Cookies

Sarah Dotte
Sep 5, 2018 · 5 min read

Final Idea:

Root beer Barrel Cookies

My final idea comes from the iteration of the root beer barrel cookies. I updated the recipe by adding crushed root beer barrel candies to the sugar cookie dough while reducing the amount of sugar to balance out the mix. I also substituted vanilla extract with root beer. To keep with the gooey center, I added soft caramel candies to the middle of each cookie and layered another cookie on top of that to create a cookie caramel sandwich. I also decided to make a root beer glaze to frost the cookies. The outcome of this batch was significantly better than the previous creations.

Recipe:

Dough:

¾ cup butter or margarine, softened

½ cup sugar

½ cup root beer barrel candies, crushed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon root beer

2 ¾ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and root beer barrel candies. Add eggs and root beer; beat until light and fluffy. Combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Chill for 1 hour or until firm. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut desired shapes using cookie cutters or a knife. Using a floured spatula, place cookies on greased baking sheets. Place soft caramel candies in the center of each cookie and layer another cookie on top to create a cookie caramel sandwich. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks.

Glaze:

¾ cup almond bark

1/8 cup soft caramel

1/8 cup root beer

¼ cup powdered sugar

On a double boiler, melt almond bark and soft caramel together until smooth. Add root beer; mix until substance is consistent. Gradually add powdered sugar; mix until all the powdered sugar is dissolved. Let cool and drizzle on cookies.

Idea Generation:

Ideas page from my design notebook

I locked down on two solid ideas that I had not seen done before.

One was to create a cookie that looked like a little pop can or root beer barrel with a gooey root beer flavored center. I thought of this because root beer is the only kind of pop I like due to its unique flavor.

The second idea came from my garden and the fact that I have a ridiculous amount of peppers, and the plants keep pumping them out like a personal pepper factory. The idea behind this is to have a sweet and spicy cookie.

Idea Test 1:

Root beer Barrel Cookies:

It is made of a standard sugar cookie recipe and is assembled to look like a can of pop. The process of making them is to cut the shapes before baking and then assemble them after baking. The assembly was difficult because creating the barrel shape needs to be done while the cookies are warm and pliable. The seams are stitched together using frosting. The inside is filled with a gooey root beer flavored caramel-based substance and is used to make it seem like a liquid inside the cookie can. The outcome was atrocious because the entire process was too complicated, and it had to many parts for one cookie.

Idea Test 2:

Sweet and Spicy Swirl Cookies:

Sweet and Spicy Swirl Cookies

I used banana peppers because they tend to be less extreme on the heat gauge. I sweetened the peppers with sugar using a method commonly used to make strawberry syrup; dice the peppers, mix them with sugar, and let them set into the syrupy form. While the syrup was setting, I used a double boiler method to melt down soft caramels to be mixed with the syrup. I used a standard sugar cookie recipe with this cookie as well, but I rolled the dough out to create a sheet and covered it with the caramel banana pepper syrup. I rolled the sheet and syrup into a tube shape, and then chilled the roll in the freezer before slicing it. The outcome looked horrible because the caramel ended up melting everywhere in the oven, but they still tasted great.

Iteration:

Initial design ideas and the iteration of one idea

I had my mom and a friend taste test the samples to see which would be the favorite among the three of us. The sweet and spicy cookies were hideous, but they had great taste with a little kick. The caramel was very crunchy after being baked which added a nice texture, but was hard to chew. The root beer barrel cookies were also hideous because assembly did not go as planned. We ended up not assembling them at all because it was too time consuming and did not work in general. We ended up eating all the components with a spoon to see how the flavors worked together. The root beer barrel cookies were the crowd favorite, so I decided to completely revamp the root beer barrel cookies in a second attempt.

OUTLINE/TIMELINE

Tuesday 9/4/18:

· Make Outline/Timeline blog post.

· Brainstorm ideas.

Wednesday 9/5/18:

· Brainstorm unique ideas for cookies using more than one medium.

-Flavor, Form, Texture, Cooking process, Presentation, etc.

· Brainstorm with Mom since she knows how to bake.

Thursday 9/6/18:

· Brainstorm more ideas and research what has been created before.

· Decide on two types of cookies to make and test.

· Buy the necessary ingredients to start baking.

Friday 9/7/18:

· Bake the different types of cookies.

· Invite friends to taste test and give feedback.

Saturday 9/8/18:

· Choose one type of cookie.

· Think of ways the cookie could be improved or made more creative.

Sunday 9/9/18:

· Make and test cookie improvement ideas.

· Have friends taste test again to provide more feedback.

· Start creating blog documents.

- Layout the creative process, Display areas of trial and error, Include photos, etc.

Monday 9/10/18:

· Finalize the cookie recipe.

· Take pictures of the final cookies for the blog.

· Continue working on blog documents.

Tuesday 9/11/18:

· Finish up blog documents.

Wednesday 9/12/18:

· Add any final touches to the blog documents and post it.

· Bake the final cookies for class on Thursday 9/13/18.

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