try is to set the oven to 200 and reduce the cooking time. This one cookie (I am smart enough to try them one at a time) is a charred briquet glued to the cookie sheet. OK, so, I try 175 degrees and keep the cooking time about the same. This time, a brown briquet glued to the cookie sheet. Hrmph. Obviously I need to keep reducing the temperature, but also I need to address the sticking problem. I tried greasing the sheet the way my mother did, but this added a hard crust to the edges. I went out and got the parchment paper. Now, with the cookies on parchment and the oven at 150, I got a fairly good representation.

Chocolate pieces
I read up on this and it seems the chocolate morsels we use for chocolate chips have a higher cocoa butter contents so they don't become a puddle of chocolate in the oven. The chocolate chips you can buy here are very small (I think about a 1/3 of the size of the US morsels) and I wanted that big chocolate ooze in the cookie. Also, what kind? I am not usually a chocolate maven, so I was a bit out of my element. Milk chocolate? Bakers? What percent (of what I am not sure, but I can get 84%, 70%)? Nougat? Caramel? I thought it best to go classic here and not muck around with additions to the chocolate. I think the percentages has to do with the cocoa, but the other percentage I think is the sweetener. I remember trying 80% and it was not very sweet. I opted for the 70% (I couldn't find lower) and that was the right taste.

Now, size. I first did fairly large pieces, but these did melt and I ended up with about one, maybe two pieces per cookie, which isn't exactly what I was looking for. I ended up cutting them about 1.3-1.5 centimetres or about 1/4 to 1/3 inches. That worked well in the dough.

Additions
The recipe didn't call for nuts. I think we have all become a bit nut phobic. For good reason, since many people now have nut allergies, but I wanted that flavour, so I added pecans, chopped.

Wrapping
Finally, how do I present these? I found cardboard boxes just the right size at a craft store. Seemed the right size, but the grease from the cookies would leak. I wanted to find some cellophane, but did not, so I settled for plastic wrap. Not as Martha Stewart as I would have liked, but you have to go with what works. Added some ribbon and (hopefully) this will be decorative enough for the Christmas event.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

La Politesse

The way women are treated has changed dramatically in my lifetime. I was born in 1956 and my memories date from about 1962. At that time, the standard gender roles were in place and women were the homemakers. It was unusual in my hometown for a woman to have a job outside the home. Of course, then came the 60s and 70s and the US female population demanded changes that have changed how we view and treat women. In NYC, I have found that women are, for the most part, treated similarly to men. Some of the niceties of the past era are gone or at least greatly diminished. You can hold a door open for a woman or pull out a chair, but you may get a strange look or told that she can do it for herself. I spoke to Helmut about how women are treated in Paris and he tells me that women here universally will appreciate the niceties and are, to some women, expected when going out socially or romantically. He tells me that while women have advanced and are paid similarly to men (maybe 10% less), the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chronomically challenged

Parisians are ALWAYS late. I think New Yorkers run the gamut, but Parisians are late. They always have a good reason: traffic, the weather, kept at work, the Métro, the dog, the kids, garbage truck. But late. I am in a period of adjusting to this. My tendency is to be on-time. I call it the German in me. Helmut, who was born in Germany, is Parisian now and so I am alone in this bit of frustration. For the most part, people are 15 to 30 minutes late but for some it can be a bit extreme. For instance, meeting my friend Laure means scheduling a 1/2 hour (at least) for this arrival time. I want to emphasize, this is my issue, not Paris'. BUT There are extreme cases. One time Helmut and I were supposed to meet someone for dinner at (let's say) 8 (16h). She called and was going to be late. About an hour and a half after our original meeting time, we left for dinner. She knew where we would be, so she could meet us. At this point I had my doubts if she was going to come at all....
3 comments
Read more

Shaving the Yak*

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I am planning to make chocolate chip cookies for Christmas here in Paris. Very American, chocolatey, how can I go wrong? "And," I think, "I have always made everything from scratch, so I will have no problems getting my ingredients." I even think I have put in some safeguards and bought some items in NYC, just to be sure. Baking soda? Check. Baking powder? check. The oven is celsius, but armed with a browser and Google, I'm good to go, right?Here are the ingredients: flour (all purpose), baking soda, salt, unsalted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, egg yolk milk vanilla extract, chocolate chips. My first inkling that things may not be as easy was the chocolate chips. I was planning on buying them, but Helmut told me the chips can easily be found in Paris ("of course they are.") and he was right. BUT... they are tiny. If I used these, they would melt, and would turn the cookie into a chocolate cook...
Post a Comment
Read more