Chocolate-Glazed Macaroons

YES! Today was the day that I reattempted the Chocolate-Glazed Macaroons....they were rough. Multiple times throughout the baking process I had to ask for others' opinions and input. Thanks to Lauren, Kev, Greg, and Max for all the suggestions!! But yes, with the help of the mixer we could finally fluff up the egg white and sugar mixture. I let it cool while I was in class, then I came back and started baking them. We have two different cookie sheets, and I have been noticing that one of them gets hotter than the other and it usually screws up half of the cookies. Once again, the bad pan made half of the cookies look different than the other half...half of them really looked something like the book, and the other half looked like they were being baked for too long.

So, 3 minutes before they were supposed to be ready I took out both pans and began melting the chocolate that goes on top of the macaroons. This was a totally new thing for me as I had to make a double boiler...so with Kevin's help that was possible. We melted them and began drizzling first the milk and then the white chocolate. This was the gamebreaker of these cookies. The combo, once again, of white and milk chocolate made the rice cracker crunchiness and almond-ness worth the time in your mouth. The overall cookie was delicious! Unfortunately, all the work and time that went into the cookies lowered the overall rating of them, but I'd have to say that they are a

6.5/10.

Mmmm

Dusted Cookies

SO,today was supposed to be a second attempt at the failed Chocolate-Covered Macaroons, and we finally got a mixer, but there were no more of the things that stick in the mixers and spin...yep, forgot exactly what they are called...whatever. So, I decided to try more drop cookies, the type of cookie that generally works out. After much deliberation, I settled on Dusted Cookies. These were initially appealing because they were decorated in a similar fashion to black and white cookies (white on one side, black on the other), but with sugar and cocoa powder. These cookies mark the first batch that I have ever added milk into, and the first batch that didn't have more than like a cup of sugar, so I was curious as to how sweet they could possibly be.

The dough worked out alright. It seemed a bit stickier than it was supposed to, but it still worked, and I was still able to make rounded drops out of it. The baking was quick, only 2 pans with like 15 cookies each on them, for about 15 minutes. Thankfully, I checked at like 14 minutes as my usual worrying self does to ensure that they were not burning...because that is definitely one of the saddest things ever...burnt cookies. Unfortunately, I was a little late with half of the cookies on the older, less silvery pan of ours. Some of the bottoms were a little past GOLDEN BROWN but definitely still edible. The other pan was just about perfect, so I took them both out and had my roommate and his guests taste test them...

Their descriptive words included "subtle," and "tastes like pancakes" so I just had to try one. I initially felt that they were kind of bland, but this could have been expected seeing as I still had to "dust" them. So, I let them cool and I began dusting them. Many of them were lost in the dusting process (meaning some were not perfectly half and half dusted) but we definitely got a few to look relatively similar to the picture in the book as you can see from the picture.

This was a fun cookie to make. Kinda bland, even after the sugar and powder came on, but definitely better, but by far the prettiest cookies I've made thus far.

Overall rating 5.5/10

Super Chocolate Raisin Cookies

Day 3 of Cookie baking...We went to the store today so we actually have the ingredients necessary to make the macaroons that we were supposed to make yesterday...unfortunately, we did not have the mixer necessary to make them still, so that will have to wait until tomorrow. However, my good ol' roommate decided that we should make another one of the cookies since we had the ingredients, just not the mixer, so I told him to go ahead and pick one. He decided on one of my favorites, Super Chocolate Raisin Cookies...but we did not want the raisins so we had everything but those. I am pleased to say that nothing went wrong with the dough making, for the first time since this blog thing started. Also, this is the first time that the cookies came out looking like the book picture...YAY! These cookies were delicious!! White and milk chocolate combos tend to work out, but like I said to my roommate..."This is why I bake cookies" Golden brown deliciousness-Mmmm

Overall Rating

8/10

Chocolate-Glazed Macaroons

So, today was the first time baking back at school after Spring Break. Unfortunately, when we went out to get the ingredients for this recipe, we forgot the eggs...so stupid...I said it like 3 times at the store. Oh well, we'll deal with it...at this point, we is my and my good ol' roommate with whom I met last year and havent gotten sick of...yet. Lol, but yeah, I hope he's as down as I am for all of these cookies, even though I know for sure that he might get upset with me for making him fat...but hey, thats the joy of baking cookies...getting fat. HOPEFULLY, he and I will workout enough on the side to counteract the force of the cookies.

Anyway, today's cookie choice was his pick and looked SUPER-GOOD in the picture, so we went for it...So without the eggs, I was forced to borrow some from a friend on campus. Unfortunately, the eggs, when I tried to crack them open and release the egg whites, were frozen...so retrieving the whites failed. Furthermore, we do not have a mixer, and, in retrospect, this is a problem when one is planning on making macaroons. Welp, let's just say that the lesson was learned...The egg whites were never completely thawed, they frothed up a bit, but never peaked when the sugar was added. EFFF...So now I had this thin mixture of sugar, egg whites, and very little flour, baking powder, and salt...not a pretty combination, and obviously not what we were going for. At this point, realizing that I needed to provide my own eggs and maybe find a mixer on campus somewhere, I decided to try and salvage this mixture by turning them into drop cookies. Additionally, I had some butterscotch chips leftover from past supercookie baking so I decided to throw them in as well as some additional flour. I baked them for a little bit, pulled them out, and tried them.

They were OK, very sweet, almost too sweet, but there was just no substance to them...again the picture will be uploaded later, but I would like to say that tonight was an EPIC FAIL, and I hope to make a more correct version of these cookies later this weekend.

Overall rating... 2/10

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

So, I decided on making this blog a few days after my first cookie baking, so I will not have any picture for the first one except for maybe the one in the book. However, I would still like to describe the interesting reaction that took place within them. So, as you know, they were called Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies. As my friend and I were looking for the ingredients we came upon one named Kirsch...and I needed a 1/2 cup of it to soak the cherries in. Luckily, as we were looking for some of the more uncommon ingredients (Kirsch, raw sugar, pitted sour cherries), we ran into this very kind lady who asked us what we were up to with our confused-looking selves in the middle of the baking aisle. We asked her where to find those things and she said to look for that type of stuff at Whole Foods rather than the Safeway at which we were presently. Fortunately, it was still early enough for Whole Foods to be open so we headed over there to get the remaining ingredients. After finding the cherries and the raw sugar, we went in search for the Kirsch. With no luck, we decided to ask someone who worked there for help...they had no idea of course, so I looked it up on my HANDY DANDY, iPhone! As it turns out, it is a liqueur and, as you may know, I am not 21, so I was unable to purchase this ingredient...WELP, OFF TO A GREAT START ID SAY

We went home and I searched for some extra alcohol behind the bar in the house, and was lucky enough to find an orange liqueur to soak the cherries in. So, aside from that, everything was going great...the chocolates were brown and white, the macadamia nuts were whitish, the cookie dough was green...GREEN??? WTF?? Yes, after all the ingredients were in and mixed, the dough had an odd, green pukish look...so i was just like, "Well, maybe they will brown up nicely in the oven"...and they did...on the edges. I wish I took a picture of these cookies because they were very odd...they tasted great but looked disturbingly green...not like it did in the book. I passed them around and they were enjoyed, but questioned quite a bit. Id have to give them an overall rating of 5/10

Ill post the picture later...till next time!!

The Golden Book of Cookies

Inspired by the movie (and novel) Julie and Julia, I have decided to start a blog that will trace and record my journey through this recipe book that I got but a few days ago. It is called the Golden Book of Cookies by Barron's Bardi, Egan, Moore, and Morris. I was initially drawn to it by its gold-leafed pages and further encapsulated by the over 330 recipes of delicious-looking cookies inside of it. I am no great baker, but I enjoy doing it in my spare time as many people know by the multitude of cookies leaving the apartment weekly. After my first skim through, I decided I would take the time to go through every single recipe, look at the picture, scan the recipe, and decided whether or not I would try to bake that cookie. I will not be quite as intense as Julie was in the movie, but I will do my best to push out at least one new cookie every week. As my experience with actual baking is minimal at best, there will for sure be some major screw-ups for you to laugh at and enjoy reading about, so I hope you continue to check in here and see the progress being made.