Egg- the Great Emulsifier

My students had their first cooking lab last week. They made chocolate chip cookies. One of my more observant students commented, er shouted really, "Hey I didn't know cookies had eggs in them!"

What?! Where have you been child? We just finished the unit where we talk about not eating cookie dough because of the RAW EGG. How did you miss that cookies have eggs in them? Maybe he/she was really confused during that lesson.... So I figured I ought to cut the kid some slack and accept that maybe they don't know because they don't know why.

So for those of you who don't know. Eggs are used in baked goods. Eggs are emulsifiers, that means they hold things together. Most often, they hold together oil and water. Here's a diagram:

Philic means to love things and phobic means to hate things. So the hydrophobic side repels water, hence why oil and water don't mix. But if you add something, say an egg, to the mix, then the emulsifier will be the connection between the oil and water and hold them together.

It's the glue folks. It's what holds it all together. It's also why we use eggs in the dredging process to make delicious fried chicken. Without the egg, the dough would not become cohesive and you would have weird clumps and layers in those cookies. You would also have flatter cookies since an incohesive dough will not stretch and expand enough to allow for adequate rising.

And since I talked about cookies I figure I ought to share my tried and true cookie recipe. When things get really rough at school, I make a batch from memory. It's usually about one a week :) Here's the recipe as I make it:

Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup butter flavored shortening in the electric mixer. While it's running:

• Add 1/2 cup white sugar.
• Add 1 cup brown sugar
• Add 1 tsp vanilla, then another just because.
• Add 1/2 tsp baking soda.
• Add 1/2 tsp salt
• Add 2 eggs
• Add a good dash of cinnamon, maybe like a 1/4 tsp?? I really eyeball this one folks, you should see the cinnamon speckles in the batter.

Gradually add flour in a 1/2 cup at a time till your dough is cohesive, pulls away from the bowl, but is still kind of sticky. I usually need 2 1/2 to 3 cups. Stir in good quality chocolate chips, one bag (12 ounces).  Drop in even quantities on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. DO NOT USE PAN SPRAY. Pan spray makes a layer of oil which essentially fries the bottom of the cookie and makes it greasy. Ew. Parchment paper all the way, once you start using it, you won't turn back! Bake at 375 degrees for 7-9 minutes. You want them just starting to turn golden brown on the tops and edges, just barely golden. Remove from oven and let them set on the tray for a couple of minutes. They will continue to brown a bit as the baking continues from internal heat.  Remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling or go ahead and risk your tongue for a warm cookie :)  Special note on equipment- I hate dishes so I use as little as possible. For a simple batch of cookies I use a 1/2 cup measure (for sugars and flour), a 1/2 tsp meaure (for everything else), a cookie scoop, and one baking sheet. I don't even use a spatula to remove the cookies, I just barehand them. That makes for a whopping 4 things to clean counting the mixing bowl and uncounting the baking sheet since it stayed clean since it was lined with the parchment paper. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am!