Ratio and Baking Part 1

Let's apply the math "ratios" to cooking and baking.

When you use ratios, you can...

• make 24 cookies using a recipe for 12 cookies in a cookbook.

• convert the units used in recipes from foreign cookbooks into the units used in the United States.

In this article, I will show you how to estimate the quantity of ingredients for 24 cookies using a recipe for 12 cookies.

Let's say tomorrow is your friend's birthday party. You want to make 24 cookies to give out 3 chocolate chip cookies to each of the 8 participants, but all you have on hand is the recipe for 12 cookies. It's time to use math to calculate how many ingredients you will need.

The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies (for 12 cookies)

½ cup granulated sugar(100 g)

¾ cup brown sugar(165 g), packed

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup unsalted butter(115 g), melted

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour(155 g)

½ teaspoon baking soda

4 oz milk or semi-sweet chocolate chunks(110 g)

4 oz dark chocolate chunk(110 g), or your preference

To make 24 cookies, you need twice (=24/12) as many ingredients as the recipe for 12. Now, let's try to figure out how many cups of granulated sugar we need.

↓Click here to see the video clip↓

The video makes it clear. We need exactly 1 cup of granulated sugar.

Then, let's figure out how many ounces of milk we need.

↓Click here to see the video clip↓

It is 8 oz.

Now that you have been exposed to some convenient situations, I hope you find math a little more useful. I've also included an exercise at the end, so you can try solving it.

Exercise

Q. You want to make 36 cookies using the same recipe. How many ounces of milk do you need?

Hint 1

To make 36 cookies, you need three times (=36/12) as many ingredients as the recipe for 12.

Hint 2

↓Click here to see the video clip↓

Answer

12 oz

References

Zhou, A. (2024 April 17), "The Best Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies", https://tasty.co/recipe/the-best-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies