Major cookie recipe conversion needed!

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Lisa110

Senior Cook
Joined
Nov 9, 2004
Messages
107
Location
NYC
Hi all :)


I had been looking for a recipe for those large chinese chocolate drop almond cookies that you find in the supermarket and regular bakeries throughout the Northeast. I finally found one online, but there's a problem. The recipe is from the Publix supermarket chain, and it's in major bulk! If there are any conversion geniuses out there, who could scale this recipe down to normal proportions (like a 4th of it!) to suit a family instead of a supermarket crowd, including tsps, cups and TBS, instead of the ounces etc..I would be incredibly indebted to you! If anyone has the time, or is simply good at converting recipes from bulk to household..please help? :) Here are the ingredients for the recipe.

3 lb sugar
3 1/2 lb shortening
1 lb whole eggs
1/4 oz almond extract
1/4 oz vanilla extract
5 lb cake flour
1/2 oz salt
2 oz baking soda
5 oz fudge icing (aka "fudge base" in Publix
lingo)
 
Yikes. :wacko: Let's see...

3/4 lb sugar
7/8 lb shortening
1/4 lb whole eggs
1/16 oz almond extract
1/16 oz vanilla extract
1 1/4 lb cake flour
1/8 oz salt
1/2 oz baking soda
1 1/4 oz fudge icing (aka "fudge base" in Publix
lingo)

I think that's 1/4th...:ermm: somebody check me please!
 
Good job, chocoholic! I'm stumped when it comes to most conversions!:wacko:

Lisa, just be prepared that these may not taste the same as the ones you're used to. A lot of recipes (especially baked goods) don't increase or decrease exponentially. You'd think they would (i.e. 1 c of sugar would become 4 c if you're making a quadruple batch), but the science of baking often doesn't always allow for such simplicity. Be sure to let us know how you make out. They sound like a delicious cookie!
 
Thank you so much, chocoholic..and thanks for the heads up, PA! The thing is, I know baking is a science, and sometimes halving, or even doubling a recipe doesn't give you the same result, but since this is the only recipe I could find for these cookies, I'm willing to chance it.

Now, my only problem is...how could this translate into cups and tsps? I can handle the lbs, but the oz of extracts leave me confused! Would 1/16 oz be 1/4 or 1/8 tsp? AND -- how much would 7/8 of a lb be? (I'm terrible at figuring these things out..mathematically impaired..lol). My scale isn't exactly on the money..hence why I'm asking :).
 
This is the problem I had when I looked at this. It's fairly accurate to say that 1/16 of an ounce equals 1/8 tsp FOR LIQUIDS ONLY.

7/8 of a pound is 14 ounces and 3/4 of a pound is 12 ounces on your scale.

If you don't have an accurate scale, 1/8 ounce of salt or 1/2 ounce of baking soda can't be easily converted to teaspoons.

For the small quantity of flour used, I would suggest estimating these small amounts. Try 1/8 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp of baking soda.

Anyone else have a better guess???????
 
Thanks, Andy. I think we're getting closer and closer to the final result that I'll be taking on. :) If only I could find a regular recipe for these cookies! It's almost as if all Supermarket bakeries keep their 'cookies' in bulk, so the ones who covet the recipe ( like moi) end up begging for something that results in less than 500 lbs of dough..LOL


Here's a picture of them..
http://www.beyondbagels.com/bakery-cookie-chinese.htm
 
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I just got out my digital kitchen scale, which is accurate to +/- 2 g or 1/8 oz, whichever you use. I scooped a level teaspoon of salt into the pan after I "tared" the scaled (zero the scale), and 1 t of salt registered 1/8 oz. I measured one level Tablespoon of baking soda, and it registered 5/8 oz. I then measured in one level teaspoon of baking soda, and it registered 1/4 oz. When I dropped in the second level teaspoon of baking soda, it registered 5/8 oz again! I'm guessing I didn't have the teaspoons as level as I wanted (which is why most professional bakers weigh ingredients). I'd say go with the 2 t of baking soda, and if that's to much, next time around, go with 1 3/4 t.

There are 2 T of fluid volume to the fluid oz. Therefore, there's six teaspoons of volume to the fluid oz (here in the US). Unfortunately, that doesn't divide equally into 1/16 oz, so the extracts will be somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 t. I would start with the 1/4 t of each, and experiment with that. However, if you have a 1/8 t (one of my measuring spoon sets does), go with 1/4 t + 1/8 t of the extracts.

One large egg equals, on average, 1.2 oz. If the scaled-down recipe yields 4 oz eggs, go with 3 large eggs, or, if you have whole liquid eggs (great for making omelletes in bulk), just use 1/2 c whole liquid eggs.

The converted yield should look something like this:

12 oz sugar
14 oz shortening
3 whole eggs
-or- ½ c whole liquid eggs
¼ t + 1/8 t more almond extract
¼ t + 1/8 t vanilla extract
1 # 4 oz cake flour
1 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 ¼ oz fudge icing (aka "fudge base" in Publix
lingo)
 
You guys are all geniuses to me! Thanx so much, Allen! I'm going to attempt this right now, and I'll be back with the results. I wish I had the patience and the mathematical ability to have sat down and figured it out, but every time I tried, I think I turned it into a discombobulated mess that would never work. LOL

PS -- I've decided to make my own chocolate ganache instead of the canned frosting, to top them with.
 
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