Cookie Ear -- Developmental or Environmental?

A Recent Study Explores Ginger Snap Defect Development for a Cure

Dec 13, 2008

Each holiday season brings fear of seasonal cookie ear. Hope for therapy or a cure comes with the holly and melts with the snowman. New research provides some answers.

During gestation the holiday ginger snap looks normal until it is popped from the oven and displayed on the rack. Then the defects are apparent. Some of the new bakes show the telltale flattened tops and jaunty flares of “cookie ear.” Statistics show that each year for the last several decades, the annual epidemic of deformity has increased as more and more amateurs stir the bowl and tend their ovens. The question returns each year, “ Is it nature or nuture?” This year there are some answers.

Warning! Some of the graphic images and candid descriptions may be unsettling to those without culinary experience.

The Recipe is Normal, Even Wholesome

The experiments described here were part of the C.A.R.E.(Cookie Ear Analysis Research Experiment) Project with a five-year mandate to put an end to Cookie Ear in our lifetime. With the inauguration of the project a generic ginger snap recipe was adopted:

Bake with CARE Ginger Snap Recipe

Cream the butter until soft and gradually beat in the sugar, followed by the wet ingredients. Sift together the dry ingredients and gradually mix into the rest. Roll into balls (ca. 1 inch or 2-3 cm) and space out on parchment paper on a cookie sheet. Cook in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for a total of 12 minutes.

The analysis protocol involved using a camera mounted above the front of the stove, so that the oven rack with the specimens could be rapidly pulled from the oven, photographed and returned to the oven in less than ten seconds. The photographs after the first, second, third trimesters and on the rack after cooling, were subsequently examined by a panel of experts. When completely cooled, the specimens, with the exception of cookie ear exemplars, were broken into pieces and eaten by the panel with milk.

Cookie Ear Is a Third Trimester Development

The researchers in the CARE study documented the morphology of each cookie, based on thickness, roundness and edge tags, after each third (4 minutes) of the baking time. During the first trimester, the balls of dough melted and flattened into round disks, with smooth edges and tops. The second trimester resulted in an approximation of the final dimensions and the first cracks appeared on the upper surface. The last ball of dough that was added to the sheet appeared larger than the others and thicker. At the end of the bake time, the cookies emerged from the oven brown and the smell of warm ginger wafted through the kitchen. The cookies were slipped from the sheet onto a rack and cookie ear was observed.

The Rack Aggravates Developmental Defects

Cookie ear was found in one or two cookies and the symptoms were aggravated if the cookies were placed immediately on the rack, without momentary cooling. Careful reenactment of spatulation from sheet to rack revealed the nonrandom distribution of cookie ear defects in each cohort. The incidence of cookie ear was highest in corner cookies with “just a little bit extra.” There was a particularly high risk for the last snap of a batch. Apparently, during the third trimester these “extra pudgy” balls continue to spread, encroach on their neighbors and display the flat tops of their contact. As they are separated by spatula from sheet to rack, the flattened seam of contact is torn and presents on the rack as cookie ear. Sagging of hot cookies on the rack exaggerates cookie ear extension.

Cookie Ear May Be Autosomal Dominant

The number of cookie ear defects observed increases as they accumulate as more and more batches of cookies are baked. The defective cookies are segregated with the few healthy cookies that are not consumed by the analysts. It has been noted that the increase in defective cookies seems to increase faster than expected. The researchers voiced the suspicion that the increase is consistent with the pattern expected of an autosomal dominant allele. Further research to study the genetics of ginger snap cookie ear is in progress and may have a significant impact on a final cure.

The Stir for a Cure

The public has been too complacent in tolerating the absence of an adequate treatment for cookie ear. The CARE project has already developed preliminary guidelines for treatment of cookie ear. The recommendation is for surgical repair. This is essentially a cosmetic procedure that has minimal risk, although it does produce a noticeably smaller snap and a substantial amount of crumbs. In the long term, if the trait turns out to be an autosomal dominant, as suggested by the CARE study, then ginger snap eugenics may be considered. As might be expected, the mention of eradication has already cooked up resistance to action against cookie ear.

The copyright of the article Cookie Ear -- Developmental or Environmental? in Health Field is owned by Art Ayers. Permission to republish Cookie Ear -- Developmental or Environmental? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.