Lying yields

[I82Much]

Does anyone else seem to have this problem in cookbooks? Despite following the recipe exactly, the yield is sometimes half or less of the stated? For instance, I made gingersnaps out of The King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion which said it yielded six dozen 1 1/2 inch cookies - I came to about 4 dozen, and my cookies were only one gram greater than the specified 1 cookie = 12 gram. If measuring by weight rather than volume, how can there still be such a discrepancy?

Edited May 28, 2004 by I82Much (log)

[redfox]

Yes! This happens to me all the time.

[yorkshirepud]

Same here.

Though let's face it, how many grams get gobbled as we go along. Cookie dough was meant to be nibbled!

[Moopheus]

Particularly if the yield is stated in "servings". The "servings" are usually pretty small.

[redfox]

Hm. I just wanted to say that this really truly happens to me even without eating any dough, and when we're talking about number of cookies, not "servings". It never, ever happens that I wind up with more cookies than advertised, even when I make them smaller than the recipe seems to call for. I don't usually work with recipes that tell you how much the final cookies are supposed to weigh, which obviously puts a wrinkle in things, but honestly, there are so many recipes that say "Makes six dozen 2" cookies" and I wind up with four dozen 1 1/2" cookies -- what on earth is going on there?

[JanKK]

Happens to me too. But I've always attributed it to my making larger or smaller sizes (especially with cookies) than the recipe states.

[I82Much]

It truly is frustrating, and I wasn't eating the dough beforehand - perhaps less than 5 grams was eaten from start to finish. Not cool

[cbarre02]

Cookbooks are never to be trusted 100%, try the recipe first and find out for your self. Never use an untried recipe, when it is an important situation. New recipes are good for big occasions, new recipes that don't work are not.

[beccaboo]

I have a pfefferneusse (sp?) recipe I make every year, and every year it comes out to within 2 or 3 cookies of its stated 11-dozen yield. Then I tell my mother about it, and she reminisces that it always turned that way for her, back when she made that same recipe. This is remarkable because we both usually get way fewer cookies than recipes say. Equally untrustworthy are jam and other preserving recipes--I usually end up with half-again as many jars of jam as expected, though sometimes way fewer.

[srhcb]

Do your measuring by weights rather than by volume and you'll come closer to the expected yield.

[I82Much]

Do your measuring by weights rather than by volume and you'll come closer to the expected yield.

I did, that's how I knew my cookies were 13 grams rather than 12. Just obought a nice digital scale for baking purposes

[srhcb]

Do your measuring by weights rather than by volume and you'll come closer to the expected yield.

I did, that's how I knew my cookies were 13 grams rather than 12. Just obought a nice digital scale for baking purposes

Then get the perosn who wrote the recipe a scale!

[yorkshirepud]

Do your measuring by weights rather than by volume and you'll come closer to the expected yield.

I did, that's how I knew my cookies were 13 grams rather than 12. Just obought a nice digital scale for baking purposes

The weights could still throw it off though depending on which weight you used for your flour.

The weights will vary depending on whether the author intended you to dip and sweep, lightly spoon or sift (though for sifting it would tell you).

I imagine typically, they would assume you're going to dip and sweep so your flour amount would need to be 5 oz (or thereabouts) per cup.

Edited June 1, 2004 by yorkshirepud (log)

[morda]

Do your measuring by weights rather than by volume and you'll come closer to the expected yield.

I did, that's how I knew my cookies were 13 grams rather than 12. Just obought a nice digital scale for baking purposes

Is it possible that you're comparing pre-baking weight to post-baking weight? I know that for meat (say, a quarter-pounder from mcdonalds) they are quoting you the pre-cooked weight. I would guess that water loss would make the cooked weight less.

[fiftydollars]

As long as we are on the topic of recipes lying...

Anyone ever find time estimates to be accurate? I'm not talking about baking times, mixing times, cooking times, but total times given for how long it will take to make a given recipe.

These are always WAY off... and I find that annoying. It's not like I personally rely on them, but as long as you are taking the time to estimate total time why not make them as accurate as possible? Am I alone here?

Never has the servings yield ever been accurate in most baking recipes and rarely on other types of recipes.