I Failed The Dreamwidth Litmus Test

[jpegghost]

One funeral later, I have the rest of today and tomorrow off. Yay! Time to devote it all to school or Animal Crossing.

Unlike the rest of Dreamwidth's userbase, I am terrible at baking. I can cook just about anything and do it well, but baking is too exact a science for me. Candy-making even more so.
I have been gleefully collecting recipe cards from my family for a while now because I enjoy the antiquity of recipe boxes, and a few days ago my cousin from the Austrian side of the family had unearthed some ancient cookie, kolachy, and stöllen recipes from my grandparent's basement. Alex immediately got excited for the spice cookies, and I warily accepted the task of ruining relations with my deceased grandmother.

Let me explain myself. The archaic card said I should roll those bastards into 'walnut sized balls' and put on a baking sheet. I don't eat a lot of walnuts. I don't know how big walnuts are. I never crack open a cold walnut with the boys. I put some circles on the sheet and when I pulled them out of the oven ten minutes later, they were all merging and i had to quickly divide them. They became square.
Beforehand, Alex grabbed a maybe-walnut-sized ball of raw dough, shoved it in his mouth, then proclaimed "It tastes like the old country!"

Thank you for your input, sir.

Regardless of my boyfriend's antics and my inability to foresee cookies spreading and morphing together like one large brick, they are extremely delicious and Alex and I have been shoveling them into our faces.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Looks just like when Mama makes them!

[annofowlshire]

I think taste is more important than appearance ^_^

I’m with you on baking. I’m not actually that much of a baker because it can be so exacting and I tend to like to wing it in the kitchen. I’ve, frankly, been very lucky with my sourdough experiments turning out. I think it’s because I’ve gone into it with the perspective that people have been using this method to make their “daily bread” for thousands of years and were more focused on making a good eating bread that didn’t take up all of their time rather than worrying about how Instagrammable it was. So I found a serviceable low maintenance recipe and have just done little tweaks from there for our needs.

[jpegghost]

The sourdough you post looks so good though! Simultaneously, I heard that sourdough is not the fussiest bread and can be forgiving, so maybe it's worth a shot for me.

If you want to make the spice cookies I posted the recipe card in a comment below mine, but I do use egg in the batter and I'm not sure if that would upset Rowan's allergies? Either way, thanks for the reassurance pal!

[8hyenas]

But you didn't fully torch your ancestral relationship by posting the recipe card? how can i make the delicious authentic wombat cookies? they do look good though, perfect top crackle!

[jpegghost]

Oooh, you're right! I think I will do that right now. Here you go buddy, sorry grandma:

- 3/4 cup of butter, room temperature
- 1 cup or sugar (white or brown)
- 2 cups of flour
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 1 egg
-2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp powdered cloves
- 1 tsp cinnamon

1. Mix butter and sugar until the large lumps are gone, then add the egg and molasses
2. Add flour, baking soda, and spices, mix
3. Roll into """""walnut sized balls""""
4. Dip into granulated sugar (I recommend getting a bowl of sugar and throwing them in like I did)
5. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375F

It took me about 20-30 minutes total to make it, it was fun. I recommend really spacing out the cookies, they spread like crazy once they're exposed to heat. This should make you two cookie sheets worth. The taste reminds me of ginger snaps, but the texture is much softer.

[8hyenas]

I made the cookies! Well, I have never followed a recipe in my life so they were more "inspired by" but the Ginger Cayenne Old World/New Cookies are great! I tried the chilling them thing and they still spread out but I only made eight so mine are round but huge. How sad for me ))))

First thing in the new oven!

[jpegghost]

YES!!!

I'm so happy you like them! They spread like crazy no matter what, it drives me bananas!

Yay the new oven has been christened!

[alee_grrl]

Taste trumps looks when it comes to food. So if they taste good, then they aren't a failure.

My maternal grandmother was an amazing cook for the most part, and could even manage most baking. But the poor woman could not make biscuits, it was her one kitchen weakness. They would look perfect, but were so hard you could hammer nails with them. They were completely inedible.

I do okay with most simple baking, but stay away from some of the fussier things.

These cookies sound delicious. I love soft gooey cookies and ginger snaps. So having a softer version of a ginger cookie sounds divine. Thank you for sharing the recipe.

[jpegghost]

Haha, I don't even try with biscuits. I get the oven-ready ones from the store.

I watch people make fussier things, like macarons and I'm stunned! How! I understand it's trial and error, but it becomes exhausting.

I'm happy you like the recipe! Please tell me if you make them!

[amejisuto]

See, I'd chill the dough before baking, so the butter wouldn't melt as quick in the oven, stopping them from spreading everywhere. But that's just me. Seems like you did a good job despite not knowing what size walnuts are. The main purpose is to make something yummy for your tummy. It's not like the judges from the Great British Bake Off are going to appear in your kitchen.

[jpegghost]

Good idea, I should try that next time. Considering how fast we have gone through them, I am guessing I'll be making them again soon!

[dark_phoenix54]

Hey, you haven't failed Dream Width; appearances mean nothing here. This ain't Instagram!

[jpegghost]

True though! I can't stand Instagram myself, it all seems very very fake.