A year through the bible of desserts

Until Further Notice

2009-09-18T23:12:00.000-07:00

Yeah, it's been a while, I know. My bad. I just haven't been able to put the money behind all the ingredients I need for each recipe this month.

However, next month, October, I will be re-starting this year blog and baking adventure and will be more prepared.

12 days to go... get ready. :)

Oats- the added ingredient

2009-09-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

So, I didn't make anything on Monday night. It's because I didn't get back home from a good day at the fair with friends until 9 pm. The previous night I didn't get home until 9 either and yet I still made biscotti. I just needed to catch up on sleep.

I worked until 3 this afternoon. When I got home I knew that I had a good block of time to make whatever it was I was going to make. I decided on Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Still basic enough. A healthy step up above the classic, I suppose. The cookies in the pic are the first batch. I made a second batch as well.

I still have a good amount of dough in the fridge which I will finish baking tomorrow evening and distribute at the church on TH.

Here's the sad part. I'm out of flour and almost out of sugar. I won't be able to do anymore baking or blogging until payday. I'll catch up somehow. Until then...

A late night

2009-09-06T23:02:00.000-07:00

After a wonderful evening at an interreligious event and iftar, I knew coming back home at 9 pm that I'd have to still bake and blog.

I'm not a night person. I'm a morning person. So this is going to be short, and hopefully not have any mistakes.

I made Biscotti. Again, it's not perfect. Anything I make for the first time never is. The baking time is also longer than usual. I have no idea what it tastes like.

Sorry, but sleepiness has taken over...

Cat Got my Tongue

2009-09-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

So I chose to make these cookies called Cat Tongues. I guess I was thinking of my kitty cat, BC, while flipping through the book. I had Google imaged what these are supposed to look like after being in the oven.

Comparing the pictures to the picture I took of mine, I'd say that I didn't do a bad job, but I just needed the right type of dough squeezer. (I first used a sandwich baggie, then rinsed and dried out a Cheez It bag.)

I'm also guessing that by comparing what they normally would look like and what I ended up with, I should have made the hole a bit smaller on the bag as well as properly learn how to properly sift the flour/salt into the rest of the ingredients.

Anyhoo, I have a variety of sizes which I label as "the swollen cat tongue", the "kitten tongue", and the "almost regular and somewhat twisted cat tongue".

Luckily for me, my cat's tongue fits into none of these categories.

The Big Chocolate Chip Cookie

2009-09-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

So, I went to the store and got the parchment paper. Got home and tried another batch with the parchment paper on the sheet.

Though having spent over 20 hours in the fridge, that dough reacted the same way it did when I first mixed it.

So, I just dumped the remaining dough onto the sheet and flattened it out. 16 minutes later I had a giant rectangular cookie. It was perfect, but it was a cookie.

Tomorrow I will attempt another dessert.

That sounds about right

2009-09-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

I'm the woman who usually picks the familiar. For instance, in Ancient History, my favorite Pharaoh is King Tut. My favorite president is Abraham Lincoln. When going to Taco Bell, I always get the cheese quesadilla, with no sauce, and nachos. At Dairy Queen, my absolute pick is the Cookie Dough blizzard.

I also have a favorite cookie. Can you guess what it is? The familiar and oh so amazing Chocolate Chip Cookie.

So of course this was my cookie of choice to begin my year. Because, as some of my friends can attest to, I enjoy making the Chocolate Chip Cookie. It's simple. It's familiar.

Tonight however, the best cookie in the world let me down. Not sure what exactly is the cause. I started mixing the ingredients after about an hour or so of being home.

My day had not been perfect. I had an emotionally negative conversation with a friend throughout most of the morning and a bit after getting home. This friend, like the chocolate chip cookie, is uncomplicated familiar that is fun to spend time with.

I followed the directions in the book to create this classic . There was one item missing that I somehow overlooked and forgot to get. Parchment paper. Yes, Parchment paper. It's supposed to go on the cookie sheet before spooning the cookie dough onto the sheet. I though about wax paper, even went to buy some, but what I needed was Parchment paper.

The dough wasn't thick enough either. I may have melted the butter a bit too long.

So I put two spoonfuls of dough onto an unsprayed cookie sheet to put it to the test. What I discovered 10 minutes later were two flat cookies. Crisp on the outer edges, but still doughy in the center. I was hoping for a different outcome, but my hopes were dashed.

I decided to put the dough in the fridge for an hour to see if that would make it better. Did it?

No. The second two cookies turned out the exact same way.

Though my attempts were with good intentions, the dough was what it was.

Did I attempt it again tonight? No. Is the remainder of the dough in the fridge? Yes. Maybe if I let it alone for a while and come back later, it will be in a better state to be the cookie I know it is, no matter my fault in causing it to turn out that way in the first place.

Tomorrow is another day.

The Creation

2009-09-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

At 4:32 pm today, or maybe 4:33, I along with 3 of my friends sat down in the Los Feliz theater and watched JULIE & JULIA. Based on the true story of Julie Powell, who blogs and cooks through Julia Child's first book in 365 days.

Now, I'm no cook. Ask any of my friends who truly know me. I hate to cook. But I do love to bake, however.

I'm no blogger. I've never blogged before. I've thought blogged and made a couple of unsuccessful attempts at creating one. So we'll see how this goes.

So, on the walk from the theater to my friend's apartment, I, with the help of my friends, came up with the idea that I should blog and bake through a year. I'll bake starting September 2, 2009 through September 2, 2010, each day of the week, excluding Saturday, cause let's face it, I like the rest. (So that's 313 days of 300+ goodies from my kitchen)

And here's the cool part. I will be baking and blogging through my friend JULIA'S book The Dessert Bible. (ok, so she isn't the author, but she does own it and did offer it, so that counts as part of the coolness and variation of this adventure.)

Day 1 starts tomorrow. What shall my first baked goody be?