I really am horrible at baking. In fact, to be frank, I suck at baking. Why is this?, I constantly ask myself, especially considering as how I am such a stellar chef with savory foods. The answer, I have come to believe, is two-fold: I myself do not eat sweets, thus I do not understand how to cook, season, spice, etc them properly.
Proportions:
I am a strong proponent of 'more is better.' In fact, I pretty much live my life by it. But, when it comes to baking, it doesn't help very much. Take, for instance, cookie dough sizing. Most recipes recommend placing a tablespoon sized amount of dough on the cookie sheet. Easy, got it. But of course, in my mind, a 'tablespoon sized amount' means enough dough to cover the entire spoon, and extend about an inch above its edges. Which explains why all my cookies are square shaped (because I have to cut them apart from one another), burnt on the edges, and mooshy in the middle. Yum... Not.
And why is baking so different from cooking other meals?
When I cook rice, saute vegetables, make soup, etc, the food doesn't change, it doesn't go all schitzo on me like baking cookies does. You put in one item that tastes a certain way (my dough is usually stellar because I of course over sweeten it), and out comes a drastically morphed (or rather, deformed), less tasteless version.
Cookies are duplicitous. That's what I've come to learn.
Today, bored (and avoiding doing my homework), I attempted to bake my Aunt Lynn's Renaissance Faire famous cookies. Even though they turned out burned and deformed, I still plan on sharing them with my gamelan ensemble tonight, as well as this English teacher who I'm hoping will give me tips on my next essay.
Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that I 'vegan-ized' her recipe. That effort at least worked, and the cookies still tasted great (they just looked ugly).
(VEGAN-IZED)Auntie Lynn's Renaissance Faire Cookies
(a.k.a. Vanilla Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies)
INGREDIENTS
-2.5 sticks Earth Balance 'butter' (1 1/4 cups)
-3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 'egg'-- Use Ener G Egg Replacer
-2 tsp. vanilla
-I.5 cups all-purpose flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1 tsp. salt
-3 cups Quaker oats
-2 cups dried cranberries
-Heat oven to 375 degrees
-Melt/soften the 'butter', and mix with brown and white
sugar in large bowl. Add 'egg' and vanilla.
-Add flour and baking soda. Mix well.
-Stir in the cranberries
-Stir in the oats
-Line pan with parchment paper or spray with PAM. Place tablespoon sized balls of dough onto pan.
-Bake 8-9 minutes for chewy cookies. Or, bake 10-11 for harder cookie.
-Remove from oven. Cool for one minute.I must say that, despite the failure of the first few batches, the cookies turned out great.
Rich, but not too rich, with just a hint of salt and a nice creamy/buttery taste.
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