The Ultimate Sprinkledoodle Cookie Taste Off

May the tastiest Sprinkledoodle win! 

I just love these sprinkle cookies, they're delicious and happy looking. The sprinkles are not just decoration. Encrusting the cookie with sprinkles actually adds texture and flavor. Adam's a fan of the Sprinkledoodle in general, but will sometimes wonder out loud, "if you make them a little bigger it might be chewier," or "the sprinkle to cookie ratio might be higher if the cookie was smaller." To find the optimal Sprinkledoodle cookie size, I decided to make them in four different sizes for "The Ultimate Sprinkledoodle Cookie Taste Off." It was also a good excuse to use my collection of cookie scoops.

The Large cookie is equal to 9 small cookies. As for the slightly confusing "Medium Large" and "Medium Small" nomenclature, you can thank Adam. Somehow, it makes sense to him so I'm accommodating his quirks. 

Cookie Dough (not baked)
Left to right: Large, Medium Large, Medium Small and Small

Baked Cookies
Left to right: Large, Medium Large, Medium Small and Small

The challenge: 
Taste all four sizes of Sprinkledoodles and determine the winningest size. You have to eat all four cookies (95ml cookie dough or 19 units of Small cookies) so it's quite the caloric commitment. Zlexa (Taster 5) is on the Paleo diet so I'm honored that she broke her diet to partake in this taste off. On the other hand, maybe the cavemen would still be around if they'd just enjoyed some Sprinkledoodles in their diet. :)

Taster 1: Adam likes the Medium Large for texture, but likes the Medium Small for size. Ultimately, he cast his vote for Medium Small.

Taster 2: Zrennen, our occasional houseguest who's a pastry chef, likes the Medium Large

Taster 3: Zristina generally likes soft cookies so she went with Medium Large because the Large cookie was just too large.

Zristina

Taster 4: Zana liked the size of Medium Small for portion control, but liked the taste and texture of Large. Zana refused to pick a favorite and wants a Medium Small sized cookie baked at a higher 375 temperature for a little less time to create his ideal cookie.

Zana

Taster 5: Zlexa awards Medium Large with "Best in Show" but likes the Medium Small for the "Coffee Dunkability" award.

Tally:
The winner is Medium Large - 3 votes (Zrennen, Zristina and Zlexa)
Medium Small - 1 vote (Adam)
Abstention - 1 vote (Zana refused to pick a cookie size)

Only Zana preferred the Large for texture. Most others found the Large too big, to "hard to eat," etc. I personally thought the Small size was super adorable, but I'd have to agree with the others that the Small size was all crisp with no chewy center. Zrennen called the Small "a waste of dough."

While the Medium Large did win for texture, everyone agreed that the Medium Small was the bestest size for a cookie so the next challenge is to bake a Medium Small sized cookie with the soft texture of the Medium Large or even Large sized cookie.

If there's a natural relationship between cookie size and cookie softness so the biggest cookies are the softest, one might say there's a natural "Cookie Softness Frontier." See chart below. Basically, the goal is the break past the "Cookie Softness Frontier" and achieve a small soft cookie (orange cookie on the chart). Challenge accepted...for the next Sprinkledoodle Cookie Taste Off, I'll be baking the Medium Small cookie size at three different temperatures (350, 375 and 400) to break through the frontier. Wish me luck on my next Sprinkledoodle adventure in the name of baking science.

Sprinkledoodle Recipe - modified from Lottie + Doof's Sugar Saucer recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1.5 cups unsalted butter at room temperature (3 sticks)
• 1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• rainbow sprinkles...a big vat of them

Instructions:

• Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Ideally a silicone bowl since you'll need to add the dry flour mixture to the batter. Click here for post about why silicone mixing bowls rock.
• Cream butter on medium with an electric mixer for about a minute
• Mixer on low, add the oil into the butter and mix well
• One by one, add sugar, powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract. Mix well with each additional ingredient
• Slowly add the flour mixture in four parts. (This is when you'll thank me if you us a silicone mixing bowl)
• Chill dough for at least one hour or up to 3 days
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper
• Scoop cookie dough (see above table for volume and desired size) and roll in rainbow sprinkles
• Place on baking sheet and press dough ball down slightly to flatten a tiny bit
• Bake until cookies are light brown. Obviously Medium Large cookies take longer than Medium Small. 
• Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before moving to a plate or rack. If you touch the cookies right out of the oven, the sprinkles will disintegrate so wait a few minutes for the sprinkles to cool and regain their structural integrity

Bonus fun Chiral* view. Medium Small is the third one down.

*Zorinna taught me all about Chirality in college