Chocolate Chip Cookies Chemistry

Chocolate Chip Cookies: A highly scientific chemical reaction of butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt, and, of course, chocolate chips. The buttery, toffee notes of a perfect CCC is often considered the epitome of home baking, a simple yet reminiscing experience, taking many down a trip on memory lane. However, the classic chocolate chip recipe isn’t as “cookie cutter” as the back of the Nestle Morsel bag has you believe; there is actually a plethora of chemical reactions that take place in your very own oven. When a round ball of raw dough in placed on a cookie sheet and inserted into the oven, the first reaction in the series to come is already starting. The butter (a saturated fat and solid at room temp.) melts when exposed to the heat of the oven, causing the cookie to spread and transforming that ball of ingredients into “cookie form.” As this is occurring, the edges of the cookie (which are exposed to a continuous source of heat) begin to set. This is due to the proteins from the eggs and flour, coagulating much like a fried egg does in a hot pan does. The spreading and setting reactions could be thought of as the set up step, for next, the mysterious reactions that give a baked cookie lift and flavor occur. The upcoming reactions are what makes eating perfectly cooked cookies different than licking the cookie dough directly out of the bowl (even though, I’d argue that can be just as delicious)!
An effective darkening of the exterior and noticeable fragment compounds are produced due to an interaction of the proteins and sugars in the cookie. It is actually this same reaction that fives the outside of a pan-seared steak its highly desirable umami rich crust and produces the smell of freshly baked bread. However, the reaction differs in the amino acids (parts the make up a protein) and sugars that