baking

December 1: Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Chocolate Chips

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Well, we have returned from Chicagoland and none of my pants fit, which generally means that Thanksgiving has come and gone, and now we are on to December.

It’s that time of year again, folks.

New website, new Youtube channel (more on that later), new Pinterest board (I’ll figure out how to put the link on here later), and a few new recipes to try.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Chocolate Chips. There has to be a better name for these.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Chocolate Chips. There has to be a better name for these.

To ease us into the cookie season, I’m starting with a relatively easy one: Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies. Except, I have a friend that requested these without any chocolate chips, so that’s what I’ve done.

Mixed it all up, plopped it on a cookie sheet, and baked them. I did try to make them festive by dying the dough red, except it looked more like bubblegum, and by the time they came out of the oven, they were kind of flesh-colored (my flesh color anyway).

I’m trying something new this year (and I don’t know how long I’ll stick with it), but I made a video of myself (unshowered with no makeup, mind you) making these cookies.

This is our new kitty Gandalf. Nothing to do with cookies, but isn't he cute?

This is our new kitty Gandalf. Nothing to do with cookies, but isn’t he cute?

Here’s what you didn’t see in the video: my boys upstairs with me, Larry Potter asking if our kitten had his vet appointment this week. (New kitty is Gandalf, and he’s getting neutered on Tuesday.) I said he was, to which Hoover asked what was going on. LP described the procedure in as much detail as he could imagine, and then he and Hoover got in a discussion about what that would mean for Gandalf’s reproductive future.

Larry Potter, right before he held sex ed class in my kitchen.

Larry Potter, right before he held sex ed class in my kitchen.

And then, my smart eldest son decided to teach his little brother all sorts of biologically-based terms and phenomenon. Yeah. So now all that I’m going to remember about these cookies–Hoover skipping down the stairs shouting words that will surely have his teacher calling me about this week.

Nestle Tollhouse Cookies

(from https://www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/18476/original-nestle-toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookies/)

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks)  butter
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2  large eggs

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Cookies today: 62

Cookies this year: 62

November 16: Pre-game

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Like any good professional with a deadline, I have to make sure I’m warmed up.

And, like any good double X-ed person out there, I tend to visit Pinterest with lots of good intentions.

For your reading pleasure, I give you:

Web-lebrities*, They’re Just Like Us!

(*Some liberties have been taking with considering myself a web-lebrity.)

I saw a pin and wanted to try it out. Maybe you’ve seen it? It’s the one about how to ice cookies really fast, with gorgeous results.

(You can see my Pinterest page and the board this pin is on HERE.)

I bought a bag of pre-done cookie mix yesterday. I didn’t concern myself too much with the guilt of not making these from scratch. After all, it was the frosting of the cookies I was practicing, not the baking.

After the kids went to bed, I mixed it all up, cut some cookies and threw them in the oven. That’s when I mixed up the icing from the recipe.

I think I mis-counted how many cups of powdered sugar I poured in, because my mixer now smells like a fire at a tire factory. It was just too thick. I added more water. And more water. And a little cream. A little more water.

Finally, I could pour my icing into my shallow dish. The instructions said to use a lollipop stick, secured by a rubber band. I improvised and used a small spatula and two rubber bands linked together. I was so happy I saved these from newspapers this week, you have no idea. Seriously. It’s a personal success.

 

I was going for red. After the third hunk of Red Wilton dye, I gave up. There is only so many artificial colors I'll let my family eat.

I was going for red. After the third hunk of Red Wilton dye, I gave up. There are only so many artificial colors I’ll let my family eat at once.

I then dipped my cookies.

Smothering sugar cookies to a delicious death.

Smothering sugar cookies to a delicious death.

And in the end, this is what I had:

Gorgeous!

Gorgeous!

Wait. Wait, what’s that under the tray of beautifully iced cookies?

::hangs head in shame::

IMG_0379

Those are the cookies that died in battle. You see, some of my cookies were too soft to withstand the thick frosting. Some, like the snowflakes, had too many intricate parts and things broke off. And still, a few more were sacrificed under the “trial and error” category. That is, it took me a few tries to figure out how to hold a cookie the right way to get it frosted in this method.

After completing all of this and sitting down to my computer (thinking of all the snarky comments I could make about how maybe mere mortals like myself were better off with a knife or pastry bag), I re-read the instructions. Wait. That’s not right. Re-reading makes it sound like I read them fully to begin with. Yeah, notsomuch.

What it says in the instructions is basically what I learned the hard way: soft cookies don’t work well, thicker cookies hold up better, and this icing is like glue that you may need to water down.

Reading: it’s not for every one.