A softer cookie?

[HollyElise]

Okay baking experts....

I'm trying to develop some cookie recipes and i'm trying to figure out what makes a cookie "chewier."

Baking time obviously has something to do with it, but not all...

I know (don't laugh Polwarth! ) ....from Brownie mixes.... that more egg makes it "cake-like" and i don't want that.

I know from shortbread that a lot of butter makes it crispy.

...and that's about all i know! I've been playing around with the ingredients (adding milk, reducing the levening, etc.)... but i'm at the point where i'll have to get more scientific about it and start getting methodical with mini-batches and keeping records.

Any words of wisdom?

[Babz]

Golden Syrup make Flapjacks chewy....

Flapjacks


50g (2oz) margarine
50g (2oz) soft brown sugar
2 x 15ml spoons syrup
100g (4oz) Scottish Porridge Oats

Lightly grease a baking tray. Pre-heat oven to 160ºC/350ºF/ Gas 4.

Place margarine, syrup and sugar in a put and heat on a low heat until ingredients have melted. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL. Remove from heat and stir in the oats. Place the mixture in the prepared tin, then bake for 25 minutes until golden brown. Cut into fingers while still warm and leave in the tin to cool.

These flapjacks can be flavoured with a variety of ingredients, chopped and added to the oat mixture before cooking. Try them with cherries, nuts, coconut, banana, apple, apricot or mixed fruit. They can also be spread with melted chocolate when cool !!

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Chewy Cookie Recipe

1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 pkts brown sugar substitute
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 cup wheat flake cereal
1/2 cup a-p flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp wheat germ
1/2 cup raisins, chopped
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp water

Mix ingredients in bowl. Last adding the soda disolved in water.
Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in 350 F. oven for 8
to 12 minutes


--------------------------------------------------------------------------Another one......

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
12 teaspoons (11/2 sticks) unsalted butter,
melted and cooled until warm
1 cup light or dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1–11/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust oven racks to upper- and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 325 degrees.
Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Either by hand or with electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly blended.
Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.
Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips to taste.
4. Roll scant ¼ cup dough into ball.
Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull into two equal halves.
Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join halves together at their
base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth dough’s uneven surface.
Place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 1/2 inches between each ball.
5. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking (from top to bottom and
front to back), until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centres are still soft and puffy.
15 to 18 minutes.
Cool cookies on sheets.
When cooled, peel cookies from parchment.

[kathyv]

I think you need to avoid using levenings like baking sodas, baking powders and cream of tarters. They all work for crisper products.

My grandma made a really chewy cookie using molasses and brown sugar with egg. She used enough flour to bind it all but mostly the binding was dry oat meal. She also tossed in a few raisens to add to the chewiness. Unfortunately she never used a recipe so I can't tell you how she did it!

You might consider substituting honey for sweetening rather that granulated sugar, that's a product designed to become crisp as well.

[HollyElise]

hmmm. I still can't figure out the chemistry of it!!!! Mind boggling!

I tweaked this old sugar cookie recipe to make it softer and i'm very pleased with this recipe, but in this case i reduced the amount of flour to make it softer (i think originally it had closer to three cups of flour, it also had less salt, but i like my sugar cookies "perky":

Sugar Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 cups white flour

Preheat oven to 350F (medium oven). Cream margarine and sugar; add to it the eggs, salt, vanilla, and baking soda (yes, i'm lazy and i add the baking soda to the liquids, but you should probably sift it with the flour instead). Add four. Mix well. Baking times... sorry... i always either wing it and let my nose and finger decide or i do a test cookie first and time it. (As all ovens are different and sometimes even different days with the same oven get different results, i've had better success using this method for times rather than a clock).


~Anyway, these turn out nice and soft so long as they aren't over-baked, and as you can see they have 2 eggs and baking soda. I'm wondering now from your description if i should try removing some of the flour from my oatmeal cookie recipe and seeing how it goes.... ? These, with less flour, turn out flatter than average homemade cookies.

OH! You know what else i figured out? The other week i was trying an old Fanny Farmer cookie recipe for "chewy" oatmeal cookies, and it just didn't come out right. They were very cake-like and a bit cruchy. I kept wondering and wondering, why it went wrong, and finally it dawned on me, that the recipe i was using was probably 80 years old and called for two eggs!!!!!!!!! ....do you get it? ....80 years ago the average chicken egg was SMALLER! I felt so smart figuring that one out. A large egg probably has about twice as much egg as a small egg! It kind of reminds me of "vanity sizing" that we have here in the U.S.... errrrgh! Anyway, i haven't had a chance to retry the recipe with one egg yet.

Babz, thank you for the recipes, but unfortunately it's extremely difficult for me to get golden syrup here (i have to mail order it from a Brittish import company in New England). I haven't been able to find it anywhere else, except sometimes it shows up at Scottish Games, but usually sells out in the first hour. I haven't been lucky to taste any of it yet and i'm very curious. And i'm also wondering about the "brown sugar substitute" you mention. I've never heard of it... is that like other sugar substitutes? (aspartame, saccharin) ....i'm afraid i won't use anything like that, just don't trust the health risks. I will check out the last recipe though and see how it goes!

[Babz]

Originally Posted by HollyElise

Babz, thank you for the recipes, but unfortunately it's extremely difficult for me to get golden syrup here (i have to mail order it from a Brittish import company in New England). I haven't been able to find it anywhere else, except sometimes it shows up at Scottish Games, but usually sells out in the first hour. I haven't been lucky to taste any of it yet and i'm very curious. And i'm also wondering about the "brown sugar substitute" you mention. I've never heard of it... is that like other sugar substitutes? (aspartame, saccharin) ....i'm afraid i won't use anything like that, just don't trust the health risks. I will check out the last recipe though and see how it goes!

Have found this information for you about 'brown sugar substitute'....

Brown Sugar Substitute

1 cup artificial sweetener*
1/4 cup sugar-free maple syrup
Mix ingredients well.

Replaces 1 cup of regular brown sugar to be used when baking.

*Use the type of sweetener that measures 1 cup to 1 cup of granulated sugar.

------------------------------------------------------------

Brown Sugar Substitute

For each 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar called for in a recipe, use 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses plus 1 cup granulated sugar.

To make light brown sugar from dark brown sugar, use 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar.

For dark brown sugar, use 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar plus 1 tablespoon molasses; or 1 cup granulated sugar plus 1/4 cup molasses

I hope that they clarify what you needed to know !!
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I have also found a website for a supplier of 'Golden Syrup' in the USA.....

http://www.goldeneaglesyrup.com/index.html

[kathyv]

Holly, have you tried subbing White Karo syrup in place of the Golden Syrup?

[HollyElise]

No i haven't, Kathy. That's a good suggestion.