Are there better ways to make a chocolate chip cookie?

Problem:

Are there better ways to make a chocolate chip cookie?

Hypothesis:

My hypothesis was that there were ways to make a classic chocolate chip cookie better. I thought the all brown sugar,coconut flour, and the baking powder would be the best.

Procedure:

• 1. Start by finding a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. I used Hershey’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe.

  2. Decide what variations to make.

  3. Gather all ingredients.

  4. Heat oven to 375°F.

  5. Stir together 2-1/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

  6. Beat 1 cup softened butter, 3/4 cup granulated sugar,3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla in large bowl with mixer until creamy.

  7. Add 2 eggs and beat well.

  8. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.

  9. Stir in 2 cups chocolate chips.

  10. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

  11. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.

  12. Let cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

  13. Repeat using 10% extra flour.

  14. Repeat substituting more brown sugar for the granulated sugar.

  15. Repeat using whole wheat flour instead of regular.

  16. Repeat using margarine instead of butter.

  17. Repeat using coconut flour instead of regular.

  18. Repeat substituting more granulated sugar for the brown sugar.

  19. Repeat using corn flour instead of regular.

  20. Repeat using melted butter.

  21. Repeat using baking powder instead of baking soda.

  22. Repeat using sorghum flour instead of regular.

  23. Rate each cookie from 1-10 1 being the worst, 5 being average, 10 being amazing,

  24. Take notes on each variation.

  25. Graph the data.

Conclusion:

My data showed me that there are ways to improve chocolate chip cookies but there aren’t many ways. My hypothesis was partially correct. I was right that there were ways to improve the cookies but I was wrong about which would be the best. I predicted that the all brown sugar, coconut flour, and baking powder would be the best however sorghum flour, melted butter, and all brown sugar were the best. Majority of the cookies were rated 3 or 4. Next time I could have multiple people rate the cookie and find an average so i would have more accurate results.. It is possible to make a chocolate chip better but it is better to stick to the recipe. Baking is an exact chemistry that shouldn’t be messed with.

Abstract:

As said by Sesame Street’s famous, fuzzy, blue monster “COOKIES!!” For my Science fair project I decided to make different variations of a classic chocolate-chip cookie recipe. I love baking but baking is an exact chemistry. It is very important to stick to the recipe. I was wondering what may happen if I were to change one component of the recipe. I also made several gluten-free cookies for people with dietary restrictions. My hypothesis is that there are several ways to improve a chocolate chip cookie. I think this because there are many possible variations and odds are one of them has to be better.

First, I found the recipe I was going to mimic, which was the Hershey’s Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. After that, in a medium sized bowl, I mixed 2-¼ cups flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, and ½ tsp. salt. Next, in a large bowl, with a mixer, I beat 1 cup, ¾ cups of granulated sugar, ¾ cups of packed light brown sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla extract. Then, I added 2 eggs and gradually stirred in the flour mixture and the chocolate chips. After that, I put one inch balls of the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and baked them for 8 minutes at 375*F. After that I did the same but with extra flour, all brown sugar, whole wheat flour, margarine, coconut flour, all granulated sugar, corn flour, melted butter, baking powder instead of baking soda, and sorghum flour. I then rated them all on a scale of 1-10 based on flavor and texture and made a list of notes.

Over all the best cookie was the all brown sugar. The brown sugar caramelized giving it a perfect melt in your mouth texture. The best gluten free cookie was the sorghum flour. Besides a small amount of graininess it was identical to the original cookie. The cookie that should be avoided at all cost is the whole wheat flour. If there wasn’t any chocolate chips the cookie would be a one. It was a very hard cookie and had a terrible aftertaste. Majority of the cookies were ranked 3 or 4. The only cookie besides the all brown sugar that was better than the original was the melted butter. It had a nice chewy texture but it wasn’t too chewy.

I learned from this project that there are ways to improve a chocolate chip cookie but its better to just stick to the original recipe.The recipe was written to be followed so it’s best to just follow it. Out of all ten of the variations only 30% were as good as or better than the original. Unless you are sure that the variation will be better than the recipe just stick to the recipe. My hypothesis was partially correct. There are ways to improve a chocolate chip cookies however my data claims that there aren’t many ways to do so. I predicted that there would be several good different options however there were only a couple. A way to improve my project would be to have several people try the cookies and have an average rank rather than just my opinion. Everyone’s opinion is different.

Data Table:

**Gluten Free

Graph: