So this is my blog all about baking. Welcome! You now have the fortunate/unfortunate task of reading all of my successes and failures of baking excursions. Some batches will turn out well, others, well, have disappointed. It gives me little hope that I will one day own a bakery, but who knows. I guess I will just stick to the simpler cookies of life. Once they get better, then I will expand my abilities and venture off to try new things. But for the mean time I guess I should start with the basics. Here is why...
This past weekend I baked snickerdoodles. The BEST batch of snickerdoodles I have ever baked. Without even thinking I whipped up the batter, chilled and rolled the dough, and baked. They turned out so well, I was so proud of myself. Brian even liked them, which is saying something. Feeling good about myself, I decided to bake another batch for Brian's work Christmas party. But this time I decided to do something a little different. Instead of rolling the dough in cinnamon and sugar, I rolled the dough in cinnamon and colored sugar (green and red) to go with the Christmas theme.
Right off the bat I knew something was wrong. The butter wasn't soft enough. I thought about putting it in the microwave to make it a little softer, but I decided against my gut feeling and continued on with the dough. After mixing, chilling and rolling, it came time for baking. I decided to use my Pampered Chef stone because I've been getting such good results from it lately, as opposed to my cookie sheets which seem to burn the bottom of my cookies quite easily. I placed the dough on the stone and put it in the oven.
It is then that my bad luck began to snowball. It took about 5 minutes for the cookies to START flattening out, which then proceeded to push the cooking time back farther and farther. So my 10 minute cookies became 15-20 minute cookies. They still looked rather puffy instead of flat, and cracked more than they should have, but I took them out of the oven anyways. I let them rest on the cooling rack and continued to put them into Christmas containers.
Brian took them to work for the party and I anxiously awaited to see how they did. I asked Brian when he got home how they did and he said they were rock hard. ROCK HARD, AH! No good. I knew they wouldn't turn out. I blame the whole thing on the butter. It started me out on the wrong foot.
Trying to redeem myself, I decided to make chocolate espresso cookies (a Betty Crocker recipe) for my work cookie exchange. Failure yet again. I followed the directions as laid out online and, I thought, things were going well. I had Brian taste a cookie, without crushed candy cane on top, and his face spoke to me. He hated them. I tried one with the candy cane on top and it was OK. I think the coffee may have turned him off, but I don't blame him. They stunk. Not literally, just figuratively. I admit the coffee was a little too strong, and I should have used much more chocolate. The topping was similar to a gnash and took all night to solidify completely, but it too was a little more coffee tasting than expected.
Tonight I begin peanut butter blossoms... I will let you know how that goes. Cross your fingers!
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