Cookie Experimental Design

Purpose: In groups of 2-3, design an experiment to test how changing 1 variable in a cookie
recipe will affect the outcome. I only need 1 document submitted per group. We will test the
best experimental design submitted together later this semester.

Kirkland Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Ingredients
● All-purpose flour, 2 cups
● Salted butter (softened), 3/4 cups
● Dark brown sugar, 1 cup
● Granulated sugar, 1/2 cup
● 2 large eggs
● Vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon
● Baking soda, 1 teaspoon
● Salt, 1/2 teaspoon
● Chocolate chips, 2 cups

Instructions
Step 1
Combine brown sugar, butter, and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Beat until smooth
using a mixer.
Step 2
Stir in eggs, vanilla extract, and mix everything at medium speed. Add salt and baking
soda and mix well. Add flour gradually and blend well.
Step 3
Mix chocolate chips into the batter with a spatula. Drop the cookies onto the baking
sheet using a cookie scoop leaving a space of 2 inches between them.
Step 4
Pre-heat the oven to 375F and bake for 12-15 minutes. Be careful not to overbake.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before serving.

Q1: What will be your independent variable? (What will you be changing in the recipe? This
could be the temperature, type of cookie sheet used, or one of the ingredients listed. If someone
in your group has a food allergy or restriction, look up what other ingredients could be used as a
substitution). Cook time is used as an example below, so do not use this as your
independent variable.
Q2: What will be your dependent variable(s)? (What cookie characteristic(s) will you use to
measure the outcome of your experiment? Texture, Flavor, Crispiness, ect. You can select more
than one.)

Q3: As a group, fill in the table below and make a hypothesis about how each test group will
affect the dependent variable your group selected. (You can delete the red text below and
replace it with your own)
Test Group Control Group (recipe as Test Group 1 Test Group 2
written)

Independent Ex: Bake time 12 min Ex: Change bake time to Ex: Change bake time to
Variable 14 min 16 min

Hypothesis Ex: This will produce the Ex: This will produce Ex: This will produce the
(You may need to softest cookies slightly crispy cookies crispiest cookies
conduct some
additional
research to make
a reasonable
hypothesis)

Reasoning Ex: Since the cookies Ex: These cookies will Ex: Since the cookies
for your will cook for the least have less moisture than will cook for the most
hypothesis amount of time, they will 12 min but more than 16 amount of time, the
retain the most min, so the crispiness oven will bake out most
moisture, making them should fall between the of the moisture making
softer other 2 times. them crispy.

If you
conducted
research to
develop your
hypotheses,
please
include a list
of resources
or websites
used:

Q4: Design a data table. Create a data table for you to record and analyze the data you will
measure from your experimental groups. Consider your independent variable and dependent
variables.