cookies

Zachary Zenjo
Sep 5, 2018 · 4 min read

Final idea + Recipe

The cookie I made is a curry based dough that is baked, and later deep fried. I will name this the Curry Crunch. I think it is creative because cookies are traditionally sweet but this cookie’s main flavor is spicy, and curry is not usually found in American baked goods. The recipe is as follows:

Dough

  • all purpose flour 1 cup
  • curry powder 1/3 cup
  • granulated sugar 1/3 cup
  • softened butter 4 tbsp
  • baking powder 2 tsp
  • egg 1
  • honey 1 tbsp

Batter

  • egg 1
  • bread crumbs 1 cup
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F
  2. Mix the butter, sugar, egg and honey.
  3. Add the curry powder, baking powder and flour little by little.
  4. Shape dough into a cookie and arrange dough on cookie sheet and bake for 6 mins.
  5. Cool cookie for 5 mins.
  6. Heat oil.
  7. Dip cookie into egg then bread crumbs and fry.
  8. Fry until the cookies are golden brown.
  9. Cool on cooling rack before serving.

Idea Generation

I was mainly thinking about other desserts I could turn into a cookie, or the total opposite and just regular foods turned into cookie. I decided on the latter because I think having a cookie that is not sweet was an interesting idea, since the typical cookie was sweet.

Idea Test 1

I decided to make Reese’s and kettle chip cookies, since that was my preferred combination of snacks during late night studying while in high school. It was a good balance of sweet and salty, and I thought it would be the same in a cookie form. For the cookie, I decided to put some Reese’s in the center of the cookie in hopes that it would be gooey, and sprinkle some broken chips on the top. The result was not as I expected. The peanut butter cups didn’t melt, the chips lost their crunch, the cookies were cracked, and the flavors did not blend. It was like eating the ingredients separately. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t good either. I don’t think I have enough time to make the cookies better so I think I will try another idea to iterate on.

Idea Test 2

When I was bouncing ideas with a friend, she suggested a cookie inspired by “melon bread”, which is a sweet bread from Japan. I figured that has already been done, so instead I based a cookie on my favorite bread instead; Curry bread. Traditionally, curry bread is curry wrapped in dough, and then deep fried. I decided to make a curry based cookie, and then dip it in batter to fry. I used brown sugar because the cookie becomes more chewy, creating a contrast in texture from the crunchy outside. The cookie had a nice curry flavor and a crispy crunch, but not as chewy as much as I was hoping for. The baking was smooth and no trouble at all. I also tried baking half first and let the other half just freeze before frying, but there was not much of a difference aside from the frozen one being flat.

Iteration

I iterated on idea 2, since I felt like improving it was more viable than idea 1. Instead of using batter, I decided to simply just use eggs and bread crumbs. I also included honey for some sweetness, and I used white sugar instead of brown to make a more fluffy cookie rather than a chewy cookie. The crunch was way better this time, giving a really noticeable difference between the outer shell and inner cookie. I think the fact that it was more sponge like rather than chewy also contributed to the difference. By taking the cookies out earlier than the average baking time, I was still able to preserve a little moisture in the center. There was a faint sweetness but the curry flavor was still very strong, so that was a lucky guess on the amount of honey.

    Zachary Zenjo

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