An experimental experiment

I've been working on a project for our county 4H program, a project book all about one of my favorite things - baking cookies. This afternoon i tested out an experiment that is part of the project (I figure its a good idea to try it myself before asking a 9 year old to do it).  You can find all kinds of variations on this experiment all over Pinterest, basically, i use different amounts of ingredients, different baking times, and different baking temperatures to show the effect that each variable has on the finished cookie.  my variables, and therefore my results, are fairly over-exaggerated, because I want the effects of each ingredient to be well understood.

1. The first cookie is the control - this cookie has the proper amount of all necessary ingredients, and has baked for the correct time.

2. The second cookie has too much flour. Not only did it not spread out, it is also rock hard.

3. The third cookie has too much shortening, which melted and burned during baking because there was too much for the flour to absorb.

4. The fourth cookie was baked at the correct temperature, but for too long.  It is hard, and burnt all of the way through.

5. The fifth cookie was baked at a temperature that was too warm.  The edges are burnt and crispy, and the middle is dark, but very soft. It did not bake evenly.

6. The sixth cookie was baked at a temperature that was not hot enough.  The cookie is too soft to pick up, and is not cooked all of the way through. 

I'm glad that the experiment worked the way that i wanted it to, but I was really sad to have to ruin 5 cookies in the process, it hurt to throw those in the trash!

A little bit of control

Last week didn't go quite as I had planned. On Thursday I found out that the school I had planned on teaching at for the next 30 years will only be open for 3 more months, needless to say I've been a bit of a wreck.

Today I was ready to be in control of something again, so luckily I had a job to do that I knew I could accomplish - frosting cookies. Here are my St. Patrick's day cookies, I had to get a little creative with my cookie cutters, and I'm really impressed with how well they turned out. It's just what I needed today.

I also decided to dress up my nails a little, so I went for some light-hearted polka dots, maybe they'll be enough to make me smile a bit.

Hope you had a great St. Patrick's day!

Book review - The Cookie Dough Lovers Cookbook

I asked for a lot of cookbooks for Christmas this year, this is one that I didn't receive as a gift, so I bought it for myself :)

I love the idea behind this book; everyone loves cookie dough, even though we know that we aren't supposed to eat it, so here is a book filled with recipes that are made using egg-free cookie dough, which is perfectly safe to consume raw... Safe other than the fact that I just may gain 5 pounds...

The photos in the book are gorgeous, they absolutely make me wan to try every single recipe. The other thing that I love about this book is that their is something for absolutely every taste and culinary skill level, from Rice Krispie treats with a layer of cookie dough to cookie dough filled cannoli. There is even a breakfast section - cookie dough sweet rolls or waffles anyone?!

I can't wait to try some of these, although I really think that I just may have a bowl of egg free cookie dough in my fridge at all times now. Forget the cute recipes, nothing is better than cookie dough straight out of the bowl!

Time to breathe

Whew. I'm wiped out. Today was awesome and jam packed. It was one of those days that wears you out completely, but you're ok with it because you've gotten so much accomplished.

I was off work today, but my vacation didn't start until I finally sat down to eat dinner at 7:30. The rest of my day was a marathon cooking session - baking cookies, 2 different kinds, frosting cookies, baking sweet potato biscuits, packing everything up, and cleaning the kitchen, like 3 times. I also may have taken a little break to get my nails done, a girls gotta splurge every now and then!

This morning seems like a really long time ago! Here are some pictures of my hard work. I'm off to enjoy my holiday! (And check out the cute lamp I scored for $10! So I did some shopping too, there's always time for shopping).

The process

Making sugar cookies in my house is a week-long event. I could probably get it all done in two days if I had nothing else to do, but life has a tendency to get in the way, so I've broken it down into manageable chunks so that I can get a little accomplished at a time.

Day one (usually the evening before I want to bake the cookies): mix up the dough and refrigerate over night. 30 minutes.

Day two: roll, cut, and bake. After baking I let the cookies cool and then put them into a container that I can put in the freezer. Freezing the cookies lets me return to them whenever it is convenient. I don't have to worry about frosting them before they get stale. 3 hours with clean-up.

Day three: make frosting. This includes actually making the frosting and mixing frosting colors. I prefer to do this the same day that I frost the cookies but it doesn't always work out that way. 1 to 2 hours depending on the number of colors.

Day four: frost and decorate. This is the most time consuming part of the whole process, and it is nearly impossible to say how long this takes because it really depends on how fancy the cookies are going to be, but I can say without a doubt that it never takes less than 4 hours (clean up included).

After the cookies are frosted they take at least one full day to dry. Whew. It makes me tired just thinking about it. Today was frosting and decorating day for my Thanksgiving cookies, and I was so excited to finish these babies, then I ran out of frosting. That RARELY happens, and when it does Its like letting the air out of the balloon. Now I get to find time to make more frosting and decorate more cookies.

Here's a picture of the cookies I've finished for thanksgiving so far - this year I went for a fall theme, so I've got turkeys, pumpkins, apples, pies, squirrels, and acorns. They are super cute if I may say so myself!

Cookies for the fair

Every year I attempt to out-do my fair entries from the previous year. Last year I entered one quilt, this year I did 2, last year I made adorable farmer gingerbread men, this year it's cookies shaped like ribbons an pies. We'll see how judging goes tomorrow!

4th of July Cookies

This is what I spent my day doing - baking and frosting is my version of therapy, I get to go to that place in my head where I am totally in the zone.

I tried a couple of new things today, inspired by pinterest, Martha Stewart, and the very talented Sweet Sugarbelle, and I am super pleased with how these turned out! Happy almost 4th of July! I'm still celebrating the fact that I had time to make cookies!

The verdict

Ok, I tried them, and the verdict is in: YUM! So good! Now I have to write down the recipe before I forget what it is.

I originally started with a recipe for Nutella cookies, however I didn't actually have any Nutella, I used World Market Vanilla Hazelnut spread (pictured below) and Hershey's Cocoa powder. So we'll call them cocoa hazelnut chip cookies.

Cocoa Hazelnut Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup vanilla hazelnut spread (or nutella)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (omit if using nutella)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Beat in hazelnut spread, if using cocoa powder, add now and mix well. Add baking soda, salt and flour. Mix in chocolate chips by hand.

Spoon onto baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

It's what I do

It's my day off, and after running about a million errands, I still had a little bit of time (I know, it's a miracle). Since I've been in a bit of a funk lately, I thought it might help my mood to do the one thing I love more than anything else: bake cookies!

I tried a new recipe today, and I made quite a few alterations, so I won't share until I try them, but I must assure you that they smell much more appetizing than they look!

The best way to spend a day off!

Today is my day off and I am doing what I love love love to do: baking!

Today I stuck with a tried and true favorite - monster cookies. For those of you who aren't familiar with monster cookies, they are a peanut butter oatmeal cookie with raisins, chocolate chips, and m&ms, some people opt to add nuts, I just go for the crunchy peanut butter. My favorite monster cookie recipe is from my favorite chef in the world, the lovely Ms. Paula Deen!

I hope this picture makes you drool!

That's not what I was going for...

Yeah, those are supposed to be hearts...

The inaugural run of my new cookie press left a little to be desired (to say the least), I followed the recipe and instructions to a T, but the whole process was very different than I remembered as a kid. I think next time I will plan to add a little more flour and refrigerated the dough for a while before actually using the cookie press.

BUT, the cookies tasted AMAZING, and I have a plan for all of those funky looking pink cookies: Valentine Cookie Ice Cream - YUM!

Thank goodness I have fun kitchen gadgets to save the messes that I make with my other fun kitchen gadgets!

Valentine's day...already?

I don't know about you, but I have fully embraced the craziness that is Valentine's day (and yes, I do realize that it is a month away, but you know me... obsessively organized...). Anyway, I spent the evening contemplating what I would create for Valentine's day this year. It all started with my hankering to bust out the cookie press that I received as a Christmas gift.

My parents had one of these, and as a kid I loved that thing, but I've always been just a bit to cheap to purchase one for myself, because I know that it would only get used a few times a year (a la all the other random kitchen gadgets that I own). I was more than overjoyed to get one as a gift, however, and Valentine's day seems like the perfect excuse to bust that baby out.

Therefore the first holiday treat on my V-day list is pink and chocolate heart spritz cookies, just like these:

From there my mind wandered to marshmallows... I know, random, but ever since my first attempt at making them, right before Christmas (and my surprise at how easy the whole process was) I have been looking forward to doing it again - this time I want to cut them with a heart shaped cookie cutter, because duh, Valentines day, just like these:

However I am leaning towards pink, and possibly on a stick, oh, and drizzled with chocolate - so much for that whole eating healthy thing...

Finally, sensing a theme here (heart shaped and gadgets that I don't use nearly often enough) I'm feeling the urge to dust off the awesome Message-in-a-cookie Cutters that I purchased from Williams Sonoma and used to create last years V-day cookies (not to mention all of our wedding favors - see picture!)

Snowed In!

We just got 12 inches of snow in the last 29 hours, so needless to say I am stuck inside. On the bright side, I've had a day and a half off of work, so all things considered, I'd gladly take the snow!

My favorite thing about snow days is that they are a complete surprise, it's like the gift of extra time. So today I spent the entire day frosting valentine's day cookies, something that I never would have actually had time for, which means this weekend I don't have to frost cookies, and I can do other stuff, you know, that I actually really want to do.

Don't get me wrong, I do love to frost cookies, but when I have a million other things to do, spending four hours with sticky frosting fingers isn't as fun as it sound. I know, this is a completely random rant, but I've been in the kitchen all day by myself, so you'll have that. Any way, here are a couple of pictures that I took today, first some finished cookies, just in time for me to take to work tomorrow, and then one of Allis playing in the snow drifts!

As far as the studio remodel, it has been slow going lately, a foot of snow tends to put a damper on outdoor projects. Luckily we were able to get two new windows and a new door on before the snow started falling, and most of the studio has been insulated, unfortunately I'm going to have to wait until after northwest Ohio thaws out a bit before I can add any more pictures.

Seasonal Treats!

I am a sucker for a pretty cookie. Yes, taste is incredibly important, but the way that it looks has to draw you in before you will take a bite. These gorgeous cookies from SomethingSweetShop fall into the "too cute to eat" category. I have no idea how they taste (I am a bit picky about my cookies) but they look incredible, and they remind me that I really need to start thinking about making my autumn sugar cookies.

The perfect cookie always needs the perfect drink, and in the Autumn there are only two choices, hot apple cider, or chai tea. Both drinks are a great complement to something sweet, and they add to the autumn atmosphere. This Vanilla Bean Chai mix is available from goodforyou.

If you need a little pick me up today I suggest you head over to the plants and edibles category on Etsy and do a quick search using the term "autumn" oh my goodness the results are all incredible, yes it might make you crave something sweet, but it is also a feat for the eyes!

On that note I am off to spend my last day before I start working doing one of my favorite things in the world; outlet shopping! Enjoy your Friday!

It's Friday!

That's right it's Friday, do your little celebration dance. That also means that it's time for me to post some yummy seasonal treats, so I have two for you today (well technically one of them isn't seasonally, but it's definitely a guilty pleasure, so I'm posting it anyway).

The first treat is available around the country, and I generally would rather post something that you can make yourself, but this is my all time favorite fall treat, so I have to share it with you. This past week has been wonderful because I had my very first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season!

That's right, I know that it's the very beginning of September, but Pumpkin Latte's are now available! (the image is courtesy of Starbucks.com, but I really don't recommend visiting their website because it gives you the nutritional information for their products, and there are just some things that I'd rather not know). You can find tons of recipes to make your own pumpkin latte, but I haven't tried any of them, so let me know which ones are good, I'd love to share them!

My second treat is not exactly seasonal, actually, these are wonderful all year long, and I am actually going to make some as soon as I get done posting this, so I present to you, Monster Cookies! (photo courtesy of the Food Network)

Monster cookies are giant, wonderful goodness. When I first saw the recipe I couldn't imagine that mixing all of those things together would actually taste good, but they are incredible. You can also find a ridiculous amount of recipes for monster cookies, but the one that I have always used is from Paula Deen (one of my favorites). Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
3 eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 12-ounce jar creamy peanut butter
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup multi-colored chocolate candies (M&Ms)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup raisins, optional
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal (not instant)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.
In a very large mixing bowl, combine the eggs and sugars. Mix well. Add the salt, vanilla, peanut butter, and butter. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate candies, chocolate chips, raisins, if using, baking soda, and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoons 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Do not overbake. Let stand for about 3 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. When cool, store in large resealable plastic bags.

They are super easy to make, this is definitely a recipe worth printing for later use! Just a note, this is Paula Deen's recipe, directly from foodnetwork.com, when I make these cookies I personally do not use salt, or raisins, and I have seen other variations of this recipe that include walnuts. Fell free to tailor them to what you like, baking is all about your interpretation of the recipe.

Ok I'm off to make some cookies, have a wonderful Friday and a safe Holiday weekend!