She Bakes Chocolate Chip Cookies

Robin took off her jacket and vest, as she donned an apron. This time, she was going to make chocolate chip cookies. Ponzu was intensely making food in a corner of the kitchen, so Robin picked another counter to work on. When Ponzu saw that Robin had entered the kitchen, the intensity of his motions sped up.

On the counter, Robin assembled the things she needed for the cookies: flour, baking soda, salt, butter, eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract. For the chocolate chips, Robin took out a large handful of the chocolate truffles she had made. Freezing the chocolate and chipping away at it, she easily acquired a pile of chocolate chips. Setting them aside, she was now ready to work on making the cookie dough.

"I'm ready to help now, Teacher!" Ponzu exclaimed, which startled Robin enough to make her jump a little. She looked behind her at Ponzu, who had clearly gone all out in order not to miss his next lesson. At this, Robin puffed out a laugh.

"I was just getting things ready. I wasn't going to start without you. Go wash your hands and properly drink some water. I can explain a few things to you while you catch your breath, okay?" Robin stated, trying not to laugh anymore.

While she succeeded, she was unable to wipe the grin off her face. Sometimes her student could be so cute when he was in earnest. However, cuteness was no excuse for self abuse. If he was out of stamina now, how would he be able to follow her instructions well?

Robin seemed to forget the many times she ran herself ragged, attempting to do as much as possible. But, if anyone else were to point it out, she would probably shrug. 'It's fine if it's just me. But it isn't fine if it's anyone else.' She'd probably say.

After about a ten minute break, she allowed Ponzu to come back over and observe. The butter was approximately a one pound block, so she decided to start with the butter measurements.

"You see this block?" she asked.

"It's butter." Ponzu nodded.

"This is the ingredient that determines the texture of the cookie you want to make." She said. "When it comes to recipes, the measurements are important. But we're not going to use this whole block of butter for the recipe I had in mind. So, we're going to cut it down into manageable pieces."

Robin divided the block lengthwise into four sticks. "These are what's called sticks of butter. Unless you're making cookies for a banquet, you're going to be using somewhere around these measurements. Each stick can also be divided into four or even eight pieces called fourths or eighths." Ponzu was scribbling furiously in to his notebook.

Robin paused to give him time to catch up. When he glanced back up at her, she continued. "Now, if you want your cookies to be light and cakey, you would use about 1 and 3 fourths a stick of butter. If you want your cookies to be chewy, you would add 2 sticks. And, finally, if you want your cookies to be crunchy, then you would add 2 and a half sticks of butter."

"And, which one do you like most?" Ponzu asked, curious.

"I like mine between chewy and crispy, so I usually add 2 and 1/4th a stick of butter." Robin nodded. " Also, keep in mind that for every change you make to the butter content, you will have to adjust the measurements of the two sugars as well."

"The sugar? why?" Ponzu asked.

"Because the sugar content also affects the texture." Robin explained. "For the light and cakey cookies, you would add 3/4ths a cup of granulated sugar and 1/4th a cup of brown sugar."

"...So would I double it for the chewy ones?" Ponzu asked.

"Not quite. For the chewy cookies, you would add only a half a cup of granulated sugar. But you would add a whole cup of brown sugar." Robin corrected.

"But why?" Ponzu asked.

"Brown sugar has more of the sticky consistency that chewy cookies need, as not all of the molasses have been removed from the grains." Robin chuckled.

"If you don't have any brown sugar, you can try adding the same amount of granulated sugar as brown sugar with two teaspoons of molasses, which will also do the job. However, even though it might help the texture, it will also affect the flavor, so I wouldn't do that unless necessary."

"Got it. And what about the crispy cookies?" Ponzu asked.

"1 and 1/4ths a cup of granulated sugar, as well as 3/4ths a cup of brown sugar." Robin stated.

"Hmm? The brown sugar was decreased this time?" Ponzu noticed.

"Brown sugar is chewy. that's why, for crispy cookies, we don't need so much." Robin explained.

"What about your cookies? You adjusted the butter, so what about the sugar?" Ponzu asked.

"Heheh. Pretty easy. I use 1 cup for both of them." Robin replied. "Easy enough to remember, right?"

"Way easier. All this talk of fourths and halfs is making my brain hurt." Ponzu rolled his eyes.

"The rest of the recipe is standard for all the different kinds of cookies, so don't worry. That was the only thing subject to change." Robin chuckled. She then measured out 2 and 1/4 a cup of flour, as well as a half teaspoon of baking soda into a bowl.

"Whisk this together for a bit." She told Ponzu. "Did you preheat the oven?"

"Yeah. I don't understand this degrees measurement system, but it's sitting at three hundred and fifty, according to the color chart you gave me." Ponzu nodded. "Do you need me to adjust the temperature?"

"No, you did well." Robin complimented. She put the butter and sugars together in another bowl and started beating them together with a fork until they started to look fluffy. then she also whisked in one teaspoon of coarse salt, two teaspoons of vanilla, and two large eggs until everything was fully incorporated. She then had Ponzu add the flour and roughly mixed it before adding the chocolate chips.

"Now comes the easy part~!" Robin smiled. The two of them dropped tablespoon sized lumps of dough on some oiled baking pans Ponzu had commissioned a blacksmith back in Rag'nok. After placing them in the oven, all that was left was to wait.

"How long do we wait?" Ponzu asked.

"About eight to ten minutes." Robin replied. "Just enough time to wash all the dishes and clean up the counters."

Ponzu glanced at the bowls and utensils, quizzically. "But we didn't use that many things?"

Robin pointed at the other counter, where Ponzu had left the dirtied dishes to sit. "I didn't. But you did." Robin smiled. "Two people can finish in about ten minutes if we work together."

"R-Right." Ponzu resigned himself.

---

Around that time, Jasmine and Chelsea returned from their outing.

"You're sure this won't affect anything?" Jasmine asked one more time.

"Jasmine, if it were going to affect something, wouldn't I be able to see it? We're doing everyone a service by interrupting that madman from winning the jackpot. Besides, don't you think we might need more funds later on down the road?" Chelsea scolded.

"If you say so." Jasmine frowned. Behind the two, Liam followed, stoically.

"Welcome back, young ladies, Sir Drago." Fest greeted.

"Is Robin back?" Jasmine asked. The faint scent of chocolate was drifting about in the air.

"Hero Robin, is currently baking in the kitchens. Sir Keith, and Prince Christian should be heading to the dining room soon for afternoon tea. would you care to join them?" Fest replied.

"We would." Jasmine agreed, and they turned their steps towards the dining room. However, once they caught sight of Christian and Keith, they all stood stock still in the doorway. Inside the room were two oddly dressed, yet handsome noblemen. Jasmine noticed one of the two men was Keith. Then that meant...she glanced at the other one, just as Christian turned about to face them.

"Well?" He grinned. "How does it look?"

"It looked very nice until I realized you were wearing it." Jasmine sniffed. "At least you don't LOOK like a court jester any more. Is this what Robin took you out to buy?"

"Indeed. They're called suits, I think. How do they look? Do you think they have any potential for decorative uniforms? You should all thank me. That nephew of mine is also wearing a suit of his own, courtesy of my own investments." Keith winked at Jasmine.

"He is, is he?" Jasmine smiled, moving to take a seat at the table. "I am looking forward to it about as much as I am looking forward to today's afternoon tea."