She Blinded Me With Science: C’mon Over Here and Give Me Some Sugar

SUGAR!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you tell I’ve maybe had a little too much? 😉 It’s not my fault though, I’m suffering for the sake of science.

Now that I’ve moved on to week two of this chocolate chip cookie quest, I’ve started wondering whether or not this was such a great idea. Is it possible to get sick of chocolate chip cookies? Then I immediately smacked myself over the head and said “Amber – that’s crazy talk! There’s a reason the chocolate chip cookie is considered a classic – they never go out of style! They’re like the little black dress of the cookie world (i.e. everybody looks good in chocolate chip cookie…er…covered in chocolate chip cookie? Hmm…that doesn’t sound quite right either, but cut me some slack here, I’m high on cookies and excessive amounts of sugar).

In case it hasn’t already become blatantly obvious which cookie element we’re tweaking here, I will now proceed to beat you over the head with a big ol’ bag ‘o sugar. If that still doesn’t clue you in that we’re all about the sugar this week then…I just have no words (although if the reason you don’t know that we’re doing sugar is because I got a bit overzealous in my over-the-head-beating-with-a-bag-of-sugar and you’re either now unconscious, have a concussion and/ or have amnesia, then I suppose I could let your lapse in ability to follow logic slide. This time anyway 😉 ).

You may notice in the sugars below a lack of just plain ol’ white sugar (what is with me and my overuse of the term ol’ this week? Too hyper to fully finish words is the answer I’m going with). There is good reason for this though, just in case you were thinking this was a MASSIVE oversight on my part. In the interest of consistency last week, white sugar was what I used, so obviously, I’ve done the white sugar version already (besides, technically, icing sugar is just white sugar that’s been incredibly finely ground down until it turns into powder (that’s your learning for today if you didn’t know this already 🙂 ), so I’m still sort of using white sugar. White sugar in an altered state…the same sugar you know and love, but now showing it’s softer, more cuddly side! 🙂 ).

The Players: SUGARS:

*Note: Sugar has a bad rap, so they all refused to pose for photos unless their faces could be concealed. I also had to promise to alter their voices if I wanted to use them in this blog. I was however, allowed to refer to their real names 😉 .

Icing Sugar:

Brown Sugar:

Maple Syrup:

Puréed Dates:

Reviews:

Icing Sugar:

Kevin – Tastes pretty good, consistency was soft and shortbread-like. Similar to a butter cookie. Appearance-wise though, I thought it looked a little like dried out Play Doh.
Me – Of the four, I found this one to be the sweetest, but it had a smooth, well-balanced taste. The texture was slightly grainy, but was really soft and melts in your mouth. I actually liked how these looked, but obviously Kevin and I weren’t seeing eye-to-eye on that one 🙂 .

Brown Sugar:

Kevin – I give the taste of this one a 5/5 – it was great! Texture was nice and soft and chewy.
Me – This one tasted the best to me, the chocolate flavour really stood out and it had an overall caramelized flavour. This one basically hit all the notes in what I look for in a chocolate chip cookie, it was soft and gooey, thick and chewy (soft and chewy is my ideal).

Maple Syrup:

Kevin – Overall, this one was pretty average on both taste and texture. It was good, and very soft. This one looked the “doughiest”.
Me – This one wasn’t overly sweet, the flavour reminded me a lot of the dough in fig newtons. It was a bit cakey in taste and texture, but still soft and chewy. This cookie stayed the “puffiest” looking.

Puréed Dates:

Kevin – Not really sweet enough. A little too soft, like sticky cake. Visually, it looked a bit “bready”.
Me – This was the most floury tasting (like eating cake). The cake flavour was strong enough that I didn’t really get as much chocolate flavour. It was really soft (too soft).

Verdict:

Kevin + Amber – Kevin and I were in total agreement on our ranking order for this one, so I most definitely think brown sugar wins the day and makes it to the next round! Ranking order:

#1 – Brown sugar
#2 – Icing sugar
#3 – Maple syrup
#4 – Puréed dates

So I don’t think I mentioned it last week, but I did in fact get a chance to do a hybrid oat flour + bread flour. Kevin and I both agreed it was a hit, so that’s what made it through to the sugar round.

Up next week, we’ll get to see how brown sugar, oat flour and bread flour duke it out with various fats (the edible kind, not the “Fats Domino” kind 😉 ). I’ll leave you in suspense for now about which fats will be included (and I swear it’s not just because I haven’t officially decided on them all yet 😉 ).