this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2024
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

Edit: I am actually not sure about the amount of butter. Another table I found would give the amount as about 400g, which is insane. That would make this just butter with sugar and some stuff to keep it all together. But on the other hand that does sound very American.

The recipe translated for the mentally sane:

Perfect Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS

~150g unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
200g unsalted butter
100g granulated sugar
150g packed dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon table salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
100g semisweet chocolate chips
100g chopped pecans or chopped toasted walnuts (optional)

PREPARATION Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 190 degrees. Line 2 large (30-45cm) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.

Heat 150g butter in 25cm skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl.

Stir remaining 50g butter into hot butter until completely melted. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.

Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 5cm apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)

Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies the edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking.

Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

[–] Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago

Thank you for translating this recipe from #USDefaultism to the rest of the world.

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works -4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

This conversion is just wrong. If you're going to correct someone, be sure to at least get it right. You're not gaining anything here doing a hamfisted and naive mass conversion of units without paying attention to context.

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

This comment is WILD.

They convert to mass precisely because volume changes so much with density.

my 100g of sugar will always be exactly the same as your 100g of sugar

But my 1 cup of sugar is going to be different to your 1 cup of sugar depending on how densely packed it is.

[–] state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

One cup of flour weighs less than one cup of sugar and different kinds of sugar also have different mass. And I rounded up or down to be in line with usual recipe amounts. But what I saw from the ranges given by helpful people here and what I found online, these vague recipes can fuck a rake. A fucking tablespoon of butter alone can be anything from 10 to 40 gram. With 14 tablespoons that gives you a range from 140g to 560g. That's insanity.

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works -2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

That's why it's just easier to work in the original units of the recipe instead of needlessly converting it for nor real benefit. We're making a single batch of cookies, not bread for an army or drugs; SI units and excessive precision just don't matter that much. The recipe isn't vague, just your understanding. A tablespoon isn't a vague measurement, you're just trying to adapt it to a needlessly precise unit of measure and forgetting everything your maths and sciense teachers should have taught you about significant digits.

A tablespoon as measurement for a non-fluid is extremely vague. How much mass do you pile onto it? There's an extremely wide range of possibilities.

Also, this entire discussion under a post about how much different amounts of ingredients affect the outcome is just rich. Your recipe could be all of the examples in OP's picture, depending on how people interpret it. If you treat baking recipes as art, sure, your recipe is great. If you want reproducible outcomes across different people it's useless.

[–] SRo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 10 months ago

So what are 14 tablespoons now? About 150 grams or over half a kilo? Because that's a massive difference. If that isn't vague, what is it?