Holiday bakes for "the kids"

By now, you have probably guessed that I am quite fond of baking sweets. To the extent that we don't entertain, or have friends really (!), you can see how this could create problems for Nate and I. Thankfully, school provides an outlet for all those leftover baked goods and, increasingly now, a pretext for baking. Over time, this has become a thing for my statistics course: if the group collectively achieves an average score on an exam that exceeds my criterion, I will bake for them. Let's be honest, I would bake anyway, but this works out nicely for all involved, including the teaching of some key concepts relating to the standard normal distribution.

When I started using polling software in the class, I decided to let the students provide ideas and vote for what they wanted to eat. It's a great way to wake everyone up and collect attendance at the same time. Their responses over the years have given me some pretty good insights into the tastes of an"average" 19-20 year old who has most likely never traveled outside of the state, let alone country (often, county - it's not their fault, and Nate and I are working on this). If I had to summarize their collective preferences, I would say they distinctly favor traditional, classically American flavors and textures. When brownies are presented in a list of options, they win. Asked about cookie preferences in a open-ended question? You know chocolate chip will be at the top. Peanut butter. Red velvet. Vanilla cupcakes. This has afforded me opportunities to test and contrast variants of these classics, though I wish one day the class would clamor for something more challenging or refined. Another perk of this system is the challenge of planning out the most efficient way of making a variety to please everyone and accommodate dietary restrictions. This semester, I only had one vegan. Things get interesting when we run into allergies, gluten sensitivity, and bodybuilding diets on top of veganism.

The kids voted overwhelmingly for chocolate chip cookies, followed by sugar cookies. When I asked them what kind of sugar cookies, most requested soft (you know they are thinking about Lofthouse cookies), but not all. I also had some requests for lemon and white chocolate macadamia. I also had two students who have been requesting blueberry scone repeats (I made those in September) every time there's an open-ended attendance question.

So I had some fun. Unfortunately, I did not have the presence of mind to properly photograph the stacks of cookies before hauling them to school. Those I saved for a care package came in handy...

With the hard sugar cookie recipe by Handle the Heat, I made four variants: classic almond flavored dough with either a hard glaze (above) or glacé cherries (below), lemon zest-infused dough with a tart glaze (above) or chopped candied lemon peel (below). I have yet to make a royal icing -- this will soon change -- but I swear by King Arthur Flour's recipe, which hardens beautifully with the addition of corn syrup. Also displayed on the plate is a cream cheese-based soft cutout sugar cookie by Cookies and Cups. These were a hit last year, and I am glad I made them again. Most of these were frosted with either a cream cheese or a sour cream frosting (I ran out of cream cheese), which wasn't such a great idea for mailing and is hence not shown here. Here are some exemplars of the other type of soft sugar cookie I attempted, coated with cinnamon or plain sugar. These were from A Bajillian Recipes and I must've overbaked them because they weren't so much soft and chewy as soft and a little bit crumbly. Still good, I am told. I will try again and aim for under- rather than over-baked next year.

Oh look! Guest appearance of a cakey lebkuchen from my holiday cellar.

We end the tour with Handle The Heat's white chocolate macadamia cookies and two kinds of eggless chocolate chip cookies. I had also made Tessa's "Ultimate" chocolate chip cookies but somehow forgot to save some for the care package. Those were similar in spread, slightly soft but chewy texture, albeit with a darker dough, compared to the white chocolate ones. Can you tell I favor Handle The Heat when baking for my students? I also use one of her brownie recipes every semester. She hits those 'Murican classic flavors and comfort food textures perfectly - when a student requests a dessert, there's an 80% chance that their mental model for that dessert overlaps with Tessa's recipes.

The eggless cookies are the Vegan With A Vengeance cookbook recipe made with Earth Balance (the lower two) and butter (the one hiding under the white chocolate cookie. I have been making these for a decade. My dog-eared book has been to the Middle East and back, and has weight equivalents scribbled in the margins to prove it. I go with real butter now that I am no longer vegan, but I still appreciate their lack of eggs. Perfect for eating raw or for those of us who don't keep eggs in the house between baking sprees (but then, Faux-lo top happened and now we have eggs all the time). They remain my go-to when I know I need chocolate chip cookies but can't decide which style. I will arbitrarily vary proportions of all-purpose and bread flour, the treatment of the fat and dough, the amount of molasses (or brown sugar), and sometimes throw in some tahini (or an egg yolk, shh!) until they feel right. They have never failed me. I honestly don't recall how I tweaked the vegan exemplars this time around, but this garnered raves from several (non-vegan) students.

#sweet #recipetesting