Pics http://imgur.com/a/slT3I#0
HONEY COOKIES
I took my old cookie recipe, replaced the (brown) sugar with 100g white sugar and 200g honey. I dropped the vanilla to 1/2 tsp to give the honey’s flavor a better chance to come through.
The added moisture of the honey made the dough softer and wet, so I had to add a little extra flour to compensate. Also, apparently, the honey cookies bake much faster than regular sugar cookies. The honey flavor did come through, though it was a little subtle.
300g bread flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
100g white sugar
200g honey
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Cream the butter with the sugar. Add honey, eggs, and vanilla, and mix. Add flour mixture, mix until smooth.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Use a #40 scoop (1.5 Tbsp) to scoop cookie dough onto baking sheets. Bake for ~8 minutes, or until edges of the cookie just begin to brown.
Makes ~27 cookies.
STRAWBERRY COOKIES
Back during strawberry season, I picked some strawberries from Remlinger Farms http://www.remlingerfarms.com/ and baked some into my cookies.
The dough was very loose, and instead of spreading while baking, the cookies puffed up and came out more like muffins. This tells me that (a) all the extra water is turning into steam and puffing up the cookies, (b) the dough is too wet, © the dough has too much structure. A few possible fixes I have in mind:
- dry out the strawberries - My best guess is that macerating the strawberries is the best way to remove moisture. (Assuming that “macerating” is the process of making “macerated strawberries”.)
- use more sugar - Sugar absorbs moisture and weakens structure. I already reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe since I felt I didn’t need as much sugar. I might have been wrong on that.
- use just egg yolks instead of whole eggs - Eggs (particularly egg whites) provide both moisture and structure. I still need the egg yolks as an emulsifier.
- bake on lower heat for a longer time - This makes the cookie bake more evenly and encourages spreading.
As for the taste? They tasted like muffins. Clearly I need more sugar.
350g bread flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
200g white sugar
200g pureed strawberries
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Same instructions as honey cookies. Bake for ~10 minutes. Makes ~40 cookies.