Cookie Practice!

Due to the sad state of our finances, R and I decided to bake cookies for our advisors and family/friends for Christmas/winter instead of buying presents. Thus it was that I took the Route 11 bus to R's place for a cookie baking practice session. Both of us had baked cookies before, but always under the supervision of others (e.g. mothers), so we felt the need for a rehearsal.


First bad batch of oatmeal raisin on bottom, too puffy chocolate chips on top

Our chocolate chip cookies turned out too salty since I added a 1/4 tsp of salt without knowing that R had used salted butter and not the unsalted kind in the cookie dough batter. They were also puffier than we would've liked, so we edited the written recipe to include less baking soda in the future. We were able to dilute the saltiness of the mix after the first batch went into the oven by adding more flour, sugar, and vanilla.


Boysenberry thumbprint cookies

Next we made boysenberry thumbprint cookies, adhering strictly to the written recipe. But the cookies spread out too much since our cookie dough, made with butter as the only fat, had gotten too warm before being dropped on the cookie sheet.


Lighter pic of boysenberry thumbprint cookies

They still tasted awesome, but we told ourselves that maybe all the recipes had too much butter in them. We also made up one preliminary batch of fudge. Here's the recipe, from Eagle brand/Borden's Condensed Milk:

Fudge
18 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1- 14oz can of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
dash of salt
Chopped nuts (optional)
Line a 8 inch square baking pan with wax paper
Melt chips in microwave with evaporated milk in a bowl. Heat for 1 min, mix, heat for 1min, mix, etc. until smooth. Add vanilla, nuts and salt. Spread in pan and refridgerate until firm.

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Note to self:

After mixing cookie ingredients for each recipe, refrigerate cookies before dropping them on the cookie sheet.

1.) In oatmeal raisin cookie recipe, use less butter and cook for the lower estimate of time given.

2.) In ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe, use less butter. Also, use unsalted butter if possible. If using normal salted butter, don't add the 1/4 tsp of salt.

3.) In raspberry/boysenberry thumbrint cookie recipe, don't push down on cookie ball too much or dough backing the preserves will be too thin. Also, don't add as much butter as they suggest.