Dough-ing Chemistry Right

PJA’s 7th graders are having fun with chemistry exploring real-world and relatable topics that bring chemistry to life! This week, they explored the chemistry of baking. For The Great Cookie Bake students examined how ingredients in a recipe are the same thing as the reactants in chemical reactions. One of the indicators of a chemical reaction is a change in taste, which is why we cook things. These tasty products are the result of reactions that take place between the ingredients. 

Students first researched the role of each ingredient in a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe. Then, in small groups, they altered a single variable—such as substituting maple syrup for brown sugar, using both baking soda and powder, browning the butter, replacing white sugar with all brown sugar, or changing the mixing order—to observe its effect. They wrote hypotheses predicting what the cookie would be like based on their research and wrote up their procedure, which was a modified version of the "base recipe".

After baking, they rated cookies on taste, appearance, and texture, comparing them to a control batch. The results? Maple syrup cookies were surprisingly tasty, mixed-order cookies turned out tender, and brown butter cookies were rich and decadent. While there was no clear "winner," students enjoyed lots of delicious cookies while applying their chemistry skills in a fun, hands-on way!