Mastering the Classics

Hello everyone and welcome back!! I hope you all enjoyed my first post and got to know a little bit more about me and my blog. Today, we are going to talk about two desserts that everyone loves and is always a crowd pleaser: Cookies and Brownies!!

Before I get started, I want to mention that I will be talking about making these desserts from scratch-no box mix here!!

There are many reasons as to why these two desserts are so popular. First, they are delicious (obviously) and second, they are very easy to make. But the question is how do you make the "perfect" chocolate chip cookie and brownie?

The most important thing is that you need to make sure your ingredients are at room temperature. This is key in both of these recipes and for baking in general. When the ingredients are not at room temperature, it does not allow the batter to become uniformed and it will not bake properly once it is in the oven. In the photo below, you can see how the temperature affects the consistency of the baked good!

This means that before you start baking, you should leave the butter and eggs out for at least 15-20 min. During this time, you should also preheat your oven!

To know when the ingredients are at room temperature, press and make an indent with your finger into the butter and see if it is soft. For the eggs, if they are warm in your hand then they are ready to go!

For cookies, it is important to get the consistency of the butter just right. Out of all the ingredients, the butter is the main one that is going to make or break your cookie!

In the next few pictures, I will explain how the consistency affects you from having the "perfect" cookie:

In the picture below, you can see how the butter has affected the batter. Some recipes will call for melted butter and other recipes will call for room temperature butter. For our "perfect" cookie, you want the one that is labeled "Cool Room Temp Butter" (or Melted Butter, if the recipe calls for that!)

In the next photo, this is what the different types of dough will look like after adding in your dry ingredients. Notice how the "Cool Room Temp Butter" is formed more into a ball, that's what we want for our cookie!

Lastly, this is a photo of what your cookies will look like once they are out of the oven. Notice how the "Cool Room Temp Butter" cookie is more doughy whereas the "Melted Butter" is more thin and chewy!

Now that we've talked about cookies, let's move on to brownies!!

For brownies, it is pretty much the same thing as the cookies except you want to make sure your butter is melted!! Also with brownies, the recipe may also call for oil instead of butter.

The "perfect" brownie depends on the ratio of fats to flour. When I say fats, I am talking about the oil or butter that is being used in the recipe. If you want your brownie to be more gooey, then you need to add more fat to your batter, and less flour/dry ingredients.

In the photo below, you can see the difference between a gooey and cakey brownie. We want the "In between" so we get a mixture of both!

That pretty much wraps up how to get the "perfect" cookie and brownie! Personally, I like a chewy cookie and an in between brownie so I have included the link to the recipes that I use and they are my favorite. They are both from Sally's Baking Addiction!

Cookie Recipe

Brownie Recipe

I hope this post was informational and that the photos were helpful. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to use the form on the Contact page!

Stay tuned for next week's post where I will be talking about how to make bread!!