Genius Hour: FINAL POST!

AND THAT'S A WRAP!

This final week was dedicated to reflecting on the recipes which I have made over the past few weeks as well as getting some feedback from my family and friends who were my taste testers throughout this process. It has been very exciting to make time for something which I am passionate about - and jumbo cookies truly do bring me joy and excitement. I love cookies, but enlarging them really adds to the experience. 

Without this project, I probably would not have taken the time to stop and bake but it was refreshing to make time for something I enjoy. 

After some serious thought, I have concluded that "The Ultimate Cookie" is....

*DRUMROLL PLEASE* 

THE FUNFETTI SUGAR COOKIE!

This recipe was absolutely delicious, and the texture was incredible. I look forward to making this cookie again in the future. 

Genius Hour: Week 7

For this week, I decided to go back to the first cookie that I tried. There were endless amounts of jumbo cookie recipes for chocolate chip cookies, so I decided to test out yet another recipe before ensuring that the one which I tried was truly the best.

I came across this recipe from Cooking Classy - http://www.cookingclassy.com/recipe-one-chocolate-chip-cookie/, and I loved that it was just a single recipe because it allowed me to satisfy my craving without making a full batch. I also appreciated that this blogger provided some context rather than just sharing the recipe. There were also tons of positive reviews which was great.

This cookie ended up being delicious, especially with a cool glass of milk. I realized that the first cookie was more of a cake texture, while this one was more cookie-like. However, the texture from week one was probably still my favourite. 

I also had some extra time on my hands so I attempted a second variation of a chocolate chip cookie. This second recipe came from Cookies and Cups. The recipe can be found at http://cookiesandcups.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-dunkers/. 

This was really neat because although it was a jumbo cookie, the way it was cut was much different than the typical variations that I had seen. The cookies ended up being a bit more thin that I would have liked, but they were still terrific. Here is a picture: 

Genius Hour: Week 6

This week I decided to opt for yet another variation of a jumbo cookie. Personally, I LOVE red velvet so I knew I needed to fit it into my genius hour project. However, my past experiences with red velvet were more targeted towards cake so I was a bit skeptical about what would happen when incorporating that flavour into a cookie.

The recipe which I used was: http://thedomesticrebel.com/2015/01/08/soft-chewy-red-velvet-cookies/

I have to admit, there were not many reviews supporting this recipe, but the images looked incredible so I absolutely had to try it. Here’s my final product:

I loved the combination of using white chocolate chips with this recipe. Although the cookies did have a soft texture, the flavour was not as fantastic as I had hoped. I would likely try to experiment with a few more recipes before maintaining this as my go to recipe for red velvet cookies. 

Genius Hour: Week 5

I know my genius hour isn’t over quite yet  - but I really don’t know if it can get better than this. This week was the week of the funfetti sugar cookie!  The recipe came from http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2014/05/12/funfetti-sugar-cookie-cake/ , yet another recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

This was my first time trying a super-sized sugar cookie, so I was curious as to how well it would hold the texture. Thankfully, the recipe was described in great detail which was very helpful. The blogger reinforced key details like weighing the ingredients rather than just measuring them and explained why an egg and an egg yolk were important. This ensured that the cookie would be able to maintain the rich texture from the original recipe.

Here are some images from my final product:

I was extremely impressed by how this recipe turned out. The texture was chewy, the white chocolate chips and sprinkles complimented each other very well. I also got some great feedback from family and friends when they taste tested this for me.