{"id":3226,"date":"2010-03-08T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2010-03-08T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.afterhoursagency.com\/wgc\/?p=3226"},"modified":"2020-05-26T20:48:12","modified_gmt":"2020-05-27T03:48:12","slug":"pastry-school-week-2-cookies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.afterhoursagency.com\/wgc\/pastry-school-week-2-cookies\/","title":{"rendered":"Pastry School Week 2 \u2013 Cookies Cookies and more Cookies"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few things really stood out when I signed up for pastry school like mastering the art of sugar, decorating tiered cakes and cookies! I am always on the look out for the best cookie and trust me I have made my fair share. Growing up in my family there were always cookies in the house, and we were always making more because between me, my sister and my parents they disappeared all too quickly. And we were a chocolate chip or m&m cookie kind of family. We never really made too many variations because we LOVED what we already had… but after this week at school, I am going to be adding some new recipes to my repertoire.<\/p>\n

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We experimented with several different chocolate chip recipes as well as different ratios and different kinds of flour. After much baking, waiting, tasting and discussion I pretty much have found my new favorite most amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe… and yes, don’t you worry, I will share…<\/p>\n

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I made coconut macaroons for the first time ever. And then I ate about 10 of them for the first time ever. They were delish to say the least! I love how they are a little sticky and chewy!<\/p>\n

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The Langues de Chat, otherwise known as Cat’s Tounges in English were a pleasant surprise. At first I wasn’t that excited about the recipe or eating a super slim cookie… but dear lord… after the first taste of the batter I changed my mind immediately. They were phenomenal… perfect to eat with a cup of tea or with a sorbet. In fact, I plan on doing that for ever and ever and will never be without some Langues de Chat on hand!<\/p>\n

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Yet another cookie that I have never tried until this week at school… the Madeline. O.M.G. Delish! I used a whole bundle of orange zest in the batter which made the cookies taste the slightest bit healthy, even though they definitely were not!<\/p>\n

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Okay so lets talk about the chocolate chip cookie. Its a staple. A must. Something that you just can’t live without. Like I said before, I try all kinds of cookies. Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, M&M, White Chocolate, Butterscotch… you name it and I have made it. There are 4 things that you can look for when judging a cookie<\/p>\n

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  1. Crispiness<\/li>\n
  2. Softness<\/li>\n
  3. Chewiness<\/li>\n
  4. Spread<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The greatest part about this week at school was that we learned the perfect ratio for make the cookie. It can be adapted to fit whatever kind of extras you want whether it be Chocolate Chips, Raisins, Nuts etc. Its all about the ratio of butter to sugar to flour. At first it was a bit hard to understand because I had to remember all my elementary school math, but once I started to remember by basic multiplication I was coming up with new ratios to experiment with left and right! As demonstrated by the image above, different percentages of sugar have different effects on the outcome of the cookie. A low amount of sugar results in a cakier consistency (40%). The higher amount of sugar the more the cookie spreads (70%). These percentages are the amounts of sugar compared to the flour.<\/p>\n

    For example if you need 300 grams of flour for the cookie and you are using a 40% ratio for sugar then you need 40% white sugar or 120 grams and 40% brown sugar or 120 grams (240 grams of sugar (80%)  to 300 grams flour (100%).
    \nFor example if you need 300 grams of flour for the cookie and you are using a 50% ratio for sugar then you need 50% white sugar or 150 grams and 50% brown sugar or 150 grams (300 grams of sugar (100%)  to 300 grams flour (100%).
    \nFor example if you need 300 grams of flour for the cookie and you are using a 60% ratio for sugar then you need 60% white sugar or 180 grams and 60% brown sugar or 180 grams. (360 grams of sugar (120%)  to 300 grams flour (100%).<\/p>\n

    After much deliberation and tasting multiple cookies it was clear to me that the 50% ratio of sugars to flour was the BEST! This means that there will be equal amounts of sugar to pastry flour. (The White Sugar (grams)  + The Brown Sugar (grams) = Pastry Flour (grams). Now after deciding that these were the ratios I planned to use, I went ahead and adjusted the white and brown sugar to 30% and 70% which will still result the same consistency because I am still using a 1:1 ratio for sugars (300 grams) and flour (300 grams).<\/p>\n

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    Pastry School Week 2 \u2013 Cookies Cookies and more Cookies<\/h2>\n\n\n
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