Results tagged “cookies” from It Ought to be Enjoyed

Lobster Fail

By
roy
on January 29, 2010 5:53 PM |
So, it was a friend's birthday recently...and I had the clever idea of making him a batch of cookies that would hopefully be a big surprise.  To give away the ending of this story...just give cash.  Okay, well maybe not but the cookies never made it to him.  The first batch when baked did not stay in the shape of the cookie cutter, needless to say large blobs of sugar cookie do not convey "lobster." And for the ones that did keep their shape most did not even get finished being decorated, since for the most part it was like an eruption of sugar goo that exploded across the kitchen.  Basically if you make the mistake of making the icy "too" runny so that it flows too well, it will flow everywhere.

So perhaps there will be lobster cookies in the future, or perhaps crustaceans covered in sugar are beyond my means.  But the intent was there, and the birthday wishes hopefully still will get conveyed.

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Cookies and Cocktails

By
roy
on December 26, 2009 4:22 PM |
Not sure why I haven't been posting much, there has been time and there has been photos taken but suddenly you look up and it is late December.

We had a bake sale at work to benefit a local Food Bank, so I broke out the cookie cutters and tried to make something appropriately festive.  Many people said they looked fine...I considered them a disaster (especially since only about 2/3rds of the cookies made it into the office).  A Note to those who are interested...an irate anxious dog parking directly beside you makes it challenging to have a steady hand to decorate things.

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Also, my housemate and I decided to make gifts for people this year...we got many local figs and pears and then infused some vodka and orange liqueur with the fruit and some spices.  After that sat an appropriate time we made some fresh sour with lemons from our Farmer's Market.  For some reason everyone thought we were giving them vinegar...we kept saying it was alcohol for drinking.  We also got to put in some of the gift baskets some Christmas chocolate that my housemate brought back from Germany (milk chocolate with coriander, anise, and other spices).
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They came together nicely.  It was lots of fun to put together.

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The Seeds of Smiles are Planted...

By
roy
on September 29, 2009 8:34 PM |
Somedays you get to be at home and lucky enough to spend the day with friends.  And on some of those days you are lucky enough to get to cook for them, and everything you need is already in the house.  The past weekend turned out to be one of those days.

Hanging out, being geeks, getting to catch up...all makes for a fun day.  And when dinner rolled around the pantry was stocked well enough to provide a meal (mostly dairy-free even - for the non-dairy eater, but no meat for the die-hard carnivore).

A Relaxed Saturday Meal
  • sunflower and carrot dip
  • grilled curried tofu
  • tamarind lentils
  • basmati rice
  • green salad
And of course to snack on throughout the day, a very basic and homey chocolate chip cookie.

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Malt-Tease

By
roy
on September 8, 2008 9:42 AM |
So this weekend was the waffle party...and as always I have a blast with these.  Always fun to see what folks bring. Sadly there are no pictures since I and everything in a constant 5' radius around me was covered in waffle batter, it did not seem appropriate to subject my camera to that.  (For those geeks who are also learning 4th ed. rules...I think that would be a close 1 radius.  grin)

At the waffle party, the homemade butterscotch sauce, rum soaked raisins, and cinnamon coconut date (dairy free) ice cream were all stellar.  It is always great to see what folks bring and then how well all the different ingredients mesh (e.g. creme fraiche, lingonberry jam, and lavendar honey all go well together).

This week for the Tuesdays with Dorie, it is Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops.  Which I'd made before, but figured I would make with the virtual masses.  Especially since the housemate said he liked them the first go round.  I have to confess that these didn't really wow me either time, but they are fairly easy to throw together.  I did futz with the recipe some this time, nor purposefully but I had some extra margarine from making the waffles and figured instead of letting it go to waste, so I did the extra 3Tbsp that the recipe calls for as margarine instead of butter.  And since the bittersweet chocolate only came in a 4 oz bar, I threw in some semi-sweet discs to make up the remaining chocolate.

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My First Tuesday

By
roy
on September 2, 2008 5:27 PM |
I've been meaning to jump in and participate with all those who have been baking their way through Dorie Greenspan's Baking book but time and many other forces had seemed to be preventing that.  Well this is the week that I have triumphed against time (we shall see about those other forces...).

The recipe for Sept. 2 was Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters.  However I've just been calling them Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies...not much shorter, but it seems like a lot less verbiage.

I was reading that people had been having dry dough, stiff dough...breaking kitchen implements dough.  Not here.  It was great, very gooey but after several hours in the refrigerator it became perfectly manageable.  However I think I misjudged the size this were supposed to be, since the recipe said 60 cookies and I was lucky to get 30.  However this was a good, good mistake.  It took much longer for the cookies to bake, but when they were done they were big, thick and chewy.  And 30 cookies are more than enough to send out to the world and hopefully spread a little bit of happiness.

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Whoopie!

By
roy
on June 30, 2008 6:19 PM |
The first time I made Whoopie Pies I remember thinking that these were completely over-the-top and decadent.  There is no way an individual should eat an entire Whoopie Pie on their own, yet everyone did.  They are perfect when you want to communicate an excess of emotion.  (Of course in certain circumstances the only cookies that can work are "The Cookies That Talk" but that is an entirely different story.)

So when a friend said that she had gotten a new job, this seemed the best way to send her off from where we worked.  

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Raspberry Marshmallow filling

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They were tasty.
And messy.

Exactly what they were supposed to be.

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Rolling out Dough

By
roy
on June 15, 2008 9:13 PM |
Tried making some new cookies today, and well...life is easier if you have enough room to roll out your dough.  It sounds like that should be one of those Quotable Quotes you read in Reader's Digest or the like, I know.  But honestly, it is a true statement.

A small marble slab and a batch of too sticky dough, makes for a frustrating baking experience.

Add to it a housemate who is quietly angry and puppy that's hunger is amped up on prednisone and you have a situation where no matter how tasty the end result...the getting there just wasn't worth it.

The house of my dreams has a countertop large enough to roll out any pie dough or cookie dough that I may decide to work on.  (as an aside, breads and pastas better damn well look out as well)

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