Wyseem & Michael's Superfluous Sugar Cookies

Introduction: 
For our project, my partner and I decided to investigate the outcome of sugar cookies cooked for the same time, but in different temperatures. We wondered why cooking them in different temperatures affected their sweet and savory taste. We also learned about certain chemical reactions such as Baking Soda, Vanilla Extract (Vanillin) and most importantly, Sucrose, which is sugar. Enjoy! 😁


The Science of Sugar Cookies: 
While making our sugar cookies, we added the most important ingredients to give our cookies the most delicious and scrumptious taste they could possibly have. One ingredient we added was a teaspoon of baking soda. Baking soda has the chemical formula of NaHCO3. Baking soda plays a role in the cookies rising as they are being baked inside the oven. Along with Flour (C18H34O13). Another ingredient we added was vanilla extract. Vanilla extract is also known as a chemical molecule by the name of Vanillin. Vanillin is a Pharmaceutical molecule that has a formula of C8H803. This is the reason why sugar cookies gets their sweet and rich taste. And lastly, the most important ingredient that we used to make our sugar cookies, is sugar! AKA as Sucrose.  Sugar is the main ingredient that gives the cookies its amazing and superfluous taste! Sucrose' chemical formula is known to be C12H22O11. 
  
Experiment/Results: 
The independent variable that was changed throughout our entire project was the oven temperature that the cookies were being cooked under. Ingredients and amounts were kept constant. 

Instructions/Recipe: 

1)  Add 1 cup of unsalted butter softened to room temperature

2)  1 cup of sugar

3) 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

4) 1 Large egg

5) 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

6)  ¾ teaspoons of baking powder

7)  ¾ teaspoons of salt

Trial One- 325 Degrees

Trial did not resemble sugar cookies as desired. The cookies were not done and were still extremely soft. Very easy to break. 😣

Trial Two- 375 Degrees

This trial was better than the last. The sugar cookies had a semi-solid texture. The actual smell of the cookies began to come about. They were very more solid than the last trial of cookies. 🤨

Trial Three- 400 Degrees

This trial was a success! Cookies cooked exceptionally well. They baked faster than the last two trials. They looked and felt more firm than the last two batches of cookies. Texture of cookies were very dark and crispy.


To further conclude, there are only two major differences to sugar cookies based on the change of temperature. One change would be the appearance. The shorter that the cookies are baked for, the softer and more fragile they can become. If the cookies are not meeting the proper temperature requirements, then the cookies could drastically change. But, the longer the cookies are cooked for, the more firm and properly cooked they'll become. Next would be the taste. If cookies are cooked for a short period of time, the ingredients would not be able to merge properly within the cookies.  They will either taste really sweet, or they would taste really bland due to lack of cooking time and temperature change. As far as appearance, the cookies ended up looking harder and crunchier because the hotter that the oven temperature is, the more the butter is melting and the water in the dough turns into steam. Then the cookie starts to rise as the vapors push through the dough.