Cookies from scratch on a small or large scale

I once ran a bakery that made everything from scratch. What that means is I used no mixes or par-baked items for my finished products. Scratch baking does require the ability to measure out ingredients by weight, which helps with product consistency, but more importantly, keeps your costs in line. Even just “measuring” out a splash of vanilla will add up over time. Also, if you and I measured out a cup of flour, we'd likely have two different amounts, even if our measuring cup was precisely full.

My bakery was quite popular and I had quite a following. One thing that helped me stay organized was a personal recipe book. In the photo, on the page for chocolate chip cookies, you can see the originally written recipe, which was four times bigger than the original recipe, which I included below. Everyone's favorite cookie, it seemed, was the chocolate chip, so you can see my attempts to increase the batch size, culminating with an 8x batch, which would then have been the original batch made up 16 times. By weighing out the ingredients, this large conversion worked quite well. It was also the biggest sized batch my 10-quart mixer could handle.

You'll note the lack of a description of how to make up the cookies, as all I needed was the weight. In page after page of my book, there are no procedures, as we made them up all the time we were able to recall exactly what had to be done. Now, so many years later, I've had to track down the original source recipe to jot down the procedure, especially the one for making the laminated doughs, such as for turnovers and danishes.

While I don't expect everyone to make up big batches, I did include the measurements for the 16x batch (written as 8x in the book). The procedure for baking both batches are the same, just the big batch takes much longer to bake off with a couple of pans in a household oven.

One option I made up was white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, with the ingredients for a 4x batch listed at the bottom of the picture. The white chips and macadamias were substituted for the chocolate chips.

For consistent-sized cookies, I used a graduated disher to scoop out dough. Mine was a No. 16 size, which measures out 2.75 ounces of liquid. It also makes a very large cookie. Stick with a smaller portion for home consumption, like by the tablespoonful.

1x CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups pastry flour
• 2 cups mini chocolate chips

For white chocolate chip macadamia cookies, substitute 1 cup white chocolate chips and 1 cup salted and roasted macadamia nuts for the 3 cups chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking pans with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream the butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, salt and vinegar. Beat in egg, then soda and then the flour. Stir in chips. Scoop by tablespoonful onto the baking pan and bake for 12 minutes or so, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

16x CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

• 8 pounds butter
• 6 pounds 8 ounces shortening
• 16 pounds brown sugar
• 7 pounds sugar
• 8 ounces vanilla
• 2.5 ounces salt
• 8 ounces vinegar
• 24 eggs
• 8 ounces baking soda
• 17 pounds pastry flour
• 6 pounds mini chocolate chips
• 6 pounds white chocolate chips
• 4 pounds 12 ounces macadamias

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl sift to combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl beat together peanut butter, butter, and sugars until smooth. Add in egg and vanilla. Combine flour mixture with peanut butter mixture, scrapping the sides of the bowl to insure batter is well blended. Cover bowl with plastic and chill for 20 minutes. Drop tablespoon sized pieces on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press with a fork dipped in extra sugar, to flatten the dough. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

SNICKERDOODLES

• 1 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix together the shortening and 1 1/2 cups of sugar until smooth. Stir in the eggs one at a time, blending well after each. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the batter until blended. Roll the dough into balls the size of small walnuts. Roll in a mixture of 2 tablespoons sugar and 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned, but still soft.

COCONUT COOKIES

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, then add sugar and egg. Beat well until thoroughly mixed. Add the milk and extract, and the dry ingredients. Add the coconut and mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Shape and flatten the tops with a moistened knife. Bake for 15 minutes.