How To Personalize A Traditional Recipe

Chocolate cake, blueberry muffins and oatmeal raisin cookies: all of these and more have been around for many years. Variations of these recipes exist, but the essential components of the recipes remain the same. Unless you have been baking your entire life and understand the science behind baked goods, it may be hard to create an original recipe.

By taking a traditional recipe and modifying it, you can create an entirely new food and original recipe. Recipe modifications are especially nice if you do not have the appropriate ingredients for a given recipe on hand. Some things should not be modified. Stick with the original measurements for base ingredients (flour, sugar, etc.), but feel free to alter measurements for add-ins (chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, etc.). Add-ins and add-ons are the easiest way to modify recipes.

Take this recipe for example. It is a variation of Quaker® Oats’ Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies recipe. Some of the measurements are slightly altered, and sweetened, dried cranberries are used instead of raisins. To complete the alterations, the cookies are topped with a white chocolate drizzle.

Fancy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
½ pound (2 sticks) softened, unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups Quaker® Oats (old-fashioned, uncooked)
1 ½ to 2 cups Ocean Spray Craisins®
1 to 2 bars Ghiradelli® White Chocolate Baking Bar
.
Heat oven to 350ºF. Combine dry ingredients in small bowl: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; mix well. In a separate, large bowl beat together butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla to butter/sugar mixture; beat well. Gradually add dry ingredients to large bowl; mix well. Stir in oats and Craisins®; mix well. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. When cookies are completely cooled, follow melting instructions (found on package) for white chocolate. Lightly drizzle the white chocolate over the cookies with a fork. Chocolate takes at least 30 minutes to dry completely. Bakes about 4 dozen cookies.

Using brand-name ingredients is not essential to most recipes, but for some products it does make a difference. Experiment with various brands to find the ingredients that best suit you. Once you have perfected your recipe, name it and call it your own. All recipes are modifications of an original, and it is those modifications that elevate each recipe to a new level and challenges modern bakers.

By: S.M.P.

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