Betty Crocker Chocolate Chip Cookie Follow-up (and more!)

I had two different questions come to me as a result of last week's post, and so I'm going to try to answer those, here. One of them had to do with the different ways white sugar and brown sugar act in the cookies (I mentioned that in one of last week's videos, and Christopher took me up on the option of explaining the difference). The other question had to do with greasing the cookie sheets (which I'd never really thought about before).

Let me explain:

Okay. So now that we're all up to speed, let me say that because we're working on the same recipe as last week, I'm not going to have as many photos, here, as I did last week. But, so you don't have to flip back and forth between open tabs, here are the recipes once again:

This one is more important this week, since we're actually going to be making these, too!

Time to get out your 3/8-cup measure! 

Starting out by making the Sugar Jumbles (the "key" recipe, above), I pulled together the ingredients, as usual.

(There was also salt, but it was fixing its hair and missed the group photo.)

Two things about this photo:

1. Is it just me, or does it look like we're missing ingredients? There's so little there!
2. Yes, that's right: The vanilla is missing, but there is rosemary on the stack. 

Wait. What? Rosemary? Where did that come from? Let me explain:

(Believe it or not, this was the least bad of my three "thumbnail" options.)

So, yeah, rosemary.

I realize that, if you watched the last video, you don't need to see this photo. But I thought it turned out really well, so I'm including it.

Once everything was mixed, I got out my handy small scoop and went to it pretty quickly. One difference between this dough and the chocolate chip cookie dough (aside from the obvious fact that it is a lighter color than the dough with brown sugar in it) is that the dough is "softer" than the other.

I made quick work of the scooping and popped these into the oven so that I could start on the second batch of cookies. About 8 minutes later, I checked the oven.

They did get the "delicately browned" look that Betty Crocker promised. And they looked really kind of adorable and puffy.

Out of the oven, they stayed puffy, and I even checked them with a fingertip to make sure that they were done.

With the Rosemary Sugar Jumbles out of the oven, it was time to turn to the next question: Why does the recipe say to grease the pan?

Since we went over the full recipe last week, we'll skip the full dough-making, and move straight to the baking - or at least the pan prep.

I opted to make sure that the cookies were completely even in other ways, so instead of having to wonder whether oven placement made a difference, I opted to put them all on one pan.

In case you couldn't guess, the greased side is on the right.

I opted to cut back on the number of cookies on the pan, so that I could easily keep them on their own sides.

Those went into the oven, and then it was time to start taking a closer look at the Rosemary Sugar Jumbles:

The timer mentioned in the video yielded this pan of cookies:

Again, the greased side is on the right.

I got down close to look at the pan, and the browning seemed to be equal on both sides. The "spread" also seemed to be un-impacted by the greasing.

This is what I get for baking on a sunny day - a massively backlit photo.

No obvious differences from the top made me wonder about the bottoms.

They look a little like mini chocolate chip pancakes, don't they?

They looked identical from the bottom, as well.

The only thing that did seem different was the way they released from the cookie sheets. The greased side of the pan released more easily (not a huge surprise), while the ungreased side didn't do badly, but did give some resistance.

Once again, the greased side is on the right. (I have no idea how I was able to remember to put it on that side for each photo.)

Remember how I commented that the cookies made with white sugar stayed "poofier" than the ones with brown sugar? Here's some proof:

Oh, and the color difference of the dough got really obvious when they came out of the oven:

Not gonna lie: I think that I've found the perfect set of cookies from the same basic recipe. One "traditional" and chewy and chocolatey, and one slightly cake-y and crisp around the edges and with a definite herbaceous overtone that I think I might start obsessing over by the time you guys are reading this post.

So, what did we learn, overall? Let's summarize:

Note to self: Smaller bites next time!

Okay. Now it's your turn: pick your drink and dunk away!

*****
So, what's next on my blogging agenda? Your guess is as good as mine. (Well, almost...) If you have anything you're unsure of in the kitchen - either a recipe or an ingredient - let me know and I'll see what I can do so we can all learn more about it!