Monday, December 7, 2009

Baking Fiascos of 2009

This time last year, Andrew and I were indulging in delicious goodies from a Christmas cookie swap organized by a friend in Fort st John.  It was so simple.  15 people were involved so all I had to do was bake 15 dozen of one kind of cookie.  Then we all got together and swaped a dozen for a dozen.  We came away with bars, balls and cookies of all kinds.  

This year, I gotta say, I am really missing the cookie swap.  So I figured how hard could it be to become Martha Stewart for a day and do all my own Christmas baking?  Well... For those of you who are attempting this impossible feat, I offer you some tips - the result of my own baking misadventures.

1.  Read the recipe before you start.
  It sounds so simple but it helps you to avoid uttering things like " I guess we'll just omit cream of tartar.  I know we don't have it cause I don't even know what it is..." and "what?? The dough has to rest in the fridge for SIX HOURS?? Crap!".

2.  Have all your tools at the ready.
  Kate has just finished assembling all the ingredients and is ready to bake.  Now, picture this phone call:
Kate "hi mom, it's kate."
Josette "Hi.  How are you?"
Kate "I'm fine.  I'm just doing some Christmas baking."
Josette "oh yeah?  How's it going?"
Kate "um... Fine... Can I borrow your baking sheets?  Mine are still in Fort st John..."
Josette "Oh, Kate!"

3.  Don't trust a picture.
  After flipping through my books, I settled on baking some 'sugar cookie jam rollups'.  They looked so good in the picture, and looked easy enough to assemble.  Well... The dough was so crumbly that it didn't roll up very nicely, or slice very nicely, or bake very nicely, or taste very nicely...

4.  Keep cooling cookies out of kid reach.
  You won't think you're hallucinating when you walk into the kitchen and find an empty cooling rack.  "I was SURE I put a dozen cookies there to cool..."