So I'm pretty proud of myself right now. Let me explain why: as you may not know, I typically do not bake on Monday nights. Something about day one of the work week just puts me off. However, since this is also week one of my winter semester of class AND I now have a Tuesday night class every week, I have to adapt my schedule. Is it a bad idea to keep up this plan along with two classes, a full time job and trying to get my house on the market? Let's find out!
So this week's cookie was Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies. Sounds innocent, right? Well. In case you are not a good Midwesterner, Oatmeal Cookies usually come as Oatmeal RAISIN Cookies. If you've read any of my previous entries, you know that raisins are way down on the bottom of my personal food chain. Do I really need to explain this? It's more than just a texture thing, because I do like other dried fruits. There is just something about the flavor that just deadens my taste buds.
But enough about that, onto the purpose for this blog. The cookies themselves were not difficult. I did forgo the chopped nuts yet again as I did not have them. Why? Because I did not buy them. Why again? Because I do not enjoy them in cookies. Any more questions? That said, these cookies smell REALLY good while baking. I chalk that up to the cinnamon and cloves in the recipe. In fact, the aroma was so pleasant, I bit the bullet and actually ATE one! Not too bad - but if I were to make this again for my own use, I would substitute chocolate chips for raisins. The only issue would be with the raisin water. That's right, RAISIN WATER. I had to "simmer" the raisins in one cup of water for 25 minutes to plump them up and then reserve 1/2 cup of the water to put in the batter. Oh, that Betty Crocker, she is a sneaky one!
I am happy to announce that I am now two recipes away from completing the Drop Cookie portion of this project. However, upon further examination of this book, I fortuitously happened upon a chapter entitled "Holiday Cookies." Here is the great part - it has cookie recipes for Valentine's and St. Patrick's Day! Sadly, my actual V-Day will be spent in class for five hours, but perhaps my after school project can be the "Love Letter" cookies from page 29. My only change will be to attempt to swap out the candied cherry for something chocolate. I really don't know that candied cherries have a fan base in my taste testing crowd, and I'd hate to gross them out too much. All of this is to say that my Drop Cookie completion ceremony may be a bit delayed by my special holiday edition.
On a side note - I did receive some positive feedback on last week's Pineapple Cookies. Strangely enough, the most effusive comments came from two people who share the same first name - Mary. Both my mother and my coworker professed the greatest enthusiasm for these cookies. In fact, my mother went so far as to say that these are her favorite so far of everything I've made for my blog. Weird. Obviously taste buds are not genetic in my case. I should also admit that I did make chocolate cupcakes this week as well. I only mention this because everything was from scratch and it involved me melting sugar and corn syrup - a first for me. If you want to know how they turned out, ask my parents or coworkers. They finished them all off for me!
So, unless I get seriously sidetracked by homework, my next cookies are Molasses Jumbles. BC has a cute little paragraph to go with it, but I'll save that for the next entry. Until then, Happy Groundhog's Day!
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