Effects of Milk vs Cream vs Condensed Milk in a no-bake cookie recipe
I'm looking at a pretty standard no-bake cookie recipe (this one uses brown sugar over white but I've seen the same recipe on at least 10 websites),
3 C oats
5 tbsp peanut butter
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 C brown sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
The instructions are boil milk, sugar, butter together for one minute then mix other ingredients in, drop onto wax paper, and cool.
My question is this: How would different dairies affect a recipe like this? Like if I used cream or condensed milk (or some combination of the 3) rather than the milk?
Best Answer
The primary difference between cream, condensed milk*, and regular milk is fat content. Cream has the most fat (about 36% fat), then condensed milk (about 9% fat), and finally, regular whole milk (about 3% fat). A cup of cream has about 12 times more fat than whole milk!
Increasing the fat percentage in your cookie dough will lead to a softer cookie. I imagine cookies made with cream would be especially spread out and soft, whereas cookies made with condensed or evaporated milk would be somewhere in the middle in terms of softness.
Substituting these ingredients may be useful if your cookies are turning out harder than you want them to be. However, it's also possible that these modified cookies may not hold together as well as the original recipe.
*As mentioned, using sweetened condensed milk instead of condensed or evaporated milk would require you to dial back on your sugar content, otherwise you will get a much sweeter cookie.
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Can I substitute condensed milk for milk?
Condensed milk can be substituted for whole milk in some recipes. Since condensed milk contains a lot of added sugar it may not always be the best choice. Evaporated milk and water are another option. This is a guide about substituting condensed milk for whole milk.Is condensed milk a good substitute for heavy cream?
Yes. Condensed milk can be substituted in recipes that call for heavy cream. You can use a 1:1 ratio when replacing heavy cream with condensed milk. Because sweetened condensed milk has added sugar, you will need to reduce the other sugars in your recipe.Why do you think is condensed milk used rather than any other milk like evaporated?
Sweetness. Evaporated milk is unsweetened, and sweetened condensed milk is sweetened with added sugar, which acts as a natural preservative. Evaporated milk is about 10 percent sugar by weight because fresh dairy milk naturally contains about five percent sugar, mainly in the form of lactose.What is the difference between cream and condensed milk?
The primary difference between cream, condensed milk*, and regular milk is fat content. Cream has the most fat (about 36% fat), then condensed milk (about 9% fat), and finally, regular whole milk (about 3% fat).Delicious No Bake Cookies
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Answer 2
Using condensed milk would definitely make the cookies much, much sweeter and may not be moist enough in the same volume to make the cookies. Using the condensed milk could require more care on the stove since it would probably be easier to burn. If it browns a bit in the pan it could also impart a burnt sugar/brûlée like flavor, which might add a nice complexity to the recipe.
The cream would just make the cookies a lot more oily, which would probably result in a moister cookie that doesn't harden as well.
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