Growl

I have been debating whether to even blog about today. It was one of those days that I would like to block out.
6:55am I went to my physical therapy appointment
7:00am I was told my appointment was actually at 8:30 so I went back home
8:30  I returned to physical therapy. I was told that there was a cancellation at 7 and I could have gotten in.
10am class starts
10:30 getting my mise en place together for making chocolate chip cookies
10:35 I say to the girl next to me "I kind of like this mise en place business. This way I won't forget anything like I usually do at home."
10:50 I put my cookies in the oven
10:52 I start to clean up my space and find my baking soda hiding under my parchment paper. Curses.

I blame being frazzled from the earlier appointment mix up.

Luckily, it turns out, baking soda mostly acts as a browning agent in cookies. My cookies taste fine, they are just a little pale and sickly looking.

Alright, none of these incidents are a big deal as I reflect on them. I am a bit of a perfectionist though and slightly competitive (slightly may be a slight understatement). The last thing I wanted was to screw up the first time baking something in my first baking class. It was bound to happen. Also, the last thing I wanted was for the instructor to point it out to the whole class. That happened too. Now we all know what happens if you forget the baking soda. Now you know too.

Now I'm glad I shared. Sort of.

*Update: I just stepped in dog pee.

3.1415926535

So my brother had a pie party last weekend. A brilliant, filling, and then sickening idea. Just kidding, it was plain great. The rule was you had to bring pie or a beverage. I made two contributions because I am an over achiever.

All the pies!
(My pecan pie is the 1/2 eaten one)

First I made this pecan pie recipe. I was curious what a pecan pie without corn syrup would be like. Fabulous. Way better than normal which is good news for me since I am technically allergic to corn. It was very much a typical pecan pie but without the syrupy sweetness. I made a clove crust and Amaretto whipped cream which really sealed the deal. The whipped cream was more popular than the pie actually. I forgot to take a pic of this pie until it was half eaten on the pie table.

Pi pies

Next I made these apple pie cookies. I mostly wanted to make these so I could bring in pi. I had the idea to carve the numbers into the tops of the crust instead of the usual little slits you make in pies (is there a technical term for those?). It was really had to get a good picture of these cookies but you get the idea. They were really yummy too, a perfect cross between pie and a cookie. I used a cinnamon crust for these. I can't wait to make these again.

I did not use the pie crust given in the apple pie recipe. I always use a recipe from America's Test Kitchen that I found in a magazine a few years ago. I never really thought too much about the crust of a pie until I made this one. It is so delicious. I now love the crust and feel like it should really have a presence in a pie. It isn't just there to hold the filling together, it can make or break a pie. I usually pump up the volume of the crust recipe by adding a few extra spices or some secret ingredient. Making the crust has become my favorite part of making pie.

All the pies were really tasty. I was not smart though and I took too big of pieces to begin with so I did not get to sample all the pies. Now I know for next time!

The real deal

Here are the real chocolate chip cookies that I have been wanting ever since the ice cream cookie dough experiment. This is my Aunt Georgia's recipe from one of her many small town church lady cookbooks. She made these cookies for me a couple months ago when I went down to visit her in Iowa. I was blown away with how tasty they were. I usually just go with the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips and they never turn out this good. She gave me the recipe, and after some explaining (do any of you know what oleo is?) I was excited to try them out.

They turn out to be the prettiest cookies I've made. And delicious.

Aunt Georgia's Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter (or  oleo I guess)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used Kosher because it is yummy)

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix butter, oil, and both sugars together until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and beat again until smooth. Add the dry ingredients in two additions. Add the chocolate chips. Bake for 8-10 minutes*. Cool on wire cooling rack

*Note: They are probably done before you think they are. They firm up a lot on the wire rack. Bake until the edges are golden and they are firm enough to transfer from baking sheet to rack.

HAD TO KNOW!

I love ice cream with a lot of "stuff" in it. The more the merrier. I often get cookie dough ice cream because in my mind cookie dough is better than actual cookies and combining it with ice cream is genius. The last time I was eating it I mentioned to my husband that I was curious if you took the cookie dough pieces out of the ice cream if they would bake up like cookies should. He told me that I must really need to know because I say the same thing every time I eat cookie dough ice cream. I had no idea.

I really did need to know. If they don't actually bake then they have no business calling it cookie dough ice cream because if it won't make cookies it isn't cookie dough! Right? Right!

Today was the day to find out. I bought the ice cream, dug out the dough, washed off the ice cream and set them to bake at 350. I figured that if it failed I could make some back up chocolate chip cookies to cheer me up (since I would no longer be able to purchase one of my favorite ice creams again on principle).

Thankfully it didn't come to that. Can you believe it? They baked! They turned out a little shiny, due to the ice cream coating I think, and the texture is a little off but other than that they are normal chocolate chip cookies.

I set 4 on the baking sheet as is and then combined some to make normal sized cookies. The little ones turned out crunchy but yummy. The bigger ones had more problems. They were crunchy on the outside but doughy on the inside. Still not terrible and still a cookie.

Now we can a sleep all little more peacefully.

The Test Kitchen

I've already posted about my new obsession with message cookies. I did not talk about how frustrating it has been to find the perfect sugar cookie recipe to use them with. I tried three recipes over the course of a couple days to try to find perfection. It was not found.

The first recipe, the one that came with the cookie cutters, I found to be too crunchy. They turned out more like sweet crackers. I think they did this so that the letters would keep their shape. The text did look fantastic but I was not a huge fan of the cookies (sorry muddy buddies). Fail.

Next I tried a recipe from my favorite baking book. It is kind of fancy and everything I have ever made from it has been fantastic so I was expecting the best. These cookies tasted great and kept their form well but I thought they were a little dry. Almost like shortbread, which I love, but it just wasn't what I was looking for in a sugar cookie. Tasty Fail.

The last recipe was from one of those cookbooks that has a little of everything and it all turns out pretty good. It is an old standby. These cookies were more like a typical sugar cookie. They were pretty sweet and slightly puffy. I found them hard to roll out because the dough got a little crumbly. The puffiness meant the letters didn't turnout as sharp. I was not a fan of the level of sweetness either. I think sugar cookies are often too sweet, almost to the point of being grainy with sugar, yuck. These weren't that bad but still too sweet for me. Sugar Fail.

The only solution was to combine the best elements into a new recipe. I think they are perfect, not too dry, not too puffy, not too sweet.

Sugar Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp kosher salt

Beat the sugar butter, shortening and vanilla together on medium speed for about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat for another minute or until well combined. Add the flour and salt slowly, beating well after each addition.
Divide the dough in half, wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick, cut out shapes.
Bake cookies for 12-18 minutes, rotating baking sheet once halfway through. Cool on wire cooling rack.

 I made Thank You cookies to go in the freezer and Wine Party cookies for a party we were going to. I added a little frosting to the wine party cookies just to make them a little cuter. It is just a combination of red wine (for a wine party after all) and powdered sugar. I just played with the ingredients until I got the consistency I wanted.

I love the way these cookies taste and I really love the way they roll out. Try it out and let me know what you think!

ABC's of Baking

I recently received the best gift ever. As a going away gift at my previous school a couple of the families got me some great bake ware and these ingenious cook cutters. Nothing makes me happier than baking treats for friends but I don't often have an occasion to. Now anything can be an appropriate occasion.

Example! My husband and a couple friends and I decided to sign up for Columbia Muddy Buddies. I am not a runner, or a biker really, so this has required a lot of training. Especially because the people I signed up with are regular runners. And even more especially because I recently got tortured trying to handle Warrior Dash. Don't get me wrong, Warrior Dash was so much fun that I would have signed up for another race the next day. I even considered driving 6 hours to another city to try again. However, I didn't not have an admirable time and I slowed down my friends who were gracious enough to keep me company while I yelled about how much I hated them (I love you Jen, Zeb and Micah)! All this to say that I suck at running.

That has been slowly changing with the invention of Muddy Buddy bootcamp. Friends and I go running 3-4 times a week with some biking mixed in. What better occasion for cookies! I made us some Muddy Buddy cookies complete with mud icing splashes. Awesome.

Next: Pinewood Derby. I missed out on pinewood derby in my youth because I am a girl. Stupid rules. Girls like racing cars too. I feel incredibly lucky to have met and befriended a creative and talented couple who bring derby back every year as a birthday celebration. Another fantastic occasion for cookies. They disappeared quickly. My car, however, was slower than molasses. Or a dinosaur. Because it was a dinosaur.

I can't think of an inappropriate occasion for cookies. You are only limited by the small area for text, only two lines. I can see the possibilities now: Eat Me Santa! Go Away Rain! It Is Monday!
See! Anything!