This Tuesday Winston Jones from the Douglasville Sentinel which is our local newspaper came to my second block class just to spend a little time and find out exactly what goes on in Nutrition and Wellness. It just so happened to be the first episode of a short unit on cookies. My students were excited about making cookies and were very attentive. Winston took several pictures and lots of notes. He left loaded down with cookies and me wondering what kind of impression I made.
The next day my friend Syble met me at my room with a newspaper and kidding said, “Here sign this.” The article was on the front page!
Why teach baking cookies you ask? Cookies and cake are essentially made using the same method. If you can make one you should be able to make the other. Usually recipes have six or more ingredients. So this means more can go wrong and it is hard to judge mixing times.
I used a new piece of equipment to make cookies – The standing mixer. Here’s the low down on mixers:
- If you buy a good hand mixer with a powerful motor it will work on almost every recipe. You’ll spend less money, but you won’t be able to make pizza dough or other heavy dough with it.
- A good stand mixer does not have to cost as much or more than a car payment. I have an old Black and Decker mixer that has a digital control including a timer that I love. I paid $100 for it. Please spend time reading reviews on different models before choosing one.
- When buying a higher end mixer first know that it will take you some time to get familiar with how to operate it. These mixers are more powerful therefore you will have a shorter mixing time. I bought a large Kitchenaid four years ago and I’m still learning new things about it.
Check out these tips for baking cookies more successfully.
Here’s what happened on lab day:
- I ate way too many cookies!!!
- The back hall smelled like a bakery.
- Everyone was busy.
- Everyone was happy.
- Only 3 out of 12 kitchen made mistakes.
- One group left out granulated sugar when copying the recipe down so therefore left it out when preparing the cookies.
- Another group added too much salt and overmixed the batter.
- The third group overmixed the batter.
- All kitchens were left clean.
- Everyone got their sugar fix for the day.
- It was a great day for learning!
Here is the link for the recipe. When adding the oats add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts.
Here are some great photos of today’s bake-off.
1st Block kitchen 1
1st Block Kitchen 2
1st block Kitchen 3
1st Block Kitchen 4
1st Block Kitchen 5
1st Block Kitchen 6
2nd Block Kitchen 1
2nd Block Kitchen 2
2nd Block Kitchen 3
2nd Block Kitchen 4
2nd Block Kitchen 5
2nd Block Kitchen 6
You might be interested in these recipes for Oatmeal Cookies:
Food Blogga Oatmeal Everything Cookies
Cucina Bella Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
A Canadian Foodie Oatmeal Pecan Blueberry Cranberry Cookies
Mele Cotte Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Happy Cooking,
The Teacher Cooks
The Teacher Cooks 
First, I love the styling by 2nd Block Kitchen 2! Love cookies! One of the CHS blocks brought some of the cookies they baked to my office when they made theirs. Yum!
Thanks linking me!
Today the prize goes to 2nd block kitchen 4… isn’t it amazing that they all use the same recipe but come out so different. Looks like a fantastic cookie. Did you see mine – haven’t done them in foods class yet, but just posted two recipes that are my all time favourite cookies recipes (and I developed them myself)
🙂
Valerie
Your #1 happening on lab day made me laugh, Wanda. That’s the problem with cookies, as I’m certain everyone in class discovered!
2nd block kitchen three has the cookie I want!!
remember to put the ingredients in at the right time
I learned that you should bake your cookies on the middle rack of the oven!
wow i didnt know forgetting one ingredient would make such a difference.
I learned that adding just a little bit more salt can change the taste of the cookies. But ours were still good.
I learned that there are a lot of ingredients required to make cookies.
the reeses peanut butter was a great add. Everyone i give one said it was awesome. if i make this again i learned to use peanut butter not chocalote
I think you know what I learned… not to leave out the granulated sugar or your cookies are going to turn out like big hunks of tastless cookie bricks.
I learned that if you leave out white sugar that the cookies won’t flatten and they’ll taste bad.
My group learned that we definitely need to read the measurements VERY carefully.
I learned that you have to bake cookies on the middle rack and a shinier pan cooks better than a dark pan.
I think this lab was very fun. The cookies were delicious. I learned that when your mixing your ingredients together with the mixer, you have to make sure that you add the flour a little bit at a time. Cause if you don’t, you’ll end up looking like a ghost!
This lab was super fun, my group worked very well together! I learned that you should alway make sure your ingredients are in the mix.
I didnt know there were so many directions to baking cookies.
I didn’t know you had to use an actual mixer to mix everything in. I would of just mixed it in with my hands.
I learned that when your mixing the eggs, butter, cinnamon, and sugar. That it’s very difficult to get the mixture to a good creamy state.
When we made these, I learned that when you drop the cookies, you have to space them far enough so they won’t touch when they bake.
Oatmeal cookies are very hard to make if you dont follow the recipe exactly right.
I learned that when you pull the cookies out of the oven that it will be very soft but after it cools it gets harder.
Making the Oatmeal cookies was really fun. Next time we will let our cookies cool on a flat surface and also not make the cookies so big.
This lab was my favorite! Both the cookies Ms. Lupo made and our peanut-butter chip variation was absolutely delicious! I learned that the way you mix ingredients is important and cookies must cool so they won’t crumble.
My group neeeds to measure things more accurately
I learned that not adding the egg in time can make it harder to mix!
Very easy and fun way of making cookies =)
I learned that you need to let the cookies cool before you move them from the pan to the cooling rack!!!
I learned from this activity that just because you take your cookies out of the oven, doesn’t necessarily mean that they are done. They need to sit for a period of time and harden, or else they’ll break apart all gooey.
I learned that you could beat cookie batter too long and we made sure not to do that!
I learned that you must let the cookies cool or else they’ll fall apart or crumble. Also, not to make them too big or else they will run together.
i learned that its better to use a lighter pan when making the cookies.
I didn’t know that you could put parchment paper in the oven without it burning, our cookies turned out good!
i wish that we had a better idea of how to cook this and be prepared for recipes like this.
I didnt know that you have to put salt in cookies.
I learned that you have mix all the ingredients well, so that the cookies will come out nice and tasty!
i learned that there is alot of ingredents just to make cookies…i also learned that you can over mix cookie dough
i think my groups cookies looked good and we worded well as a group and following all the steps.
I learned that the color of the sugar changes the cookie’s color
I learned that if you use too much butter, your cookies can come out looking like crackers.
I was very disappointed how my groups lab turned out. A lesson learned is over mixing can hurt your recipe badly.
i learned that the bigger the sized dough ball the thicker cookie!. i really enjoyed our cookies and my friends that got to try them finished the cookies i had left becouse the really loved them!.
I love the cookies! They were so good!
I think our group did really good.
I learned that you have to watch your cookies very close.
i went home and made these with my family we enjoyed the taste very much and i had alot of fun making these. i learned to NOT over mix! and add things at the PROPER time
i learned that it is cheaper to buy a powerful hand mixer than to buy a hand free
This lab was great! i learned how to mix a bunch of ingredients with a hand mixer! 🙂
I learned that you should try to stay away from cooking more than one pan of cookies at once
I learned that when the cookies are brown around the edges that usually means that they are done cooking.
i thought that the cookies were very delicious and healthy way to have a snack. cookies require a lot of ingredients to make them so you also have to have patience to make them to make sure that you are putting the correct things in the bowl so that you can have an awesome recipe.
i learned that darker the brown sugar the thee darker the cookies
DO NOT OVER MIX
I learned that the cooking process is a great one and that its a hard one to.
I enjoy making these cookies because they were healthy and good 🙂
This is my first time visiting your blog, and I really like it. It’s great getting to see the results of your students labors. I look forward to my next visit.
three out of twelve labs being successful is great! I know they enjoyed the cookies.
Our cookies tasted great but I definitely ate too many. I learned that it’s best to place the cookies on a flat surface after taking them out of the oven and then to put them on a cooling rack.
I vote for 1st block kitchen 4! 🙂
i learned the darker the brown sugar the darker the cookies.
YUM! Those cookies look delicious. I love seeing how the kids style them for the photos — so creative!
this was a good lab it took alot out of me personaly though it was good.
i learned how to not over mix the ingredients