Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups semi sweet choc chip

Directions:
-Thoroughly cream sugars, margarine/butter, oil, egg, milk and vanilla
-Add dry ingredients, nuts, and chocolate chips.
-Drop by teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 175 Celcius for 12-15 min (till light brown)

End result:
hurhur, really crumbly cookies. somehow it didn't turn out the way i'd expected. it's kinda crumbly and light, very light and fluffy kinda thing. anyone have any ideas how to sort it out? i ended up making a really amount. 2 batches.. 18 cookies. on the old-faithful oven. nice and small, that's why it takes 2 batches to only make 18 cookies. left the rest in the fridge..

think i'll carry on the rest tmr..

this was how the batter turned out after following the exact instructions..

this was how it turned out.. the first batch. it's really crumbly.. the whole thing falls apart when you bite into it.. not nice. not nice at all.. and it spreads quite abit too.. looking at the picture on the right, you can see how much it had spread. leaving the 'island of choc chip on the top'.

=====Next Day=====

ok, haha, so i'm back. let's see.. the 3rd batch came out exactly the same after defrosting it. that's good and bad. good = it's not spoilt, still works. bad = it's all crumbly and what not..

so i resorted to adding more ingredients. i remember reading somewhere that i could try adding more flour.. so i added one more cup. =) and while i was at it, i added me 2 packets of milo mix. ooh.. haha. for wateva it was worth, i didn't have cocoa powder, so just try loh.

the result? not that bad actually.. it's looking less crumbly and i manged to squeeze more cookies onto the sheet. so i get 13 instead of 9 at a batch.. the bake time has to some how increase drastically too though.. i'm now letting it run at 30 min. but i think there's something not right. it's too long.. maybe should up the temperature.. i'll figure that out in a while..

i read somewhere that it helps to 'stand the cookies tall' if they spread too much.. so i tried it. it looks abit ugly.. but i guess it works..

it's a little better as you can see. the cookies are less flat (also probably cos now there's more flour and other stuff in the batter) but well.. bottom line is that making it stand works. =) although i have to say that the inside of the cookie didn't turn out as well.. it's a little soft. chewy on the inside..

next step. i used one of those measuring spoons thingy.. and popped the batter onto the sheet.. the result. wonderful looking cookies. finally.. I GOT IT! that's how they do it.. what was i thinking.. the above steps were all done letting the batter stand 'tall'. this article i once read said that if the cookies spread too much, u should stand them tall. it works la.. bottom line is that it works, you just kinda get really odd-looking shaped cookies. then i remember seeing them at famous amos, they used a smaller version of those ice-cream scoops. so i tried it..

this is how it looks like using the measuring spoon thingy. you get these really round cute shapes of cookie batter. looks really really cute.. i should have thought of this much earlier. it turns out that it cooks more evenly when it's in this shape. giving rise to a more crunchy cookie. nice. i like it crunchy. =)

and the result? heh.. much nicer looking cookies. can sell them now.. anyone wants? =)

see? much nicer right? i think it turned out really really well.. i like it so much. compared to all the other times that i've made cookies, even with the betty crocker pre-mix.. this is nothing compared to those. =)

ok, another update. i think there's quite a big difference baking in the top and bottom rack. wrong. top and middle rack. this batch is currently in the middle rack and something tells me it looks much puffier than the previous which was in the upper rack.. hmm.. the science of cookies.. alright, so my guess is that once i sort this part out.. i'll have completed my own cookie recipe. woohoo! so far, 2 batches have turned out great and i've resorted to putting them in a different container. haha.. the 'good enough to sell/give away' ones and the just eat them urselves at home ones.. if this batch turns out well, in the middle rack, then i can have 2 batches at a go.. =) nice. that's uhh.. 26 at a time. good.. very good. =)

alright. as expected, the middle rack is a little less crunchy. verdict? leave it in longer.. so i'm gonna try 35 min. that's DISGUSTINGLY long. but hey man. the price for good cookies? heh.. priceless.. so the new trial batch is currently in the oven. both the top and middle racks are used. i'm gonna leaveit in there for 35 min this time and let's see the result at the end. =) i don't really think they'll burn.. cos even when i thought i smelled the cookies (usually by the time i'm sitting here at the computer and can smell the cookies, they're usually charcoal), they didn't turn out burnt. just more brown and crispy. that's good isn't it? so i'll leave it as that. 35 min or more it shall be.. now.. let's just wait for the verdict.. *cross fingers..*

the previous batches were done on the top rack of my oven.. these were done in the middle rack. it's a little 'chubbier' and less crispy. but well, it isn't that bad. so i figure if i just leave it in the oven long enough, it'll work out to be the same crispy texture as those above.

IT WORKS! haha.. good good. 2 sheets can be done at the same time.. nice.. the middle rack turns out slightly softer than the top. less crispy. so the next batch, i left i longer and tadaa! nice cookies.. all 26 of them.. oh, and i just did the math.. on average, following this recipe, i'll end up with approx 250+ cookies. POWER right? that's like enough cookies to last till next semester. haha.. good. means can sell.. so again i'll ask.

the before and after picture of the cookies made together in the same batch. turned out pretty well. all 26 came out nice after approx 35 min in the oven. that's ridiculously long i know but hey! it's worth it. =)

i guess if you're gonna follow these instructions here, you'd really wanna see how long to put it in. don't take my word for it. the oven i'm using's probably older than me. so just set it to 175 celsius and watch the timing for the first batch.

*ahem* any body wants to buy cookies? they're REALLY nice.. and yes, you've got the pictures here and the entire account of what i did.. unless u wanna do it urself. =P

next up, i'm trying to save some time inbetween.. since it takes so long to do one batch, i thot if i could prepare the batter into the nice round shapes, that should save some time in between.. heh.. what do you know. cookies on parade. 63 of them.. haha.. looks pretty impressive.. now i can just transfer the batter one by one over to the sheets instead of having to prepare them only when the sheets are cooled.. silly me, should have thought of this earlier..

Cookies, Kekanan Lurus! heh. cookies on parade. trust me, if you're gonna use a really tiny oven and take as long as i do. this is really a good idea. so that in between the batches, all u gotta do is just remove the cookies and let the sheet cool before transferring the shaped batter onto the sheet. saves alot of time.. i would know.

now all i need is just to get more containers.. much much more containers.. sigh. where to find so many.. *growl*

alright, so that's it. just remember to add the extra flour and milo powder. then use the measuring spoon to drop the cookie batter onto the sheet. it should work. =)

Happy Holidays and Happy Cookie-ing.. =)

=====Appended=====

Cost of Raw Materials:

Baking Soda : $1.02
Cream of TarTar: $2.84
Vanilla Essence: $1.12
Plain Flour (1 kg/8 cups): $1.25
Hersheys semi sweet choc chips: $5.25
Brown Sugar (1kg): $2.65
Fresh Eggs (10): $1.60

Total: $15.73

it's about 3 times more expensive than buying the pre-mix from the supermarkets.. but well, if you think about it, you get to keep the baking soda, cream of tartar, vanilla essense, eggs and sugar. you basically just need to get more choc chip and flour next time.. so it's probably more worth it. and don't forget, you get to have 250+ bite-sized cookies.. that's a monster amount, much more than Betty Crocker will provide.. and of course, the satisfaction that u baked this from scratch.. =)