Cookiegram Chaos

I've never worked in a commercial bakery and, after last week, I never will.

H is part of a "tasting" club in grad school, and it's a fun group who love to eat, cook, and talk about food.  Each year, they have a cookie contest for charity, complete with friendly rivalry, lots of butter and sugar, and goofy prizes.  This year, I naively suggested they add an additional activity to spread some holiday cheer: cookiegrams.

The concept of cookiegrams are based on candygrams, where people write little notes to each other.  These notes are attached to candy canes and then get delivered to the recipients, who end up with a nice little surprise.  So instead of candy canes, we decided to go with 2 homemade cookies.  The money students paid for the cookiegrams would get donated to a local charity,  Kids Can Cook, an awesome non-profit in the Boston area.  (Please support them if you are looking for a place to give to this year!)

I wasn't sure how many orders we'd receive, so I asked my workplace if we could make the cookies there when the kitchens weren't being used.  They generously agreed and I estimated that it would take us maybe 1-1/2 hours to get the cookies made.

Well, the orders rolled in. 150 orders, in fact.  That meant we would have to make at least 300 cookies and package them up.  After a little math, we scaled my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe and decided we'd make 9 batches to be safe.

H's hand is in here for scale, but I just noticed he has big hands.
For a better idea, check out 2" cookie dough ball on the bottom right.

H and I used the giant commercial mixer and were able to get all 9 batches in there at once.  Putting the dough together only took about 1/2 hour of measuring and mixing.

Then came the difficult part: baking and cooling.  We had two convection ovens to use, each with 3 racks.  Twelve cookies on each pan meant we could bake 72 cookies at once.  Since each batch took about 12 minutes to bake, it was just enough time to scoop out the next 72 cookies onto baking sheets.

As each batch came out, we cooled them on tall speed racks and threw the next one in.  We were incredibly fortunate to have as many baking sheets and cooling racks as we needed, but I had forgotten just got hot the classrooms got when the ovens are on.  While the cookies kept getting baked, they didn't seem to cool off quickly.

Then I had the bright idea of moving them off the pans onto the cool stainless steel tables.  It helped a little but the chocolate chips on the tops of the cookies still didn't seem to set and not smear for awhile.

All in all, it took us about 3-1/2 hours before we had them all baked, cooled, and placed into storage bags.  I was exhausted, hot, and tired of scooping at that point.

But it was worth it- we ended up making 450 cookies.  That's a whole lotta cookies.

Here's my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe in case you ever want to do your own marathon baking day.  Just remember that we had oodles of space, baking sheets, cooling racks, and tables to use!  I can't even imagine making this scale at home with a regular oven.

For my recipe, I blend some of the oatmeal to make a denser cookie, but leave some of it whole to still retain that great oatmeal texture.  The cookies also freeze well, and I always have a Ziploc bag of frozen cookie dough balls to pop into the oven whenever I have a cookie craving.

Happy baking!

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Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes ~30-36 cookies

Freezing notes: place formed balls of dough on a baking sheet.  They can be fairly close together but do not let them touch.  Freeze until solid and place in Ziploc bags.  Do not thaw before baking, and add an additional 1-2 minutes to baking time.

1-1/2 cups rolled oats or old-fashioned oatmeal, divided
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still firm
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 bag (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.  Adjust oven rack to middle position.
2. Place 1 cup of oats in a blender or food processor and blend until very fine.  Set aside.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
4. Add eggs one at a time and beat thoroughly after each addition.  Add the vanilla and beat for 15 seconds to blend.
5. Whisk together the flour, processed oats, baking powder, and salt.  With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, blend the dry ingredients into the butter mixutre.  (This will be difficult since the batter is very stiff).
6. Fold in the chocolate chips (save 1/4 cup to top cookies with if desired) and remaining 1/2 cup of oats.
7. Form the dough into balls about 2 inches in diameter and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.  Place extra chocolate chips on top of balls if desired.
8. Bake 14-15 minutes, or until the bottoms are lightly browned.  The cookies should still feel a bit soft at this point.
9. Remove from the oven and let cookies cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to cooling racks.  Repeat with remaining dough until all the dough is baked.

Bon Appétit!

Comments

[Cakespy]

Man...I wish I could have gotten a cookiegram! Looks like lots of work, but sweetly rewarding...

[jeena]

Hi there you have such a lovely blog. Great recipe it really does look so delicious. I have a blog also here is my link Food Recipes

Let me know if you would like to exchange links. Thanks Jeena x

http://jeenaskitchen.blogspot.com