Cookies

and04283
and04283
Sep 5, 2018 · 6 min read

Outline

Final Idea & Recipe: Creamsicle Dream Cookie

RECIPE:

Make sugar cookie base:

Mix 3 c. of flour, 3/4 tsp. of baking powder, and 1/4 tsp. of salt

Blend 1 c. of butter with 1 c. of granulated sugar

Add 1 egg and 1 tbsp. of water to butter-sugar mixture

Gradually add dry ingredients until fully incorporated

Divide into three sections — mix 1/2 packet of jello in each section until fully incorporated (lime, lemon, and raspberry)

Chill overnight

  1. Roll each colored dough into 1 in. spheres (should be about 16)
  2. Roll out each sphere into logs (about 1/2 in. diameter)
  3. Lay a lime, lemon, and raspberry next to each other and roll out dough lengthwise until about 1/4 in. thick (should look like a fruit roll-up)
  4. Using a glass with a diameter slightly larger than the width of the rolled dough, cut out oval shapes from dough
  5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until all dough is used (should make about 3 doz. cookies)
  6. Chill cookies in freezer for 10 minutes and preheat oven to 375 deg. F
  7. Bake for 8 min — let cool
  8. Chop 8 oz. of white chocolate into fine pieces — slice orange candy into small pieces as well
  9. Heat chocolate over LOW HEAT on stove top, stirring often
  10. Add one drop of each to chocolate: red food coloring, yellow food coloring, and orange extract — stir
  11. Dip cookies in chocolate so that half of cookie is coated on both sides — place orange candy on chocolate and let cookies cool on wax paper in fridge
  12. Enjoy!

Idea Generation

When starting this process, all I was craving were chocolate cookies, so my ideas were pretty narrow!

I am a huge fan of breakfast sandwiches, so my ideas became more savory like this breakfast cookie. I was super tempted to move forward with this idea.

I am not a fan of fruity cookies, so it was really hard for me to branch out of the chocolate regime, but I wanted to play with color, so I explored a few wild ideas (even some with chocolate).

But alas, my chocolate cravings took over, and I found myself continuing to brainstorm new ways to form the delectable dessert.

Idea Test 1

As the chocolate fiend I am, I knew I wouldn’t be able to help but make something that incorporated chocolate. One of my hobbies is crocheting and knitting, which inspired the form of this multi-mix cookie.

As the engineer I am, I knew resourcefulness would help me tremendously with this design — so rather than recreate homemade recipes for chocolate, chocolate chip, sugar, and peanut butter cookies, I used mixes from the store.

Now, to my dismay, weaving cookie dough did not go as planned, as not ever dough likes to behave like mold-able sugar cookie dough. My first attempt was a flop, so I decided to “fake” the weave by placing small balls of dough next to each other.

Unfortunately, this did not result in the beautiful woven design I had hoped for, leaving me to discard this idea for the final design. I felt if it wasn’t going to be pretty, then it also lacked the creativity that this challenge required.

Idea Test 2

My artistic side pushed me to make something a bit more beautiful than the average cookie. I was inspired by the melancholy I felt about summer ending, and wanted to pay homage to the warm months.

The process for incorporating the jello flavors was straightforward, and so I didn’t need to further iterate on that process.

My initial attempt was to create a cookie in the shape of an ice-cream sandwich — unfortunately, like idea test #1, the sharp edges I was trying to obtain rounded out considerably.

The biggest flop in my initial design was by far the chocolate. I added way too much orange extract and ended up burning the chocolate, so the flavor overpowered the fruitiness of the cookie. Not to mention how ugly the result turned out.

Iteration

My initial design was meant to resemble and orange creamsicle pop, with the popsicle stick and orange slice included. However, I was limited to materials at the store, and was unable to find popsicle sticks. I decide to move forward with a deconstructed version of the frozen dessert. However, my first attempt at creating a rectangular shaped cookie did not succeed, so I had to pivot. I ended up creating an oval shaped cookie — a take on the original shape of an orange creamsicle pop.

After my first test, I learned that my idea to incorporate the orange-flavored chocolate on the outside of my fruity cookie was not going to taste great, so I had to revisit my recipe for the chocolate coating. I cut way back on the amount of coloring and orange extract I added, and kept it to one drop of each. I also melted my chocolate slowly over the stove, rather than in the microwave. This resulted in a much creamier, lighter tasting coating. Unfortunately, I was still unable to properly dip my cookies in the chocolate, so I resorted to spreading it like icing. This did not result in the prettiest cookies, but it was definitely an improvement from the first attempt.

I had originally wanted to add whole pieces of orange candy to the cookie as a cute decoration, but I discovered that the candy was far too large to add to the cookie without overpowering it. So instead, I chopped the candy and added smaller pieces to the chocolate covered cookies in a “mosaic” fashion. In the end, this made the cookies much more edible and delicious!

Timeline

Tuesday 9/4: Create timeline and begin verbally brainstorming cookie ideas.

Wednesday 9/5: Purchase notebook and begin documenting ideas; look up special techniques for homemade cookie recipes and document.

Friday 9/7: Finish ideation and make list of ingredients for baking.

Saturday 9/8: Purchase ingredients. Test bake top ideas and document recipes — record with photographs.

Sunday 9/9: Finish baking. Select recipe for presentation. Freeze cookies.

Monday 9/10: Compile blog post and photos. Scan images and write about design.

Tuesday 9/11: Finish blog post.

Wednesday 9/12: Thaw cookies or re-bake if necessary.

Thursday 9/13: Present cookies to class.

and04283

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and04283

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