The girls' school science fair was yesterday. Magdalena's project was "The Plant Grows Toward the Light." It's in the greenish shoebox thing.
Miriam's project was an experiment to see which tasted better: fresh-baked cookies whose dough had been refrigerated for 48 hours, thus allowing the wet and dry ingredients to really soak into each other; or fresh-baked cookies whose dough had been mixed right then. The day before the science fair, she and her project partner went around the neighborhood asking people to taste-test Cookie A (refrigerated dough) and Cookie B (fresh dough). Then she presented the results (and more samples for people to taste-test for fun) at the science fair yesterday
The New York Times says that Cookie A, with its refrigerated, fully incorporated ingredients, makes the better cookie. But Miriam's taste-test experiment found that most people preferred Cookie B, the one whose dough was prepared and then baked right away.
We talked about possible explanations for this since it went against her hypothesis (and that of the NYT). We decided that since most people make cookies because they want them now, not two days from now, most people make and eat cookies like Cookie B. So when they tasted them, Cookie B was what they were drawn to as the familiar ideal of a cookie. Cookie A also made for a crispier, flatter cookie, which several taste-testers mentioned as being a negative. Cookie B was puffier and softer.
But the ultimate conclusion she made was that there is no "best" cookie. People like what they like, and it can't always be explained by SCIENCE.
The New York Times says that Cookie A, with its refrigerated, fully incorporated ingredients, makes the better cookie. But Miriam's taste-test experiment found that most people preferred Cookie B, the one whose dough was prepared and then baked right away.
We talked about possible explanations for this since it went against her hypothesis (and that of the NYT). We decided that since most people make cookies because they want them now, not two days from now, most people make and eat cookies like Cookie B. So when they tasted them, Cookie B was what they were drawn to as the familiar ideal of a cookie. Cookie A also made for a crispier, flatter cookie, which several taste-testers mentioned as being a negative. Cookie B was puffier and softer.
But the ultimate conclusion she made was that there is no "best" cookie. People like what they like, and it can't always be explained by SCIENCE.