bethCookies (and other weighty subjects)

How much does a cup of flour weigh? Seems like a simple question, but it is actually anything but:

• What kind of flour: all-purpose, cake, bread, pastry? (Whole grains just complicate this equation so we are not going there…not today anyway.)
• Sifted: before measuring, after, or not at all?
• Scooped from a container or spooned into the measuring cup?
• Measured while hopping on your left foot or right?

(Okay, I made the last one up, but you know what? It might actually make a difference because the shaking would make the flour settle…in which case, more would fit in your cup! Determining this, however, would require a complex equation taking into account your weight, the structural integrity of your kitchen floor, and how often heavy trucks drive by and shake the flour before measuring. Too much work.)

In any case, depending on who you ask, and how they measure, a cup of flour can range from about 3 ounces to about 6! Even the mid-range is 4 1/4 – 5 1/2, which is a huge difference when you are baking. One article I came across said: "I can make a cup weigh almost anything I want."  Now, isn't that helpful?

I must admit that as I write this, I am amazed, in a "we can put a man on the moon but we can't…" sort of way. It's a cup of flour, after all, not rocket surgery!

I care about this for two reasons.

First, it really bothers me that people blame themselves when a new recipe fails. Measuring a cup of flour is dirt simple stuff, yet the experts can't even agree amongst themselves. This is a rant for another time, but for now I must say this:

If you bake something and it doesn't come out quite right—heck, even if it is a total failure—don't blame yourself. All books have typos, the rigor of recipe testing varies from book to book, environmental factors matter (there are a number of baked items that you shouldn't bother to make on rainy days), and nobody knows how much a cup of flour weighs!

Second, and more pertinent even if less important, see those cookies at the top of this article?

Studded with chocolate chips and macadamias, laced with coconut, with a generous helping of oatmeal; the whole blending into a chewy cookie with a hint of caramel/molasses that uses enough flour to hold everything together but only just. Those are my signature cookies: bethCookies.

They totally rock. I have been making them for two decades. They are simple to make, relatively hard to screw up, and I can recite the recipe in my sleep.

And then there are these. Those are what I made when I was verifying the measurements prior to writing this article. You see, I always weigh ingredients when I bake. Because, well, even I know how much 7 ounces of flour weighs, even if I don't know how many cups it is. When writing recipes, however, one must use volume measurements for the American audience, or so says The Recipe Writer's Handbook.

So I converted the weight to cups using my standard ratio of 4 1/2 ounces to 1 cup. Apparently that is just plain wrong. At least when measured by scooping flour into a black measuring cup in the northern hemisphere of planet earth on a Tuesday while standing still except for the cat nudging my ankles.

The genuine bethCookies have 7 ounces of flour. Those others—the imposters—well, they have a smidge over 1 1/2 cups, which could be anywhere between 4 1/2 and 9 ounces. (It was actually about 8 1/2.)

Excuse me while I scream!

Frustrating though this is, I even know exactly how I got here. When I bought a kitchen scale a few years ago, it was because weighing 6-7 cups of flour every time I baked bread was tedious, not to mention of questionable accuracy. Just how questionable would become apparent later: last Tuesday to be exact.

When I got the scale, I was doing a lot of bread baking from books by Peter Reinhart, and he uses 4.5 ounces for a cup of flour. Bread recipes, both Reinhart's and others, worked within reasonable tolerances—and what bread recipe ever used exactly the specified amount of flour?

So, in my kitchen a cup was 4 1/2 ounces. I labeled all the flour containers so I wouldn't have to remember. Some cookbooks have both volume and weights, which saved me the conversion hassle, while others have collected scribbled weights in their margins as I have used them. Still, a cup of flour has been 4 1/2 ounces, unless otherwise specified.

Case closed.

…claps hands together to dust flour off of them…

Or maybe not.

bethCookies

  makes 4 1/2 dozen

butter, 1 cup, (8 oz / 224 gr)
sugar, 1/2 cup, (3 1/2 oz / 98 gr)
brown sugar, 1 cup, (7 1/4 oz / 200 gr)
eggs, 2  large
vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon, (5 gr)
all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 cups, (7 ounces / 196 gr) see note
salt, 1/2 teaspoon
baking soda, 1 teaspoon
chocolate chips, 2 cups, (12 oz / 336 gr)
rolled oats, 2 cups, (7 1/4 oz / 203 gr)
coconut flakes, 1 cup, (4 1/4 oz / 119 gr)
macadamia nuts, chopped, 1 cup, (4 1/2 oz / 126 gr)

Preheat oven to 375°. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

1. Cream the butter and sugars until combined.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for one minute until well blended, stirring down sides of bowl once.
3. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture and beat on medium until the flour is mostly incorporated.
4. Add oatmeal, chocolate chips, coconut, and nuts and continue mixing until they are well distributed.
5. Drop teaspoonfuls on parchment-lined (or greased) cookie sheet. (I prefer parchment on cookie sheets rather than greasing them because cleaning them is easier.)
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until they look like the cookies in the good picture. Try to let them cool enough that the chocolate doesn't scorch the roof of your mouth (about 90 seconds…not that I was counting).

Notes

I use my 1 1/4 ounce scoop making equal size cookies fast and easy. The cookies bake at the same speed and, as an added bonus, you can avoid the trauma of a sibling getting a larger cookie.

If you are measuring flour by volume, fluff it a little and scoop 1 1/2 cups. If you aren't totally thrilled with the texture, adjust the next batch by a tablespoon or two either way. (Unless you live where the flour weighs 3 ounces a cup, in which case all bets are off and I beg you to let me know how many cups it takes on your planet.)

If you want to improve your baking skills, you really should get a digital scale. For about $25us, you can get any of a number of very cool scales. When you get your scale, weigh some flour for yourself and decide what your cup of flour weighs. Make notes in your cookbooks. The effort you put into baking will have more reliable results, you will come to enjoy it more, and probably do it more often. Not so bad for a few dollar investment.

This first appeared at Gather, where I write The kitchenMage's Apprentice column.

Comments

[Tanna]

I find myself using my scales more and more.
You have done a most fantastic example of the problems involved in a cup!
Bravo!!!

[s'kat]

I am constantly frustrated by the inaccuracies in so many baking cookbooks. Why can't there be one way?

[Deborah Dowd]

You learn something everyday! When my baking doesn't work out I am sure it must be me... but maybe not! I have been thinking about getting a better kitchen scale, and you have just given me another good excuse (reason). By the way I am going to try these cookies (with 7 1/2 oz of flour)-they lok incredible!

[Jo]

A scale is a must unless you bake less than 6 loaves of bread or 10 dozen cookies in any given week. ;o) I'm preparing to make a couple "tartano" loaves and with little exception, most of the ingredients are measured by weight mainly to guarantee each item is a consistant quality. Sadly, my teeny tiny scale is a "spring" scale simply because I can't afford a digital at the moment. Which brings me to the question of my day, "How much does a tablespoon of ginger weigh?"

[Layla42]

Really? Scales make a big difference in baking?

I swear...I'm not being sarcastic!
But speaking as someone who's been baking for nearly 20 years, I've never used a scale. Does it just keep the recipe extra-consistent?

I'm curious.

[Kitchen Witch]

Oooh. These look really rather enticing. I might just have to give 'em a whirl this weekend! :)

And thanks for dropping round - nice to meet new faces.

[D]

Wow, I never knew that there was so much to take into consideration when measuring a cup of flour.

[Baking Soda]

I get so frustrated by those cups and ounces... Let's just go one way please (and eeh could that be my way? Thank you)
Other than that you succeeded in explaining all problems in a cup! Great write-up.

[Baking Soda]

Oops by frustrated I mean that I sometimes find myself doing half the recipe in ounces, the other half in grams... without conversion....aaaargh!

[Willa]

Gee, my husband was just asking for chocolate oatmeal cookies! These look yummy- I think I'll be making them soon.

I have a lovely digital scale I keep down here by the computer, for weighing things I sell on Ebay and figuring postage. I've been considering moving it upstairs to the kitchen, but I am afraid I would spill on it or otherwise mess it up.

Willa

[judyinknoxville]

Hi . . . I was planning to make the bethCookies for our weekend outing to my cousins home in the mountains, and was wondering if walnuts would be as good as the macadamia nuts. I went to buy some at Walmart and it was going to cost me almost $4.00 for a cup. Now if the macadamia nuts really make a difference, I'll spring for the $4.00. And, one other question concerning the coconut flakes, are they sweetened? Sorry to ask so many questions, I usually just do my own thing when it comes to cooking and baking, but I am trying to be more disciplined so I get more consistent results. Thanks for the recipe!

[kitchenmage]

Baking Soda, me too! I have recipes with so many scribbles on them from the conversion, then scaling it to double the recipe, then...so confusing!

Willa, my scale is this stainless steel square that wipes off easily. The pretty ones I linked to are tempting but I'm with you on the messy concerns. Of course, you could always buy a second one...

Judy, I have made these with all sorts of nuts and walnuts are great too. (They are even good without nuts.) The macadamias are my favorite so I always buy some when I get to a Trader Joe's but you're right they are expensive! Coconut flakes are usually sweetened because that's what I usually have, but I have also used small unsweetened flakes (but not the HUGE potato chip sized ones!)

[Carissa]

Hi! Sounds like a tasty cookie. What effect would there be if I omitted the coconut and replaced the macadamia nuts with walnuts?

Thanks! :)

[kitchenMage]

Carissa,

They would still be really good. Perhaps a bit less caramelly, there's something in the macadamias here that seems to enhance the brown sugar.

[Kaitlyn]

I knew you would have the recipe for these cookies. I have been craving them! My boyfriend's mom invited me over to make cookies the day after thanksgiving, but being that I'm not a big fan of cookies I didn't know what I would make. He He, now I know!

P.s. How are things?