Cookies – What size disher makes “1 inch balls of dough?”

cookiesmass-cooking

I am making cookies in bulk. The problem is, every version of the recipe I am making uses the measurement "one inch balls". Given the number of cookies I am making, I'm not really looking to eyeball this.

Does anyone know what size disher corresponds to a "one inch ball"?

Edit: To be clear – I am looking for terms of disher size (#40, #50, etc) or volume (1.5 tsp, 2 tsp, etc).

Best Answer

Well, a one-inch diameter sphere has a volume of 1.74 teaspoons, or 0.58 tablespoons.

It looks like the numbered sizes are in fractions of a quart, so if you could have any size you wanted, that'd be a a #110 disher. I assume that means you'll probably want a #100, which is 0.64 tablespoons, surely close enough for cookies. (From that same link, it looks like the sizes aren't that consistent to begin with, with examples often a few percent off.)

Note that this is based on the assumption that you care about volume, i.e. the amount of cookie dough per cookie. That seems right, but if you ever cared about the width of the scoop (something that doesn't spread, I guess) you'd need a larger scoop.

For general reading on scoops for cookies, this King Arthur blog post is good. They indeed suggest a #100 for smaller (2" to 2-1/4") cookies, where the recipe suggests a "teaspoonful" of dough - presumably a heaping teaspoon. For "tablespoonful" they suggest a #40 (4 teaspoons). They also mention using #30 and #16 for large cookies, but those don't correspond to common recipe instructions.

(The King Arthur scoops are also a great demonstration of the variation in size - they say their #40 is 4 teaspoons, when a #40 is nominally 4.8 tablespoons.)

For what it's worth, I took a list of standard sizes and did the same calculation as above to figure out what size sphere is equivalent to their nominal volume:

        Volume            Sphere diameter
        Tbsp    mL        in    cm
#4      16      236.59    3.02  7.67
#5      12.8    189.27    2.80  7.12
#6      10.7    158.22    2.64  6.70
#8      8       118.29    2.40  6.09
#10     6.4     94.64     2.23  5.65
#12     5.33    78.81     2.09  5.32
#16     4       59.15     1.90  4.83
#20     3.2     47.32     1.77  4.49
#24     2.67    39.48     1.66  4.22
#30     2.13    31.50     1.54  3.92
#40     1.6     23.66     1.40  3.56
#50     1.28    18.93     1.30  3.31
#60     1.07    15.82     1.22  3.11
#70     0.914   13.52     1.16  2.96
#100    0.64    9.46      1.03  2.62

Given the variability in scoop size across manufacturers, and the fact that you can scoop anywhere from level to heaping to full rounded spheres with the same scoop, this should probably just be a starting point.

Related Topic