Posts Tagged ‘baking’

• Warning: These Cookies Do Not All Look the Same

  Date: 2010.11.11 | Category: recipe | Response: View Comments

  Last night I did not feel like cooking at all – ok – I haven’t felt like cooking at all this week.  I’m rebelling after all the cooking I’ve been doing.  That, and I’m still sick and it’s going to be my excuse for not doing things until people start to question me.

  Anyway, my point is that I got home late and I considered my options.  I didn’t want to cook.  The last time I got drive through fast food was a LONG time ago.  I think fast food is gross (McDonald’s, Hardees, Wendy’s, KFC, Taco Bell, and the like).  I’d rather not eat than eat fast food.  I have a total aversion to it – seriously.  But I briefly considered it.  And quickly decided against it.  Instead, I made grilled cheese and frozen peas.  I’m glad I did.  It meant I had room for cookies later.  Chewy Molasses Cookies to be precise.

  

  I was in the mood for sugar cookies, but I saw so many different recipes that I got gun shy and changed my mind to molasses cookies. 

  Can I just say that it is really hard to pick a cookie recipe?  I learned that it is really important to read the reviews for tips and inevitably the recipe completely flops for someone, and it makes me doubt whether I should try it.

  Martha Stewart has never let me down before, so I went with Chewy Molasses-Spice Cookies.  <– Click it for the exact recipe

  

  The star of the show!  Molasses has a distinct flavor.  I really don’t think you should substitute anything for it in a recipe.  (Especially Molasses cookies, but I digress.)  Blackstrap molasses is slightly bitter, kind of like black licorice. 

  

  Sometimes I slack on mixing the dry first before I mix it in with the wet ingredients but I refused to let these cookies fail.

  

  Mixing it together.  The key to chewy cookies is to use SOFTENED butter.  I nuke mine in the microwave for a bit. 

  

  The mixture got so dark, it looked like I was making chocolate cookies.

  

  At this point, you take the batter out and roll it in sugar.  This is when I noticed I had done something wrong.  The batter was goopy and liquidy – far too liquid for me to roll into sugar.  I proceeded to add flour.  A lot of flour.  After I added an extra cup, I got the right consistency.  Isn’t that weird?

  

  I dropped the cookies on the pan.  Martha Stewart’s recipe warns:

  (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly)

  I dropped to the floor in tears.  Tears of laughter.

  Who the hell cares if their cookies crackle uniformly????????

  A: People that make Martha Stewart cookies apparently.

  

  My cookies and their non-uniform crackles

  

  They tasted perfect, even with that extra cup of flour.  People say baking is a science, but I’m not so sure.

  

  Non-uniform crackles are kind of like cookie art

  

  Thumbs up from me!

  Tomorrow is my last practice for Girls on the Run and our 5k is on Saturday!  On Wednesday, we all went around and signed each other’s Girls on the Run race t-shirts.  That was really fun and I’m glad I’ll have something to remember them by.  I bet our last practice tomorrow is going to be fun and they will be full of energy.