Nikita's Senior Project by Nikita Tan

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:12:50 UTC

Nina and I restarted our plan because we couldn't find an organization to work with us to do the project. Our new project is to improve our baking skills and share our baked goods with staff in Novato High. This is our new timeline to keep us in check.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:13:41 UTC

We looked up some easy recipes to prepare the main ingredients so we don't have to keep visiting the stores.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:14:08 UTC

This is Nina and I planning to meet up and do the project.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:15:37 UTC

We did our first experiment (cookies) and Nina's house. We realized we didn't have enough butter.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:16:17 UTC

First time trying out this recipe by Honeysuckle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-M3JN_7LGU

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:16:53 UTC

Alas, the cookies turned out okay. We decided to improve it next time as experiment #2.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:18:12 UTC

This is us buying new groceries for experiment #2.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:18:32 UTC

This is us doing experiment #2 in my house. The process was much smoother than last time.

nitan1 — 2024-03-11 15:18:59 UTC

Our cookies looked less pale and was tastier than experiment #1. However, we left it in the oven for too long so it became a bit hard. We still think this was a success.

nitan1 — 2024-04-24 17:34:02 UTC

We moved on to our third time baking and we switched to brownies to discover which is easiest to make that allows us to make big batches more efficiently. We followed Cooking with Rila's recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bi1MaUuzcQ

nitan1 — 2024-04-24 17:36:41 UTC

Instead of cocoa powder, we used cocoa balls from France that we found on the shelf. This isn't my first time baking brownies, but this is the first time it turned out cakey. I looked up why this happened, sources say that it's because we used too much flour. Note for us next time: track your flour. Despite this, it still tasted good and is approved by our families.

nitan1 — 2024-04-24 17:42:10 UTC

In order to improve from our previous attempt, we decided to use the actual cocoa powder instead of cocoa balls. We went to three different grocery stores and found the last one at target!

nitan1 — 2024-04-24 17:43:28 UTC

While cleaning up, we forgot to take a picture before heating it up in the oven. But we wanted to show how well the process went, this was probably one of our cleanest and fastest baking experience and the batter was tasty.

nitan1 — 2024-04-24 17:45:44 UTC

A more disappointing attempt than the previous one but we have no idea why. After doing this, we realized the previous one was more muffin-y than cake-y. This one was super cake-y and dry. We followed the same recipe but it did now turn out fudgey like we wanted. The batter tasted better than the end result. We will try a different recipe next time.

nitan1 — 2024-04-29 15:53:08 UTC

The cookie mix looks decent but we forgot to take a picture of the end result. We believe the end result was tastier than last time maybe because we tried sweeter chocolate chips. The texture, however, was too soft. We think we might have underbaked it a little bit because we baked late at night and might rushed the process. But the softness melts in your mouth satisfyingly so it's more satisfying that the previous attempts. Overall, an improvement.

nitan1 — 2024-04-29 15:53:58 UTC

This is cookie experiment #3 following Rosanna Pansino's recipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDO4pRXpRmU. We tried this new recipe because we want to improve from the last two attempts.

nitan1 — 2024-04-29 15:58:45 UTC

This is brownie experiment #3. We tried a new recipe from Tasty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIb_741_dIw. This recipe intrigued us because they put chocolate chunks that melts in your brownies!!

nitan1 — 2024-04-29 16:00:17 UTC

This is before we put it in the oven. We prayed that this will turn out NOT cakey like our previous ones 🤞🤞

nitan1 — 2024-04-29 16:01:19 UTC

It's glossy and packed, unlike the cakey ones we've made!

nitan1 — 2024-04-29 16:03:23 UTC

We cut it open and found the melting chocolate surprise inside! Expectations reached ✅ Cravings satisfied ✅ By far the best batch we've made, so safe to say that we will making brownies with this recipe for our community!