November 26, 2006

  • Stupid Cook Tricks.

    Unfortunately, the Stupid Cook in question is me.

    This afternoon I decide some peanut butter cookies would no doubt be a spur to literary creativity... peanut butter packing a protein punch, after all ...so got out my Betty Crocker cookbook and set about making some.

    These are cookies I've made times out of mind, so one would think I couldn't possibly screw them up, right?  Wrong.

    Oh, they're edible.  Put some strawberry jam on them and they're not bad at all, actually, though not good enough to wean me away from the correct recipe.

    There I was, you see, periodically glancing at the ingredient list and measuring stuff then dumping it in the Kitchen Aid. I was perplexed when it called for one cup of white sugar, instead of a mixture of white and brown sugar, however.  I could have sworn peanut butter cookies had some brown sugar in them.  e-headscratch  Even went to the pantry to get it out, as I frequently sub brown sugar for part of the white sugar called for in recipes simply because I'm powerful fond of it, but decided to make the recipe as it stands.

    The cookie dough is completed and I'm noticing it doesn't look as dark as it normally does, when for some reason I look again at the page in the cookbook and the ingredient list and finally wonder..."Hey.  Where's the peanut butter?"

    Ah.  Well, that would be found in the ingredient list for the cookie recipe on the right side of the page, where I'd begun, but after having gotten the butter and peanut butter mixing, I accidently switched to the cookie recipe on the left side of the page, which was for snickerdoodles.  Basically I'd managed to make a hybrid cookie.  What's truly idiotic is that fairly early on I'd noticed the lack of peanut butter in the mixing instructions, but by jingo, I didn't let that concern me! Heavens to Betsy, no.  Just figured it was an amusing typo on the part of the cookbook editors, the silly billies.  e-rolleyes2

    Rolled them in turbinado sugar instead of ordinary granulated, hoping that'd make up a little for the lack of brown sugar, but while I like the crunch, that's about all it does for them.  And the second baking sheet of them?  I neglected to make the criss-cross pattern with a fork, so they're kind of puffy looking.

    For any youngish cooks reading this, this will either make you feel better ("Oh good, I'm not the only one does dumb stuff...even the geezerette does sometimes") or make you feel worse ("You mean it doesn't get better???").  e-ghost

Comments (3)

  • From Geezer to Geezerette, it doesn't get any better, I made a double raisin bread pudding and just realized I left out the 1/4 cup sugar! As your dad ate some and praised it, I decided not to tell him. I just had some and with the sauce on I really couldn't tell. Tho next time I will put the sugar in. Sigh.

  • I'm glad i'm not the only one.  I attempted my Grandmama's Chocolate Pie recipe and screwed up every step I did.  I didn't bake the pie crust long enough, so it was still doughy and a bit soggy once the filling settled in.  I let the chocolate pie filling sit for way too long before pouring it in because I had to run and borrow an ingridient I forgot to buy for the merengue.  And then, I didn't beat the merengue long enough, so it came out runny. 

    Don't give up.  We have to try again until we get our desserts right.

  • I've done the same thing too many times to count!  Next time I'll try the strawberry jam trick after.

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