Cookie
Timeline
9/4: Write timeline. Brainstorm ideas. Talk with people to get inspired.
9/5: Continue to brainstorm. Keep talking with others to hopefully spark a good idea. Write at least 10 cookies that I think will be good. Begin research. (what makes a cookie, baking strategies, temperature effects, different types of dough, complimentary flavors, ingredients, ect.) Visit insomnia cookies as research. Ask workers about what goes into a cookie and take notes. Maybe also eat a cookie from there.
9/6: By this point I should have narrowed down what my cookie will be like. I will hopefully have at least a few different cookies to try to make. Research more into depth (using the internet and other resources) on how I’m going to accomplish it.
9/7: Research should be coming to a wrap. At this point I will begin coming up with recipes.
9/8: Test recipe. Take notes and make improvements. Or eliminate any that are disgusting.
9/9: Test recipe again. Take notes and make improvements. Narrow down options.
9/10: Test recipe again. Take notes and make improvements.
9/11: This is it chief. I should have my cookie at this point by choosing the best one.
9/12: Post to blog, final product done.
Final Idea + Recipe:
Final Idea: The name of this cookie is still the Yard Cookie. This idea came from making a cookie out of things that grew in my yard. That is why it is creative. I’ve never seen a cookie that is flavored with home grown Hops and Hot Peppers (and trust me they dont exist, I looked it up). These cookies are not for the feint of heart, but I personally find them enjoyable. They’re very different. They bring heat, sweet, and bitter all in one bite.


Recipe:
- 1 cup butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 egg, plus 1 yolk
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2 3/4 cup flour
- 12 hop buds
- 12 habanero peppers
For the cinnamon sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 Tbsp cinnamon
Bake these bad boys for 10–12 min at 325 degrees and you’re set.
Idea Generation: The way I came up with my ideas is pretty simple. I thought to myself, “what’s the weirdest edible cookie combination that I can come up with?”. So I brainstormed and wrote down nearly every idea that came through my head no matter how bad it was. I started by talking to people about it. Whether it be friends/family/classmates, etc. It didn’t matter I just needed to bounce ideas off of people. Unfortunately almost everything I discussed with anyone had already either been invented or it wasn't feasible given the amount of time I had. My second source of inspiration, which ended up being arguably the most important, were my surroundings. At this point almost everything I had thought of had already been invented. So I looked to my yard at home. That's how I came up with the yard cookie. Everything in the ingredients (besides the basic cookie dough) had been grown in my yard. I looked up the combination and it had never been done before. Also looking at my surroundings I saw some laffy taffy. That had never been put in a cookie before either (to my knowledge). At this point I was still in need of at least one more unique idea. So I stopped thinking ingredients and I started thinking about how to cook the cookies. That’s when I thought about boiling/steaming cookies (which you will see in the idea test section I found to be nearly impossible).



Idea Test 1: Yard Cookie.
This idea came from the thought of making a cookie that was flavored from things that were grown in my yard. These Ingredients included hot chili peppers, hops, and grass. The initial cookie came out tasting horrible. I accidentally added way to much salt to the dough, which I believe is the main reason that the cookie tasted so bad.

Idea Test 2: Boiled Cookies
This one was probably the most fun to make. For this cookie, rather than changing the cooking method. I tried boiling come cookie dough in water. I wrapped come of the dough in foil, and I put the other piece of dough in a small bowl. Both attempts were complete and utter failures. The dough just turned into mush.





Idea Test 3: Laffy Taffy Cookies.
I tried to put some laffy taffy in cookie dough. First I tried melting the laffy taffy in a small bowl and putting it in the dough. That didn’t work out so well so I ended up cutting some laffy taffy into chunks and putting it into the dough that way. However, taffy and dough do not go well together in an oven. The taffy melted right through the dough, making this attempt a failure.



Iteration: I decided to improve upon the yard cookie, because even though it tasted horrible, it was still my biggest success. I decided to switch from a sugar cookie base dough to a snicker doodle dough. Essentially this just added a cinnamon flavor that nicely complimented the heat of the hot peppers. I also decided to drop the grass out of the recipe because, well, eating grass is for cows… and it tastes nasty. I also made the cookies smaller, because they were too big the first time.


