In other news, this blog is otherwise very sane and awesome. Keep it up!

My only strong opinion on cookies is if they taste good to you :). So if what you’re doing gives results you like, there’s no reason to change.

Having said that, melting butter does change the texture of the cookies. Quoting from Cookwise by Shirley Corriher (I mentioned it previously, I love this book) in her cookies section: “Butter is hard as a rock at one temperature. Then, only slightly warmer, it is soft and just a little warmer it melts. If you use a fat like butter that melts over a narrow temperature range, shortly after the cookies go into a hot oven the butter will melt and the cookies will spread.”

So if you’re melting the butter ahead of time you’re doing this step outside the oven which would change the spreading characteristics.

When I make chocolate chip cookies, I use half butter and half Crisco for the fat. The Crisco melts over a wider spectrum so the cookies stay a little thicker, which is how I like them. (But there’s still all the buttery goodness.)

Also, totally seeing your point about natural/unnatural – I mean, cocaine is a plant-based drug. Poisonous mushrooms that can kill one in seconds are completely natural. Scorpion venom – 100% natural. None are generally thought of as good for you. Heh.

Thanks for giving me some chemistry for thought. ;)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6400171.stm

Also, full-fat dairy actually tends to be better for the lactose-intolerant than lowfat or fat-free. Skim milk and low fat milk products are usually supplemented with additional milk solids, sugars and other derivatives to give them substance and make them more appealing.

I’ll take the real thing, please.

Relatedly, does anyone have a strong opinion on melting/not melting butter for chocolate chip cookies? I always melt it all the way (i.e. to liquid state), which I find makes the dough taste way better (to me, anyway), but I’m not sure it makes much of a difference to the final product. Anyone else have a preference? (I basically use the tollhouse recipe, fyi.)

Butter makes cookies spread and dry out more because of the high water content, so you have to use a fat that’s more solid at room temperature.

hoshi, that’s a really good thing to point out. No matter how “natural” the source of an ingredient, if it does bad things for you, it’s totally valid to make that observation and avoid it! And there are certainly some preservatives and whatnot that have been used over the years that are pretty questionable (and unnecessary) in terms of safety. The FDA has been terrible historically about making sure these things are tested and regulated well.

That’s what *should* happen, but it *isn’t* happening. I don’t know why, clearly Vidya doesn’t know why, either. I’m not saying it wouldn’t be hurtful to be excluded, but they *know* she’s a vegan. The why doesn’t really matter.

Really, what other solution is there? A confrontation? There’s that minefield I mentioned. They’re breaking the social contract by excluding her, but that doesn’t give her the right to break it, too, by imposing her dietary demands on others.

then my oldest sister surprised me. she asked if i was falling asleep. i told her no, that i was just enjoying the food. (i was closing my eyes and floating in a bliss of tastyness.) she looked at me like i was a bit odd. oh well. ^_^

among my family, i am currently the fattest. my parents have been on some diet or restriction for as long as i’ve known them. my sisters are both dieting to lose “preggers” fat. i’m the only one accepting my weight, and accepting that food is GOOD. it makes meals a little awkward at times, but i’m derailing from my point.

it should not be “shocking” for someone to enjoy food. aside from pure nutrition, food is meant to be delicious! when i dieted, i used low-sugar and low-fat substitutions. it was rare for me to eat a meal and think, “now THIS is satisfying.”

i don’t count calories or fat grams anymore. unfortunately i still have to count carbs because of diabetes, but i keep my eyes on that number only. i have found there is such *freedom* in eating what satisfies me. eating without worrying about weight is a difficult hurdle to leap, but well worth the struggle.

and as a note about processed foods and additives – i agree that a lot of it is bunk. to be honest i don’t believe much research anymore, since it’s all pretty dang biased. but i do know that i finally figured out that aspartame triggers depression for me. i don’t know why or how, but it does. (i was having major depressive episodes and i couldn’t figure out why. then i realized they were happening every time i consumed something with aspartame. even gum!) i cut out the aspartame, and the random depressive episodes stopped.

this could be a fluke with my body. i don’t know. but i think it’s more important to listen and pay attention to our internal cues than to leap at the latest “research.”