On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 10:15:09 AM UTC-5, John Kuthe wrote:
> On Tuesday, January 26, 2016 at 5:20:54 AM UTC-6, Cindy Hamilton wrote:
> > On Monday, January 25, 2016 at 6:22:28 PM UTC-5, graham wrote:
> > > I made a batch of chocolate chip - hazelnut cookies this afternoon and I
> > > reduced the sugar content. They didn't spread as much as I think they
> > > should have. Most are domed and are almost an inch thick. I only reduced
> > > the brown sugar by about 18% but halved the white sugar.
> > > Does brown sugar affect the spreading?
> > > Graham
> >
> > In baking, sugar is a "wet" ingredient. You decreased the ratio
> > of wet-to-dry in your cookie, so it was effectively the same as
> > increasing the flour. As a thought experiment, consider what
> > cookies would look like if you followed the recipe, but increased
> > the amount of flour.
> >
> > Cindy Hamilton
>
> Well, as a professional baker I've never heard of that!! Sugar being considered a wet ingredient, I mean!

I enclosed "wet" in quotes for a reason:

<http://www.finecooking.com/item/10200/how-is-sugar-wet>


Cindy Hamilton