Cookie Therapy
Feb 5, 2013 What's Going On
So I tend to beat myself up when I think I’m not doing something well for reasons that were preventable. If I’m just not good at something that’s fine, I can live with that. But if I rushed or took a shortcut or did something I had a feeling wasn’t the right thing to do? That’s not OK. Which is basically what I did with these Superbowl cookies.
I don’t think they looked bad, and they were a big hit at the two parties I brought them to. But I could have done much better.
I took a private cookie decorating class with Gail Dosik last week, and was really anxious to try my new skills out. At the lesson Gail taught me as much about icing consistency as time allowed, but we were using icing she had made. Getting the consistency right on my own was a challenge.
On Wednesday I made some plain white icing first and tried it out on some Christmas cookies I had in the freezer. The first couple were rough, but eventually I got the hang of it. Flooding them went well. And they were tasty!
Sometimes pretty cookies just don’t taste that great, and I wanted the best of both worlds. Since Gail is apparently taking her delicious cookie recipe to her grave (ahem), I decided to use the rest of that sugar cookie dough – still in the freezer – to make my football cookies on Thursday – still plenty of time before the Superbowl.
What I hadn’t noticed when I made the snowmen was that the dough had spread. A lot. That’s OK for snowmen, they just got plumper and rounder (much like myself in winter, actually). But when I tried it with my new football cookie cutter, they spread from a football shape to a round blob. Oops. I was tired. I put off making more cookies until the next day.
I usually use Martha Stewart’s cutout cookie recipe, and while it’s good, it’s not spectacular. So I decided to try two new recipes on Friday. And they both completely sucked ass. But the one part of flooding cookies that you really have to pay attention to is drying time, and I was running out of time. So I settled on the cookies that sucked less, and on Saturday got to work making brown icing.
Now, it seemed reasonable to me that if I wanted brown icing I should simply add brown food coloring. But it was more like tan, very un-football like. And no matter how much brown I added, it just wasn’t getting any darker. So I added some black. And some more black. Nothing. So I looked online, and some people said they made their brown icing using red and green food coloring. So I dumped that in too. What I had was a slightly orange light mud color that was just about the least appetizing thing I’d ever seen. And the texture was all wrong. I piped it onto a cookie and it looked like a skinny turd, all pock-mocked and uneven and dry looking.
By this point – Saturday night – a friend was over, and he called his mom, who is an amazing baker. She gave me a recipe that used cocoa powder for the coloring. So, starting over, I mixed that up. It looked good. The consistency was good. I got the cookies outlined, and then flooded, and went to bed very satisfied.
However, when I woke up on Sunday I was not happy. There were now weird light spots on some of the cookies, and the edges were cracking. But with the Superbowl eight hours away, there was no turning back.
I mixed up some more white icing and started outlining the white parts of the cookies and adding the laces. Now, after just one cookie I could tell that the consistency was all wrong. It was too thick. And this is where I could kick myself for not taking it out of the piping bag and making it right. Instead, I plowed ahead, piping broken lines and messy laces. Everything was late and I just wanted to get it done so that it would have time to dry.
I’m not saying they looked terrible. I’m saying that if I had been a bit more careful and not tried to just get it done as fast as possible, they could have been so much better. If that had been the best I could do I would be satisfied. But like with so many other things, as I got toward the end of the project I just wanted it to be done, even if that meant sacrificing quality. This it NOT how pretty cookies get decorated.
So, in the end, the cookies looked cute (although not professional), and tasted OK (not great – chocolate royal icing is nowhere near as good as white, and the cookies tasted floury, even though I don’t roll them out with flour). I told Gail what had happened, and it sounds like I was trying to color too much icing at once. She said to start with a small amount and let the color sit for a while – it will get darker (again, I hadn’t left myself enough time for that).
I have problems with time management. I have problems seeing things through to the end. And I have problems not stopping and correcting course when I have the chance. I think decorating cookies might just be the kind of behavior modification therapy I need.
Or I could just try to be like Fiona. She didn’t want to know how to do it the “right” way, she just made them pretty, and was completely satisfied.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking, Food, One Tough Cookie
Happy Birthday To Me, Continued…
Jan 28, 2013 Around NYC
I turned forty a few months ago. I handled it with my usual grace. In other words, I was a mess. But then I was fine. My friends helped me through it with fun and cheese, and then it was over.
Only, it wasn’t. Today, months later, is my gift from my husband. He gave me a private cookie decorating lesson with Gail Dosik. But since she is ridiculously in demand around any holiday, this was the earliest we could coordinate our schedules.
I’ve stalked her blog since I first heard about her. I can just sit there and watch the cookies go by on her homepage.
And now, I get to learn how she works her magic.
I’m not sure she realizes what she’s gotten herself into. Sure, I can make good looking cookies (thanks to her amazing method for rolling out cookie dough). But I can’t make them pretty. Yet…
Looking very much forward to the arrival of @selfishmom for cookie decorating lessons. Trying not to giggle already & be very serious.
— Gail Dosik (@THEToughCookie) January 28, 2013
I will report back on our fun, but not on her secrets – you have to take a lesson from her to get those.
One thing’s for sure: the people who know me will be getting some cookies soon.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking, Tough Cookie
Ode To A Grilled Cheese
Aug 27, 2012 Weight Loss
OK, it’s not really an ode, I just liked the way that sounded. I don’t have the patience to write an ode. Not when there’s so much to watch on TV.
But I did just eat the most amazing grilled cheese. It was on my homemade sourdough bread, with half a tablespoon of real butter and a slice and a half of Kraft Deli Deluxe American cheese. I sliced the bread very thin. The whole amazing thing came out to 230 calories.
Inching closer to my weight-loss goal. Day by day. Fitting in sandwiches like that one make it easier. I’m definitely one of those people who, most of the time, would rather have a small amount of something great than eat massive amounts of so-so things all day.
And the past two days were a huge challenge. I was baking all of my favorite things, for a charity bake sale. Breads, cookies, brownies, my house smelled like all of it (still does). I was touching and smelling it all and somehow, staying away. Because I want to reach my goal that much sooner.
Yesterday I baked myself one-third of a cookie, which seemed kind-of pathetic at the time, but it was what I needed on that particular day: to get just a taste, and move on.
It’s all about balance. Life’s too short to not enjoy a grilled cheese if I really want one. But it can’t be the 800 calorie monster I would make if I didn’t care what I looked like.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking, Food, Weight Loss
A Heaping Bowl of Double Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Jul 15, 2012 Food
Last night I showed my husband a recipe in the latest King Arthur Flour catalog for Double Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, and he wanted me to make it immediately. He even went to the store for the sour cream that we didn’t have and the egg that I dropped on the floor while taking it out of the fridge. But after all that, I ended up being too tired to make it, and went to bed.
Luckily (or unluckily for me, as I was hoping to sleep in) I woke up early this morning, and made it for breakfast, hoping to have a nice surprise waiting for The Ass when he woke up.
Whenever I make a recipe for the first time I tend to follow the instructions completely, saving any experimentation or second-guessing for the next time. This often leads to first time disasters. Like these things below that look like pizza crusts, but were supposed to be ciabatta rolls. I knew the dough was too wet, but followed the instructions anyway, and ended up with bready hockey pucks.
So, even though my instincts told me to do more than lightly oil my bread pan as the recipe called for, I followed the directions. The bad news is, my instincts were spot on and the bread stuck to the bottom of the pan. It fell out into a warm lump.
The good news is, it tastes freaking amazing! Seriously, best loaf of anything I’ve ever made. It’s moist and chocolaty and, on this first day of my latest Diet Bet, dangerous to have around. I ate a heaping bowlful. My husband came downstairs right around the time it fell out of the pan, and attacked it as well, declaring it “f***ing delicious.”
I will absolutely be making this again, but will either put parchment paper on the bottom of the pan or use Wilton Cake Release. The rest I will do the same: my butter and egg were room temp, my sour cream was cold, and my chips were mini. I did it all by hand and it was very easy to mix with a spoon – a great advantage if you want to make something for breakfast while others are still trying to sleep.
If you know me, expect me to bring this to brunches and pot-lucks and bake sales. A lot.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Tags: baking, banana bread, chocolate
When baking videos go bad
May 18, 2012 Cooking & Baking
I was trying to make a video about how to cut my awesome brownies…
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Fiona wanted hearts on her cupcakes…
May 7, 2012 Food, Posted From My Phone
I might have gone overboard. But I think she’ll like them, and so will her classmates.
This is so easy to do, by the way. I piped melted dipping chocolate onto waxed paper, let it dry for about twenty minutes, then carefully peeled the hearts off and stuck them into the frosting.
I’ve even piped cursive words to place on cakes. As long as you’re very careful when peeling them from the paper, they’ll hold their shape. Plus, you can keep trying on the waxed paper until you get it right, instead of messing up your cake trying to draw with frosting.
So cute, so simple, so many different shape possibilities!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom, from Amy’s cell phone (so please excuse any weird formatting). All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Cake Pop Stands from KC Bakes
Feb 28, 2012 Product Review
I’ve been making cake pops for a few months now. They’re fun, easy, and incredibly delicious (and a nice morning treat with my current “dessert with breakfast” diet). But the one thing that bugged me about the whole process was the Styrofoam blocks I was going through. I tried wrapping them in packing tape and poking holes through with a sharp pencil so that they wouldn’t fall apart so easily. I tried buying the denser blocks used to make “fake” wedding cakes. I even tried making the cake pops upside-down, which gives them ugly, flat tops.
Then I found the pretty, practical, affordable cake pop stands by KC Bakes. I purchased three of them at a discount, with a promise of a write-up if I found them useful. And oh my yes, I do. So does my number-one cake pop helper.
First of all, they’re infinitely reusable, as opposed to Styrofoam, which breaks down rather quickly with all of that poking and wiping. If you’ve been using Styrofoam, these stands will pay for themselves after not that long.
The holes are the perfect size for regular sucker sticks. They’re well spaced so that you have access to each cake pop. They come in a variety of sizes and colors.
These stands clean up easily. If you drizzle chocolate on them you just wait for it to dry, and it lifts right off cleanly with the help of a fingernail. If you drip chocolate into one of the holes, it can be picked out easily with a toothpick. This was the biggest improvement over my Styrofoam blocks: those were nearly impossible to clean.
The “skinny mini” six-hole size is also perfect for gift giving, at $15. If I’d had my act together I would’ve bought a half dozen of the small ones and given them to teachers for Christmas, filled with cake pops, of course. End of the school year, perhaps.
If you’re a cake pop maker – or want to be – I’d definitely recommend these stands. They’ll make it so much easier to produce pretty, professional-looking cake pops. Your friends and family won’t believe you didn’t buy them from a bakery.
Plus, I can’t wait until my next party: the centerpiece of the buffet table will definitely be a gorgeous display of cake pops!
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 1. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
Christmas cookie Tree centerpiece
Dec 25, 2011 Cooking & Baking
A couple weeks ago I saw this video of Gail Dosik, of One Tough Cookie, making a Christmas tree out of cookies. I was totally inspired.
I immediately started searching Amazon for graduated cookie cutters and found a set of star-shaped ones from Wilton. I never make a holiday centerpiece. If we have one, it’s because Fiona took it upon herself to make one. So I decided that this year, our centerpiece would be a Christmas cookie tree!
I’m rather glad that I couldn’t find the kind of cutters that Gail used because her tree requires a kind of precision that I just don’t have. Maybe next time. If I take a Valium first.
Last night I made a massive amount of roll-out cookie dough, and this morning made the cookies. At first it seemed like the cookies would take forever, but once I got past the two biggest stars it went a lot faster.
I used Gail’s method for rolling out the dough. Before discovering her secret, I rarely made cut-out cookies because they always looked fairly terrible and tasted even worse, due to all the extra flour I’d have to use to keep them from sticking. But trust me, her method is genius. You’re crazy if you don’t use it.
I’ve never used icing on cookies, so I decided to give it a try. I wanted to outline the cookies in frosting then pour the icing on very thin and let it spread, but I just couldn’t get it thin enough. The recipe I was using said to just keep adding light corn syrup until it was the right consistency but I started getting afraid that it would taste funny. So I spread the frosting to the edges as best I could.
Assembly was really easy, since it didn’t have to be exact. I just had to check every few cookies and make sure the tree wasn’t lopsided.
You can see that some of the frosting near the top gushed out and dripped down. I decided that those looked like icicles and weren’t a mistake. :-)
I sprinkled the whole thing with silver-colored sugar, although I think it would have looked better if I’d done that before stacking the cookies.
I’m quite proud of myself, but this design left a lot of room for error. I’d like to try another one that’s not so haphazard. I think it may be time for some private lessons with Gail. :-)
I made way too much dough, so I let Fiona make some cookies (I think The Ass ate about half of them).
When she got tired of it I made some to share with the choir at Christmas Eve service.
And I still have about a third of the dough left. I might try making some smaller trees with it tomorrow – just the top five or six layers. Maybe I’ll make a whole cookie forest! And populate it with little gingerbread men! And the men will need a house…
I think this is the most relaxing Christmas Eve I’ve ever had. The presents were all wrapped days ago, and I did nothing today but bake.
I hope you all have a nice Christmas, filled with cookies and gifts and family. And if you don’t celebrate Christmas, well, at least your kids will let you sleep in tomorrow.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom. All opinions expressed on this website come straight from Amy unless otherwise noted. This post has a Compensation Level of 0. Please visit Amy’s Full Disclosure page for more information.
