Cookies

We made cookies! No, no baby. Thanks for asking... :)

...and when I say we "made" cookies, we really did. Like with flour and sugar and eggs and stuff! It's neat how you mix all that stuff together and it tastes good. I'm pretty impressed with vanilla extract myself.

I had ordered some new cookbooks online and got a baking book too. Ever since I've understood the difference between "cooking" and "baking" I've been afraid to "bake" anything. With cooking you can put in whatever you want and leave out what you don't want because leaving out mushrooms won't ruin the meal. However my understanding of baking is that it has to be pretty exact. I'm not sure what the difference is between baking powder or baking soda is but the book seems to stress that you get it right and put the right amount in. (who really weighs it though?) ...and with baking you just have to wait and see what happens at the end. Once your cookies are in the oven they'll either be yummy or not. Cooking is a little more forgiving... you can taste it as you go and stir in extra things to fix it as necessary... add more flour or milk and then in the end when it doesn't taste like anything you can just add some salt or cheese. :)

Of course that said I don't think baking is too scary. I didn't measure things too exact and found myself pulling out the egg white and trying to trade it for the egg yolk I was supposed to put in. I have no idea what kind of flour I used either... and the cookies still tasted like cookies. I just don't have the patience for exact measurements. (and I only have two measuring spoons - a 1/2 teaspoon and 1 tablespoon.) :)

Anyways, I've baked cookies once or twice before but it's still scary. I still haven't recovered from my mom banning me from making cookies because I wasted so many ingredients.... :) but I was excited to have found real brown sugar, opposed to regular sugar with brown molasses grains mixed in, that we decided to bake. Not like I am giving birth anytime soon - may as well make cookies right?! So we have about 50 chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies in the kitchen that we made this weekend. :) They turned out pretty good so we shared with our new friends.

Okay, so they aren't even really chocolate chip cookies because I couldn't find any chocolate chips! I was going to cut up a chocolate bar but then found these chocolate shavings but they weren't chocolaty enough. :)

There are some things that I think I will continue to make from scratch after this little stint in Denmark. Frosting. Frosting is much yummier when you make it yourself and it doesn't take that long to do. Lasagna. Homemade Lasagna is way better than any frozen stuff and it's easy too. However, I think Tollhouse cookies have perfected the frozen "break and bake" chocolate chip cookies. They will be hard to beat. I'll try a few more times over the next year but I think frozen cookie dough will win in the end. :) Oh, and Pie crust I will only make from scratch if desperate. I hate making pie crust. :)