Turn any cookie recipe into a formula you can understand, test and confidently make your own :)
If you follow me online, you’ll know that I am a liiiittle bit obsessed with baking science - and particularly with understanding what makes the perfect cookie (or should I say MY perfect cookie!).
I’ve spent many, many hours comparing recipes, calculating baker’s percentages and testing how small changes to my ingredients, temperature and method affect the final result. My ongoing quest to create my perfect cookie has involved a lot of experiments, plenty of notes and failures, and, occasionally, absolutely no memory of what I changed between one batch and the next :D
You may also know Im a little obsessed with spreadsheets. SO, ive created one for us budding recipe developers and cookie science enthusiasts.
The Cookie Recipe Development Lab gives you one simple place to break down a recipe, understand how it works and record every test properly. I’ve designed it to make recipe development feel much more like active learning than stressful, clueless guesswork (been there, still there sometimes ha).
What does it do?
Just enter a cookie recipe in grams and select the correct category for each ingredient. The spreadsheet automatically converts everything into baker’s percentages, using the combined weight of all the flour in the recipe as 100%.
Separate Total Flour and Total Sugar rows (at the bottom) make it easy to understand the overall structure of your recipe and compare it with others.
When you want to tweak something, you can enter the number of grams you’d like to add or remove. Your new weights and baker’s percentages calculate automatically, while the original recipe always remains visible beside them.
Because there is nothing worse than finally making an incredible cookie and realising you can’t remember exactly what you did. DO I know that from devastating experience? Stop asking, I’ll never tell…
What’s included
Automatic baker’s percentage calculations
Space for up to 25 ingredients
Dedicated Total Flour and Total Sugar calculations
Your original recipe kept visible at all times
Four test versions for developing and comparing changes
Automatic recalculation of weights and percentages
Ingredient temperature tracking
Dough temperature, oven temperature, chill time and bake-time tracking
A detailed Test Log for recording every bake
Space for observations, scores and whether you would repeat each test
Dropdown menus covering common cookie problems
Automatic general troubleshooting guidance and suggested fixes
A full instructions tab explaining how to use and customise the workbook
Built-in cookie troubleshooting
Recipe development isn’t just about recording what you changed. It’s about understanding why the result changed.
If your cookie spreads too much, barely spreads at all, feels greasy, turns out dry or becomes more cakey than chewy, select the outcome from the dropdown menu.
The workbook will automatically show you a general overview of;
What the result might mean (most common issues, not exhaustive!)
What to check first
A suggested change for your next test
Useful temperature or method checks
What you should avoid changing/ assuming at the same time
It is my hope that it helps you think through the recipe, method and baking conditions so you can make a more informed next test.
Perfect for you if…
You love baking but want to understand the science behind it
You’re completely new to baker’s percentages
You want to tweak recipes without accidentally ruining them
You’re trying to create your own perfect cookie
You struggle to remember what changed between batches
You want to compare recipes more easily
You’re developing products for a home bakery
You want a clear, repeatable testing process
You don’t need to be a spreadsheet expert or already understand recipe formulation. I’ve made it as beginner-friendly as possible, with clear instructions, colour-coded input cells and automatic calculations throughout. Its also very pretty haha :)
This is the same approach I use when investigating recipes and developing cookies for Brown Butter Bakes, just turned into a simple tool that you can use in your own kitchen.
Because I really do believe that baking science doesn’t need to feel intimidating. Sometimes you just need somewhere to put the numbers, record what happened and work out what to try next. I hope you really love it!
Please note
This is a digital Google Sheets product. No physical item will be posted.
You will need a free Google account to create and use your own editable copy. The spreadsheet is intended for personal use or use within your own individual baking business. It may not be copied, shared, resold or redistributed.
Due to the instant-access nature of digital products, purchases are non-refundable. This workbook is an educational recipe-development tool; results will also depend on your ingredients, equipment, method and individual baking conditions.
Turn any cookie recipe into a formula you can understand, test and confidently make your own :)
If you follow me online, you’ll know that I am a liiiittle bit obsessed with baking science - and particularly with understanding what makes the perfect cookie (or should I say MY perfect cookie!).
I’ve spent many, many hours comparing recipes, calculating baker’s percentages and testing how small changes to my ingredients, temperature and method affect the final result. My ongoing quest to create my perfect cookie has involved a lot of experiments, plenty of notes and failures, and, occasionally, absolutely no memory of what I changed between one batch and the next :D
You may also know Im a little obsessed with spreadsheets. SO, ive created one for us budding recipe developers and cookie science enthusiasts.
The Cookie Recipe Development Lab gives you one simple place to break down a recipe, understand how it works and record every test properly. I’ve designed it to make recipe development feel much more like active learning than stressful, clueless guesswork (been there, still there sometimes ha).
What does it do?
Just enter a cookie recipe in grams and select the correct category for each ingredient. The spreadsheet automatically converts everything into baker’s percentages, using the combined weight of all the flour in the recipe as 100%.
Separate Total Flour and Total Sugar rows (at the bottom) make it easy to understand the overall structure of your recipe and compare it with others.
When you want to tweak something, you can enter the number of grams you’d like to add or remove. Your new weights and baker’s percentages calculate automatically, while the original recipe always remains visible beside them.
Because there is nothing worse than finally making an incredible cookie and realising you can’t remember exactly what you did. DO I know that from devastating experience? Stop asking, I’ll never tell…
What’s included
Automatic baker’s percentage calculations
Space for up to 25 ingredients
Dedicated Total Flour and Total Sugar calculations
Your original recipe kept visible at all times
Four test versions for developing and comparing changes
Automatic recalculation of weights and percentages
Ingredient temperature tracking
Dough temperature, oven temperature, chill time and bake-time tracking
A detailed Test Log for recording every bake
Space for observations, scores and whether you would repeat each test
Dropdown menus covering common cookie problems
Automatic general troubleshooting guidance and suggested fixes
A full instructions tab explaining how to use and customise the workbook
Built-in cookie troubleshooting
Recipe development isn’t just about recording what you changed. It’s about understanding why the result changed.
If your cookie spreads too much, barely spreads at all, feels greasy, turns out dry or becomes more cakey than chewy, select the outcome from the dropdown menu.
The workbook will automatically show you a general overview of;
What the result might mean (most common issues, not exhaustive!)
What to check first
A suggested change for your next test
Useful temperature or method checks
What you should avoid changing/ assuming at the same time
It is my hope that it helps you think through the recipe, method and baking conditions so you can make a more informed next test.
Perfect for you if…
You love baking but want to understand the science behind it
You’re completely new to baker’s percentages
You want to tweak recipes without accidentally ruining them
You’re trying to create your own perfect cookie
You struggle to remember what changed between batches
You want to compare recipes more easily
You’re developing products for a home bakery
You want a clear, repeatable testing process
You don’t need to be a spreadsheet expert or already understand recipe formulation. I’ve made it as beginner-friendly as possible, with clear instructions, colour-coded input cells and automatic calculations throughout. Its also very pretty haha :)
This is the same approach I use when investigating recipes and developing cookies for Brown Butter Bakes, just turned into a simple tool that you can use in your own kitchen.
Because I really do believe that baking science doesn’t need to feel intimidating. Sometimes you just need somewhere to put the numbers, record what happened and work out what to try next. I hope you really love it!
Please note
This is a digital Google Sheets product. No physical item will be posted.
You will need a free Google account to create and use your own editable copy. The spreadsheet is intended for personal use or use within your own individual baking business. It may not be copied, shared, resold or redistributed.
Due to the instant-access nature of digital products, purchases are non-refundable. This workbook is an educational recipe-development tool; results will also depend on your ingredients, equipment, method and individual baking conditions.
