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Cookie Experiment

Decent Essays

When we bake cookies, we never stop and wonder why the cookie does what it does. We never ask why the cookie is sometimes too chewy or too crumbly. Usually, we make the batter, scoop it onto a cookie sheet, and put it in the oven to bake. The only reason we have a cookie is because each ingredient does what it is supposed to. Sugar causes the cookie batter to spread in the pan. Some salt will strengthen a cookie’s flavor. Salt also strengthens the protein in a dough, making cookies chewier (Fine Cooking). This experiment, however, questions if an increased amount of eggs is used in a cookie recipe will increase a cookie’s height. Cookies usually only rise a centimeter or so off the pan. If their height was raised, customers at a bakery might find them more appealing. Even better, the cookie’s recipe would not be altered chemically, it would only be one or two extra eggs. …show more content…

However, the person running the experiment only tested to see the effects of using more egg whites or yolks. In one of her paragraphs, she states, “If butter and sugar are the stars of the cookie show, then an egg is craft services, dutifully showing up to provide the fuel everyone else needs to get the job done: plenty of water, some lecithin (a powerful emulsifier), fat, and protein…. Aeration gets a steamy lift from moisture, the Maillard reaction.” (Serious Eats). So, if more eggs are added, then the cookie may rise due to the aeration increase from the moisture inside the egg. In a recipe, the baking soda is what makes the cookie rise. Eventually, the baking soda or powder starts to break down into carbon dioxide gas, which raise up the cookie farther (Doucleff). Although the baking soda/powder is partially what makes the cookies rise, a study on the incubation and embryology of eggs (University of Illinois) shows that a whole egg is 74% moisture. The steam that makes a cookie rise comes mostly from the moisture that an egg

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