My eldest (the 13year old) saw an article about someone baking cookies on the dashboard of the car on a hot sunny day. We all got interested as to if this would really work.

We chose our black car as this was slightly hotter than the grey one and the black car was also facing the Sun. I put my sugar thermometer on the dashboard to monitor the temperature. The outside temperature got to 26 degrees Celsius and the car reached 80 degrees Celsius (that is 180 degrees Fahrenheit in the car) on the sugar thermometer this is just about ‘sterilise’. This is quite a bit cooler then my oven, which I usually set at about 180 degrees C for baking. So I knew this could take a while.

We made my Chocolate Chip Cookies (this recipe can be found below or this link: https://rosehartsweets.com/2020/05/11/chocolate-chip-cookies/#more-1143).

Not wanting to waste all the cookie dough (just in case it was a major fail) we only put 6 in the car and baked the rest in the oven, this proved quicker and we were able to enjoy the cookies while waiting for the car cookies to cook. Not only that we needed something to compare with!

Here are the cookies on the dashboard:

We checked on the cookies every 30mins.

They melted into shape and just kept the melted shape. I think it was more of a very slow drying out process rather than the quick 10-13mins in the oven bake.

The cookies never went golden, they kept their pale cookie dough colour.

After 4hours in the car we decided the cookies were ready for eating. They were warm, soft and delicious! They were firm to touch and hold and had a crust on the outside.  They didn’t flatten like they do in the oven so the centres remained soft.

On a hotter day and if the car was hotter inside then this might work better, however I don’t know if the cookies would ever colour up like they do in the oven.

Bit of a different look! (The top ones are the oven baked ones just in case you are wondering).

Either way it was fun to do and kept the girls entertained for over 4hours and we got to eat yummy cookies! This was a win : win result all round.

This is my Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe if you want to make these cookies, however I do recommend using the oven not the car.

You Will Need:

• 200g Butter
• 300g Caster Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 1 Egg
• 350g Plain Flour
• ½ tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
• 150g Dark Chocolate Chips or Chunks (I use chocolate of 54.5% cocoa solids)

Method:

• Grease two baking sheets or more if you have them.
• Pre heat the oven to 180degrees C.
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the vanilla essence and the egg and mix until well incorporated.
• Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together and add this with the dark chocolate and fold through thoroughly, I like to get my hands in at this point.
• This will come together to form a soft dough.
• Divide into 24 balls all about the size of a golf ball.
• Arrange them on your prepared baking sheet. Allowing plenty of room for spreading, I usually put six on a sheet at a time.
• Bake for 10-13mins. You may need to turn the tray to achieve an even bake.
• The longer you bake them for the harder and crispier they will become.
• Allow to cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes and then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
• Repeat until all the cookies are baked.