Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Ovenphobia

Sorry for the hiatus. Life and Laziness were to blame. Those jerks! Always stealing my happiness.


I wanted to share something about myself. I really like cooking but HATE baking. It seems that every single time I've tried to follow a recipe, the end result is an unfortunate and sorry-looking disaster. Could it be because I also HATE following directions and with baking, there's not much leeway for throwing in a bit of this and that and "see how it comes out" as I do with my cooking. 

This is completely tied to my impatient personality as well. I'm the type of person who would rather look at a photo of something and figure out how to put it together than follow the 9,000-step directions (yes, I'm talking about YOU,  plastic toddler play kitchen set from Aunt Krista!)  

For my twins' second birthday, I made their cake and got raves. It was from a box (like almost all other baked goods I produce) and the filling between layers was Gerber baby food banana puree. The real impressive part was my decoration of the OUTER part of the cake. THIS is where I like to be fancy:



Back to Ovenphobia: I prefer to keep food fairly simple and when I came upon a Weight Watchers recipe for yummy-looking and healthy Oatmeal Raisin Bites, it didn't seem like something that would give me any problems. I had all ingredients on hand so decided to give it a try.


It didn't seem to intimidating, but later this recipe card would be mocking me and laughing HARD. I followed the directions to a T (well, as T as I could). The happy little photo on the recipe card is what the cookies were supposed to look like.


And this is what I was greeted with when I opened my oven:


Hmm ... HOW can something so simple become so challenging? I'm a smart person with creativity and common sense. How can I mess up COOKIES?

Upon further investigation, I did notice one TEENSY little detail. The recipe called for "rolled oats" and I used organic steel-cut oats (which usually take a really long time to cook). Hmm.... I guess this is the kind of detail Mr. Bunny means when he says I sometimes don't listen. POINT TAKEN!

Even though they came out looking like hideous blobs that had to be sliced away from each other and pried off the cookie sheet, they did taste REALLY good and everyone seemed to enjoy them.



I guess the effort was not completely lost.




3 comments:

  1. Well... I LOVE baking and HATE cooking :0) So here are some suggestions... check the expiration date on your baking powder. Yes. There is an expiration date on it. Also, check the temp of your oven with a separate thermometer... not just the dial on your oven. Rotate the pans halfway through baking. Also, if you use margerine instead of butter, your cookies will fluff better. Not sure why, but they do! Hope this helps!!!!

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  2. I loved them honey, remember enjoy the journey - it's not always about the Destination. But even though the cookies didn't look good, they were YUMMY :)

    Love you always,
    Skinny Vinny

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  3. It was so nice to meet you this evening. The twins are so adorable and sweet. They stole the show and made everyone happy...especially my little one! Love your blog and your crafts! So inspiring to meet another awesome Mama! Hugs to you and the kids!

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