Chemist Divulges How To Bake The Perfect Cookie : NPR

All I want for Christmas is a whole bunch of these cookies.

And here is the recipe:

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

By rolling the dough balls in plain sugar first, the confections’ sugar does not soak in so much and stays on the surface better. Corn syrup in the dough helps prevent crystallization to produce the soft chocolate center. Oil greases flour proteins to produce a tender to the point of gooey chocolate center.

Makes 3 to 5 dozen, depending on size

1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8.2 oz/232 g) spooned and leveled bleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons (7 g) baking powder
½ teaspoon (3 g) salt
8 ounces (227 g) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 3/4 cups (19.3 oz/547 g) sugar, divided
1 cup (79 ml) canola oil
2 tablespoons (30 ml) light corn syrup
2 large eggs (3.5 oz/99 g)
1 large egg yolk (0.65 oz/18 g)
2 teaspoons (10 ml) pure vanilla extract
1 cup (4 oz/120 g) confectioners’ sugar

In a medium bowl, beat together well the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave on 50 percent power for 1 minute, stir, and microwave for 15 seconds more and stir.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment, beat together 2 1/2 cups (17.5 oz/496 g) of the sugar, the oil, and corn syrup to blend. Beat in the eggs, egg yolk and vanilla. Then on low, beat in the melted chocolate. Add the flour mixture and beat in on low speed.

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

About 30 minutes before you are ready to bake, arrange a shelf in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F/163 degrees C. Line a baking sheet with Release foil (nonstick side up).

Take out about one-quarter of the dough at a time to shape. Roll the dough into 1 1/2 to 2-inch (3.8 to 5 cm) balls. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup (1.8 oz/51 g) granulated sugar into one bowl and the confectioners’ sugar in another bowl. Roll each cookie dough ball lightly in granulated sugar first, then very heavily in confectioners’ sugar. (By rolling in plain sugar first, the confectioners’ sugar does not soak in so much and stays on the surface better.)

Arrange cookies 2 inches (5 cm) apart on the foil. For crisp cookies, bake 12 to 14 minutes. You can have several sheets of foil covered with cookies ready.

When one sheet is done, you can pull off the foil and move cookies to a cooling rack. Rinse the baking sheet with cold water to cool and then slip the sheet under another sheet of foil with cookies on it and get it right back into the oven. Allow the cookies to cool for 2 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

9 things you can do to beat media bias

Last night the Daily Show called out MSNBC as the new Fox News.  I am not sure what took the Daily Show so long, but they finally did it.  It was very obvious that MSNBC made an orchestrated move to appeal to the left in the run-up to the election.  So essentially, you had two very obvious biases with MSNBC and Fox News, scrunched in the middle by CNN who goes so far out of the way to try and pretend they aren’t biased, that they are actually biased by giving weight to the other side, even if the other side is clearly wrong.

For example, lets say that two men are in a bar arguing over whether or not the sun is shining today.  One says that it is so cloudy that they can not see a thing.  The other says there is not a cloud in the sky and that he is going to have to wear sunblock when he leaves.  This argument gets rather heated and CNN shows up on a tip.  That night CNN would say, “Breaking News: Two men got in an argument over whether or not the sun was shining.”

Then, in large white letters, they would read you a quote from the anti-sunshine guy.  Then they would quote the pro-sunshine guy…and never actually report whether or not the sun was actually shining outside, which could easily be observed just by stepping outside and taping it.  This is out of fear that they would be accused of being biased for the pro-sunshine crowd and losing the anti-sunshine crowd in the process.

The point is, so much of the mass media is now about the bottom dollar, and not actually telling the truth, regardless of political consequences, because they have shareholders to face in the morning.  On the otherhand, there is nothing wrong with MSNBC being liberally slanted and Fox News being conservatively slanted, as long as people understand that the news they are getting has their particular slant.  There is a problem with an obviously biased organization saying they are “Fair and Balanced” when for the most part, they clearly are not.  (Yes, the pew research organization says that Fox News reports balanced news, but they do not make value judgements on the content of the stories, just the reporting.  It’s one thing to cover something, it is another thing to cover it with equal zest and zeal.)

This is what you get with corporate news programming and people getting their news on the fly.  Most people will search out the type of news slant that reaffirms what they already feel politically and on personal issues.  Very rarely will the average working or partying person take the time to find out what the truth is.  All they know is that they heard it on T.V. so it must be true.

So what is someone supposed to do if they do want to know the truth?

1.  First, and most important, know the perceived biases of the news organization you are getting your news from.  CNN is so fickle that it is hardly news at all.  Fox News is zestfully conservative.  MSNBC is awkwardly (but working on it) liberal, NPR is generally considered liberal, but experience has proven to me that even if they are covering a liberal topic, they seek and respect opposing viewpoints, the New York Times and The Nation has a liberal, but in depth and well sourced slant, the Washington Times and National Review has a conservative, but in depth and well sourced slant.

2.  Take number (1.) with a grain of salt.  Each reporter and each story deserves independent consideration.

3.  If you really care about the truth, you need to get your news from multiple sources.  If you get all of your news from Art Bell in the middle of the night, you might not have a good read on reality.

4.  Practice being a critical thinker.  Look at the data presented, throw away the editorial comments, and make a value judgement on the data.  Does it hold up under scrutiny?  Does it make sense?  What is the motivation, not just for the subject(s) of the story, but the reporter and news organization as well.

5.  Do your own research.  The internet is full of peer reviewed journal papers, books, and other raw data sources.  Just make sure you apply step (4.) to your research.

6.  Make sure you are aware of your own biases.  And remember, bias isn’t necessarily a bad thing.  It is O.K. to be pro-sunshine when you can look outside and see clearly that the sun is shining.

7.  Be aware that most of what you see on T.V. and listen to on the radio (with a couple of exceptions for both) is no longer news.  It is infotainment.  It is meant to entertain, not educate.  We live in a passive news society and the large media conglomerates are milking it for all it’s worth.

8.  Credible bloggers are changing number (7.)  Which is why number (5.) is an important part of the process.  Bloggers have their biases as well, so be careful, but it is much harder for a political hack or corporate croanie to pull the wool over anybody’s eyes anymore because there is an army of citizen journalists standing by to debunk and discredit them.

9.  Practice your critical thinking and discernment skills by reading and discussing everything you can get your hands on, regardless of slant.  Teaching your mind to think should not finish after high school or college.  Teaching your mind to think should be a life-long process.

Here are two videos to provide emphasis.

The first video is an oldie but goodie of Jon Stewart single-handedly putting Crossfire on CNN off the air, and the second is Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal) openly admitting that he uses his media to sway opinion: