Cooking Through Ratio: Doughs and Batters – White Chocolate Chip with Macadamia Nuts Cookies
Posted in Baking Attempts, Ratio on August 30th, 2009 by Eric – Be the first to comment
White Chocolate Chip & Macadamia Nut Cookies
Working with and revisiting ratios becomes easier and easier each and every time. Each experience builds confidence and understanding. Cassie made another special request which I was more than happy to comply with while experimenting a little. Her cookie desire this time was white chocolate chip with macadamia nuts cookies. Not having white chocolate chips nor macadamia nuts provided a good excuse to go grocery shopping to pick up additional ingredients such as flour, unsalted butter and sugar that I was running low on. To my surprise all of the sugar and unsalted butter were sold out. There must must be a lot of baking going on in Boston.
For this cookie, I opted for a 1-1-1-1 ratio of butter, sugar,eggs and flour. I was hoping for a rich chewy cookie as described in the book. The eggs were there to provide a softer and airier crumb.
Speed and comfort using a scale are definitely noticeable now which is a great thing when in the kitchen. They help eliminate the little voice in your head that tells you that you don’t have the time, energy or desire to cook.
Once the dough was pulled I added in enough white chocolate chips and chopped macadamia nuts so that they were evenly distributed and easily visible. Using the drop method with a spoon I placed the cookie dough onto a baking sheet and put it into a 350 degree F oven.
After 15 minutes, the cookies were cooked through, although the edges were over-browned, translated as burnt. The dough had spread considerably and reminded me of the first time I attempted making the classic chocolate chip cookie variation when I broke in the new stand mixer. Despite the visual imperfections, the taste and texture were virtually flawless. Soft, chewy, some crunch and sweetness; this is what I was looking for. With more practice and experimentation I look forward to baking the “perfect” cookie.
to be precise. I have been agonizing over buying the mixer for months and figured that since I knew I was going to buy it anyway I might as well start enjoying it now. Besides the price dropped a bit so I decided to swoop in and buy it fast as a present to myself full well knowing that I’ll have to tighten the purse strings in the months to come.
and to christen my newest cooking tool decided to try out a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, which he’s mentioned in his blog. I only had one stick of unsalted butter left and this seemed like a timely and appropriate occasion to cut the recipe in half based on the principle of ratios. Who knew that Walgreen’s and 7/11 only sell salted butter. Mise en place rears its knowing self again.
