I was playing with a few different types of sugars this weekend and made these three minor variations of oatmeal cookies. The base recipe came from the back of an old Quaker oat box but I weighed all of the ingredients and timed the mixing of the ingredients so I could make several identical batches of cookies to compare how the different sugars reacted - and of course tasted.- measuring cups & spoons
- kitchen scale
- mixing bowls
- kitchen timer
- hand mixer
- bowl scraper
- #20 disher (3 T.)
- baking pans
- baking parchment
- spatula
- wire rack
Ingredients
dry
- 100g unbleached white bread flour
- 125g rolled oats
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1/2 t. kosher salt
- 1/2 t. vanilla powder
wet
- 1 stick (1/2 c.) unsalted butter
- 100g light brown sugar
- 50g granulated sugar / 50g dehydrated cane juice / 35g fructose (pick one)
- 1 large fresh egg
- 1 T. non-fat milk
mix
- 100g chocolate chips
- 100g chopped walnuts
- Turn oven to 375F and place the butter and egg on the counter. Wait at least 15 minutes for the oven to pre-heat and the butter and egg to warm up to room temperature.
- Measure and mix the dry ingredients together into one mixing bowl.
- Beat the butter and sugars together on low for 1 minute, scrape down the bowl, beat for 1 more minute on medium-low.
- Add the egg and milk and beat on low for 1 minute, scrape down the bowl, beat for 1 more minute on medium-low.
- Dump in the dry ingredients, chocolate chips, and walnuts and beat on low for 1 more minute.
- Dish 6 cookies onto each baking sheet and bake for 13 minutes in the middle of the pre-heated oven.
- Rest the cookies on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool.
I did not use all fructose or cane juice in these cookies because I was just playing with the new sugars for now and not making anything that was for a special diet this time.
The top left cookie is regular refined granulated sugar, the top right cookie is dehydrated cane juice, and the bottom middle cookie is fructose.
I reduced the fructose by about 1/3 because of how much sweeter it is than the granulated sugar. When I used equal weights the cookies tasted way too sweet.
I really could not taste a difference between the sugar and fructose cookies other than the fructose cookie being a bit more cake like in texture.
The cane juice cookie had a bit more of the molasses flavour that I associate with brown sugars, but not quite as strong. It did darken a bit more than the other two sugars.
There is not much difference in flavours or prices as far as small batches of baked goods go. I would be careful multiplying up a recipe with fructose. It would probably have to have the additional milk cut or removed entirely to keep the wet/dry balance if the recipe were doubled a couple of times.
C&H granulated sugar for about $0.93/lb., fructose for $1.09/lb., and cane juice for $1.59/lb.
