Cookies
Final Idea + Recipe
My final idea was a turtle shaped green apple and caramel flavored cookie. I came up with the idea for the turtle while doodling in my notebook. I drew a random shape and it reminded me of a turtle. Then it just clicked in my mind that this could be a cool design for a cookie. I wanted to pair the colors of the turtle with the flavor. I decided that green apple and caramel would be the best flavor combination for the colors green and brown. Also the taste would be similar to a caramel apple. To create the shell I spread a a layer of caramel on top. For extra details/flavor I added chocolate crunch chips to create a shell pattern.


The final batch was a massive improvement over my first test. I was able to shape the cookies and was much more careful with the caramel layering. I still did not put enough mio flavoring into the dough, but I was able to fix that by mixing some into the caramel. I am very happy with how it all turned out.
Recipe (1 batch/12 cookies)
1 1/3 cups of flour
2/3 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 1/3 sticks of butter (about 8 1/2 tablespoons)
2/3 cup of sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons of Mio Apple flavoring
1 cup of spreadable caramel

Idea Generation
In the first couple of days I brainstormed many different ideas. However, when it came time to chose which two to bake I still liked my first two ideas the most. Many of the other ideas did not seem as creative or the flavors did not seem as appealing.


Idea 1 Test
My first test of the turtle cookies gave me a lot of feedback and showed me where I need to make changes. Most importantly I made the mistake of letting the cookies cool before trying to cut them. This caused them to crumble apart and impossible to shape.

I also realized the cookies were not green enough and did not have enough apple flavoring. For the next batch I would need to add more food coloring and mio flavoring. Finally, the first recipe only yielded 10 cookies so I would need to up the ingredients in a batch. Even though I had a lot to fix, those who tasted the cookies really liked them, so I knew I could move forward with the idea. Even though the first batch did not fully pan out I felt like this idea was much more unique and chose to make it my final cookie.

Idea 2 Test
The kool-aid cookie was one of my first ideas after being assigned the project. The idea came to me when I saw kool-aid packets at the store. I really liked the idea of vibrant colored cookies and the many flavors of kool- aid. I decided to double down on the sweet taste and make a sandwich cookie with marshmallow frosting in between. I initially was only going to make red cherry, but I later came up with the idea to merge the cookie with half blue tropical punch. After I came up with that I was very excited to bring this cookie to the baking stage. However, while making it I ran into a number of problems. First the tropical punch flavoring made the dough red instead of blue. Even after adding quite a bit of food coloring it only turned a shade of purple. Also cookies really expanded and started to cook into each other. I had to use a lid to cut the cookies down, so they could still be circular and used for a sandwich. Unfortunately, after the cookies waere made the frosting became a mess and it was much too sweet.


Iteration
The turtle cookie went through many iterations. The first choice I made was what flavor pairing to make. To help figure this out I ran a poll with some friends in my hall. Green apple and caramel was significantly more liked.

Next I experimented with the specific shape of the turtle. I sketched cookies that looked more like sea turtles, but decided to go against it since the legs would more easily fall off. I also thought about different ways to do the shell including making it detachable from the base of the cookie. The shell design itself also went through multiple stages. I thought about using MnM’s, licorice, and caramel lines to make patterns. Once it came to the actual baking of the cookie I decided that some of the idea were a little too complicated and decided to use a more simpler design, closer resembling the beginning sketches.

Time Line
Tuesday 9/4: Post blog and create timeline, Light research online and get advice from friends with experience baking.
Wednesday 9/5: Come up with multiple designs for the cookie and sketch them in my notebook.
Thursday 9/6 Narrow it down to my favorite 2 designs and make different iterations of those ideas with the flavors in mind.
Friday 9/7 Do more specific research on cookie ingredients and recipes. Decide on the first recipe I will try.
Saturday+Sunday 9/8–9 Buy ingredients and start experimenting with the amounts. Bake multiple batches and deal with any problems as they occur.
Monday 9/10: Test that the cookie can last overnight and hand out samples for my friends to try. Record their feedback, choose a favorite, and make any final changes
Tuesday+Wednesday 9/11–12: Write up the blog about the final cookie and the process. Post it.
Thursday 9/13: Bake the final dozen cookies and prepare them to be presented in class.
Friday 9/14: Peer Review