“Science” for Hungry People

I didn’t do so well in high school chemistry or biology… something about memorizing all of those elements and the required cat dissection in biology was just impossible for me; thus, a few years ago, I settled myself into the idea of a science-less life.

That is, until I learned that baking is sometimes considered a science!

If baking is a science, then my goal in life is to become a mad scientist, because I love to bake… but I hate following recipes. Experimentation is just so much more fun!

Over the last few weeks, my partner and I have been brainstorming all of the exciting baking experiments that we can try out. This week we decided to find out what would happen if we stuck some cookie dough right in the middle of the brownie batter and then baked it up? I have seen brownies baked into cookies before or topped with cookie/blondie batter, but never this. Our hypothesis was that these frankenbrownies would be delicious. Read on to find out if they were!

Supplies

• One box of brownie mix
• One box of chocolate chip cookie mix
• Eggs
• Water
• Oil

Directions Method (Because this is SCIENCE!)

1. Make a box of brownie batter and a box of cookie dough in two separate bowls. (The overachievers out there can make theirs from scratch!)
2. Spread half of the brownie batter into a brownie tin.
3. Take the cookie dough and flatten it in your hands into a piece about half an inch thick, lay that piece carefully on top of the brownie batter. (Hint: Make them a bit thicker than you think you need to because the brownie is overpowering!)
4. Continue making cookie pieces and laying them down like a jigsaw puzzle until you have covered as much of the brownie batter as possible.
5. Layer the second half of the brownie batter on top of your cookie dough.
6. Place your creation into the oven, and then (optional) eat any remaining batter/dough while you wait.
7. Follow the brownie cooking time and temperature guidelines, but check five minutes before the time limit just to be sure. (It ended up taking us a bit longer than expected, but you never know!) When you can shove in a toothpick and pull it out without any cookie/brownie goo covering it, they’re done!
8. Let them cool! (We forgot to do this – bad idea, because they fall apart fast if they haven’t had time to set.)
   
9. Once your brownies are cool, cut, serve, and enjoy!

Results:

One word… delicious!

Limitations and Future Research

If I were to do this experiment again, I would not add mini chocolate chips into the brownie (it messes with the structural integrity of the dessert and makes everything more likely to become a gooey mess). I would also use less brownie batter (not just because that means there is more left over to be eaten) because the chocolate flavor of the brownies is so aggressive that it is hard to really appreciate the cookie in the middle if there is too much. Other than that, I think our experiment was a success and the hypothesis was well supported!

What should we tackle next?

• Key Lime Cupcakes. (Graham-cracker cupcake base filled with key-lime pie filling and topped with homemade whipped cream icing.)
• Chocolate chip cookie cupcakes. (Placing cookie dough at the bottom of a cupcake tin and then pouring the batter on top.)
• Cookie-ception. (Chocolate cookies wrapped inside chocolate chip cookies.)

Vote now in the comments… or something like that! Also, if you have any other crazy baking ideas (either success stories or things you’d like us to try), let me know!