Need help reconciling quantities in this recipe

Need help reconciling quantities in this recipe - Cheerful mature Asian woman with teenage granddaughter clapping hands while having fun with little boy helping with jiaozi preparation in kitchen

Here's a recipe from a package of chocolate chips (edited, but not substantively):

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 package [=12 ounces] chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Preheat…. Combine…. Add…. Drop mixture by rounded teaspoonfuls onto non-greased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Recipe yields approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Now, I figure we can't count powdery ingredients like flour as adding their full volume to the batter: they get condensed when wet. But the liquid ingredients should add their full volume: specifically, the cup of butter should account for a cup of batter. The cup of brown sugar is firmly packed (and it's pretty moist, too), so I figure it should account for another cup of batter, or very nearly. Finally, all the other ingredients — including 2¼ cups of flour, two eggs, and a lot of chocolate — surely add at least another cup to the batter. So we've got at least three cups of batter.

The yield is about two dozen cookies, so each cookie is made of:
(at least 3 cups of batter) ÷ (about two dozen) = (at least one fluid ounce of batter).

Yet the recipe calls for the cookies to be made of "rounded teaspoonfuls", surely not fluid ounces. (A fluid ounce is six (flat) teaspoonfuls.)

Where did I go wrong in my reasoning? (Or is there simply a mistake in the recipe as printed?)



Best Answer

That recipe, which I've made many, many times, yields approx 5-6 dozen cookies if a rounded tablespoon is used as a gauge. For that amount of dough to only yields 2 dozen cookies, they would each be approx. the size of a golfball, maybe. I believe your recipe has a mistake in yield. Check out this link to a similar recipe (nestle Toll House cookies):

http://www.verybestbaking.com/mobile/detail.aspx?id=18476




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Excel Tutorial to Quickly Reconcile two sets of Data




More answers regarding need help reconciling quantities in this recipe

Answer 2

Here are my estimates assuming a 240ml cup:

  • Flour (retains roughly a third of its volume after being mixed with water): 180ml
  • Sugar (retains roughly half its volume): 150ml
  • Butter: 240ml
  • 2 eggs (assuming large US size): 92ml
  • 12oz chocolate chips: 550ml

Total volume: 1212ml

Per cookie (assuming a yield of 2 dozen): 50ml (or about 3 1/3 tbsp)

I think it quite likely that there is a mistake and that tablespoons was meant and not teaspoons. As Kristina noted in her answer, to make 2 dozen cookies you would need to use a golfball-sized lump of dough for each cookie.

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