Two Minutes Creaming and Mixing, Starting Temperature 70.2 F.

Very interesting - I did the two minutes creaming, two minutes mixing with Crystal Farms butter that was at 70.2 degrees at the start of creaming. The result wasn't quite what I expected, but was still improved.

The data was:

Starting temperature:
70.2 F.

Ending temperature:
70.9 F. (change of 0.7 F.)

Weight of one level cup after creaming, not including the measuring cup:
204 grams

Increase in volume with creaming:
26.5%

Weight of one level cup after mixing with flour, not including the measuring cup:
239 grams

Increase in volume after mixing (relative to a weight of 247 grams):
3.4%


The resulting cookies were flat and still spread on both baking sheets I tested on, but there was only the tiniest hint of pitting in the cookies baked on the Wilton EverGlide sheet, not noticeable unless you were looking for it, and there was no problem with the cookies from the Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch Commercial Cookie Sheet.

I find that these cookies really look just fine. Unlike the cookies made starting at 68.4 degrees, they are not too hard; they are simply crispier and thinner than the butter cookies I have made after creaming for six minutes. Personally I prefer the ones made with a longer creaming time, but I wonder if some people would actually prefer these?

I was thinking these might come out exactly like the ones I made with six minutes creaming time and two minutes mixing, but they are flatter. Next I think I'll try two minutes of creaming starting between 71.5 and 72.0 degrees and see how those cookies come out.

I think it's amazing that the volume increase for the last three creaming experiments including this one is identical - the weights of a level cup after creaming were 204 grams for all three experiments. This experiment started at 70.2 F., and the last two started at 68.4 F. I have definitely seen where starting at a warmer temperature reduces the amount of volume increase with creaming, but apparently the temperature difference here was not great enough to affect creaming results. But it was enough to affect the volume after mixing the flour! And it was enough to affect how the cookies turned out.

Fascinating, just fascinating!