Since the dawn of quarantine, it seems that every single person on the internet who has never picked up a pan in their entire life is posting pictures of a loaf of banana bread or a plate of chocolate chip cookies on their Instagram stories. But Instagram isn’t the only place for wannabe bakers to show off their newfound kitchen skills. Tik Tok has emerged as a new hotspot for amateur chefs.
Recently, my “For You Page” has been suggesting a myriad of cooking videos, ranging from easy breakfast quesadillas to authentic Italian pasta dinners. One particular recipe caught my eye: chocolate chip peanut butter cookies with only five ingredients, by the TikTok chef @everydaychiffon. This recipe seemed almost too simple to be true, so I decided to test it out.
It called for one cup of brown sugar, one cup of peanut butter, one large egg,teaspoon of baking soda and half a cup of chocolate chips. I was shocked to see that the recipe did not call for any flour. How was this cookie going to hold itself together?
Next, I combined the ingredients with an electric mixer. In the video, @everydaychiffon uses what appears to be a spoon, but I decided I was much too lazy for that. My result was a mixture that looked stickier, grainier and softer than regular cookie dough, not exactly mimicking the smooth consistency shown in the original video.
Afterwards, I placed the cookie dough onto a baking sheet in globby, spherical shapes. In the original TikTok, @everydaychiffon had her dough flattened into cookie shapes already. I decided against it, as my dough appeared to be much softer than hers. At this point, I was wondering why she didn’t chill her dough. Every other time I had baked cookies, the recipe instructed to chill your dough to avoid flat and thin cookies. Also, wouldn’t the peanut butter just melt out of the dough with no flour to hold it together?
Putting my doubts aside, I placed my cookie dough in the oven and baked them for eight minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. When I took them out, I was pleasantly surprised to see that they resembled actual cookies — you know, the ones with flour in them. As I let them cool, they hardened and took on an appearance as appealing as any store-bought cookie.
Of course, my TikTok-inspired creation still had to pass its final test: my family. My mother, a
peanut butter cookie fanatic, took one bite and fell in love. My dad, on the other hand, said he couldn’t eat more than one; they were way too sweet for him. I fell somewhere in the middle; I loved the taste of them, but I found that the texture was grainier than normal cookies.
So, to conclude my little culinary experiment: would I try a recipe from a TikTok chef again? Yes. Overall, this recipe was much easier to follow than something on Bon Appetit or Food Network, and I liked that I could compare my results to the original TikTok while cooking. Would I rely on TikTok chefs to give me the most delicious, flawless recipes ever? Probably not. Should you try it for yourself and find out where you stand? Definitely!
Email Gaby Baldovino at [email protected]
