As I mentioned previously, I wasn’t about to let macarons get me down. After the first failed attempt, I took to Google to learn what could be learned and tried again the next day armed with all the tips and tricks the internet had to provide.
I’ll bet that you’ve forgotten all about the Butter Battle Royale at this point. I had every intention of doing this more frequently than once every six months, but things happen (tasty, tasty things, fortunately). I was asked to make cookies for an event in my husband’s department at work, and he suggested that I do another cookie taste test since there would be more people than usual to participate. The original plan was to test store-bought butters against each other, but I had a sneaking suspicion that there would be no noticeable difference, so I made the executive decision to change it up. This time, I pitted Aldi brand butter against coconut oil.
The battle of the butters has begun! Last weekend, I pitted Kerrygold unsalted butter against fresh, unsalted butter from Hartzler dairy farm in the battle of the expensive butters. Admittedly, I was surprised at how different the cookies turned out. My personal observation was that the Kerrygold cookies turned out slightly sweeter and chewier, while the fresh butter made for a more crumbly cookie.
Here begins I Wanna Bake!’s first multi-part endeavor. In the coming weeks, I will be testing various types of butter (and some non-butter shortenings) to determine if there really is a noticeable difference. I will be using my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies (the one that comes on the inside of the Land O’ Lakes box), only varying the type of butter for each batch, to minimize independent variables. My trusted group of lab rats taste testers will choose their favorites. Ideally, they will rate each batch on a scale of 1-5 based on taste, consistency, and chewiness, but in all likelihood I will not be present during the taste test, so I won’t be in a position to demand evaluations.
I Wanna Bake! 