Makin' Cookies with Math

[jere7my]

I'm the dog's bollocks at dividing dough into equal portions (assuming "the dog's bollocks" means "terrible"). Told to create 24 equal portions, I will wind up with 12 golf balls, 11 ping pong balls, and a marble, which means the perfect baking time will be impossible to determine. For the sugar cookies I just made, I decided to put my lovely new kitchen scale to work tackling the problem.

I had mixed up the mass of dough in one bowl. I put another, empty, bowl on the scale, then zeroed it out. I moved the dough into the empty bowl, and got a reading of 2 pounds ½ oz. I then removed dough until I had 1 pound ¼ oz. on the scale, then again to get to 8⅛ oz., then once more to a smidge over 4 oz. Repeating this process with the other half and quarter gave me eight equal portions; all I had to do then was divide each of those in thirds, checking the weight of each to see if it was between 1¼ and 1⅜ oz. Voilà!

They are delicious, and remarkably similar. Next week on Makin' Cookies with Math: How to mix 1% milk and half-and-half to get something with the fat content of whole milk!

Comments

[reldnahkram.livejournal.com]

Golf balls and ping pong balls are with 3 mm of each other (<10% of the diameter), which is pretty close. So if you end up with the above-mentioned condition, just distribute the marble to the ping pong balls (which are smaller than golf balls) and you should be ok.

I generally ignore recipe yields and just make cookies at my normal size, which is probably a touch smaller than a ping pong ball. Other folks will use an ice cream scoop to get a consistent size (I do this on occasion, or with wetter doughs, but usually I just use a soup spoon or my fingers and guess).

For recipes that require milk other than your standard type, try keeping a container of powdered milk around. It's great for baking - mix the powder with the flour and the water with whatever the milk is supposed to go with. To be fair, I've never done this with regular milk, but I keep a container of powdered buttermilk around and it's much easier than buying buttermilk (and, as a non-milk drinker, I don't keep regular milk around to sour for buttermilk).

[marcmagus]

I believe "the dog's bollocks" means exactly the opposite of that, and you are merely bollocks at dividing dough.

Nice work with the scale.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

This! It is the Queen who is the dog's bollocks, and we all know that the queen, she'll live forever. (da-da)

~Sor

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

I am trying to think of a positive aspect to encountering dog testicles, and failing.

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

There might be if you are a dog.

But it seems that the origins of the phrase are mysterious: http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dog%27s%20bollocks.html

[antimony.livejournal.com]

Put 12 golf balls on one tray, put 12 ping pong balls on another tray. Eat the marble. Problem solved!

[nutirhea.livejournal.com]

I don’t bookmark sites but i will bookmark this! LOL!