Cookies

Nick Sanchez
Sep 5, 2018 · 5 min read

Final Idea

After multiple failed attempts I finally successfully created a cookie I believed to be a perfect balance between something that tasted good but also has a pleasing aesthetic that didn’t fully overshadow the goal. The Jalapeno Business Cookie.

It consists of a yellow Betty Crocker cake mix that is formed into a bowl in a muffin pan. Then has a layer of cream cheese spread evenly across the base, followed by a drip of my key ingredient, Strawberry Jalapeno Jelly. It is then topped off with a half cut strawberry to create the perfect blend between sweet and spicy.

Recipe:

Dough//

  • 3/4 Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix
  • 1 Full Butter Stick

Cream Cheese//

  • 8oz Philadelphia original cream cheese
  • 3/4 Powdered Sugar
  • 1 egg

Jelly//

  • Strawberry Jalapeno Jelly
  • Strawberry

Directions//

Preheat the oven at 350 degrees F. Take the cake mix and put 3/4 of the bag into a mixing bowl. Then heat the stick of butter into a microwave for 30 seconds until it gets soft enough to squish. Put the butter stick into the bowl and knead the butter into the cake mix with your hands. Then put that into a muffin pan and raise the sides of the dough in each muffin hole so the dough make a bowl shape. Put this into the oven and let it sit for 15 min. Tip: You don’t want to bake the cookie/cake mix all the way because you going to have it bake longer with the cream cheese.

While the cookie dough is baking we will start to make the cream cheese. Begin by taking 1 whole Philadelphia cream cheese packet and throw it into a blender. Then take the 3/4 powdered sugar and egg and toss it in there as well. Mix it until it turns into a soft yellow/white cream. Try it to make sure its at your liking. Then go and take out the dough after 15min and let the dough sit 5 min so the dough can settle. After, take a spoon and drop a spoonful or spoon and a half and rub it evenly into the cookie. When this is finished, throw the pan back into the oven for 10 more minutes.

Take the cookies out and let cool for 15 minutes. Then take your Jalapeno strawberry jelly and drop a spoon full of the jelly into each cookie cup and try to spread evenly onto the sides. After this you can cut up as many strawberries as you want and add them at the top of each cookie. And Bam, you have a cream cheese Jalapeno Business Cookie.

Idea Generation

So basically how I started was I first asked around to see what were peoples favorites cookies. Then after getting some inspiration I decided to use that to make a cookie that was very different from their answers. So I made another list of some food combinations that people ate on the daily, like oatmeal and fruit, Nutella, potato chips, and even cheesecake. Then I made a little flow chart followed by some sketches to expand my options until I came up with my two final ideas.

Idea Test 1

One of the first original ideas I had but to create a cookie that represented a mini version of something people ate on the daily bases. So I came up with the combination between oatmeal, condensed milk, fruit and chocolate. I basically took a normal oatmeal cookie made it into a bowl shape and filled it with hard setting hard chocolate to cover the inside. Then I put little cut up pieces of strawberry and bananas in and topped it off with a drizzle of condensed milk. There was nothing physically wrong with the cookie, it tasted alright, but there was just something missing for me. It didn't have that rare element that really distinguished it self from others. So I moved on.

Idea Test 2

My second idea was to recreate a childhood fav dessert of mine but form it into a cookie, a cheesecake. So I was going to make the base of the cookie gram cracker bits but I decided I wanted to do something different. Then came the idea of a sugar cookie base. I made the dough, put the cream cheese in and topped it off with a strawberry. When I took a bite of it immediately I knew it was way to sweet for anyone liking. So that didn’t last to long.

Iteration

After making the second cookie idea I thought to myself, what is something I can add to this recipe to make it truly unique. What can I add to make it a signature cookie? So then I started to generate different combinations that went with cheese or that cheese had. And so came the idea of a jalepeno cheese dipping sauce I would eat with my chips all the time. So as i’m walking through the cub foods condiments isle looking for a spicy chile sauce I stumbled upon a Strawberry Jalepeno Jam. Right then I knew that was the signature ingredient I was missing. I got home and l looked at my cupboard to see if we had any more sugar cookie mix when I found a cake mix batter. I read the back of the instructions and looked online and found that if I didn't add the eggs into the cake mix that it wouldn't rise. Thats how the cake mix cookie dough came to be and thats how the Jalepeno Business cookie was created.

Timeline

Tuesday, 9/4/18: Do some research online about basic cookie recipes and write outline.

Wed, 9/5/18: Ask roommates for ideas and thoughts on favorite kinds of cookie.

Thur, 9/6/18: Write down as many ideas as I can.

Sat, 9/8/18: Refine ideas and create sketches.

Sun, 9/9/18: Generate more ideas then refine to top 3.

Mon,9/10/18: See which cookie is more feasible to make, then make it.

Tue, 9/11/18: Finalize the final iteration.

Wed, 9/12/18: Create the batch of a dozen cookies and start writing about it in the blog.

Nick Sanchez

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