Making Cookies

Tomorrow the kids have Christmas parties at school and two of them are signed up to bring cookies. I'm a stay at home dad so I certainly have the time and making cookies is easy. The thing is, because I can attend the parties my wife has insisted that she make the cookies every single time. It's her way of staying involved.
That changed today. For the first time ever I'm making the cookies. She's legitimately busy and this makes her life a whole lot easier, but it feels weird. It would be like her changing the oil on the cars. She CAN change oil, she's done it before, but I'M the one that does.

Whatcha gonna make?

You have my address, right? USPS and UPS are fine, but FedEx is usually faster.

Peanut butter cup cookies. The ones made in a mini muffin tin that are basically a peanut butter cookie with a small peanut butter cup smushed in the middle. Half cookie, half candy, all delicious. I only have one muffin tin though so making 80-90 of them takes a while.
I just ate one. I feel better about it all.

mazdeuce wrote: Peanut butter cup cookies. The ones made in a mini muffin tin that are basically a peanut butter cookie with a small peanut butter cup smushed in the middle. Half cookie, half candy, all delicious. I only have one muffin tin though so making 80-90 of them takes a while. I just ate one. I feel better about it all.

Don't you have 2 more ovens in the garage? Go to the grocery and buy a couple more muffin tins. It'll make it much easier.

Double check the PB allergy lists.

We usually make about 10 different kinds of cookies each holiday season. I help where I can (chocolate chips, a couple others) but it's really my wife's show. She's making about 45 dozen this year, if all goes according to plan.

914Driver wrote: Double check the PB allergy lists.

Done and done. We're cool.

Getting the second oven hooked up in the garage will be nice for this sort of thing. Put cookies in the oven. Detail car. Put second batch in. Detail car. Put third batch it......

You get used to it. The last few years I've taken over almost all the cooking and baking. This weekend I am making chocolate chip cookie dough balls for some people that they can break up and bake at home and some birds nests, which are small clumps of Chinese fried noodles dipped unmelted chocolate or butterscotch.

Last night I heated up pre-mixed cookie dough bought from some random kids fundraiser a while back. Not baking in any sense but I DID actually use the oven.

This topic interests me as my wife, a vegetarian, does all the cooking in the house. I have determined, for some odd reason, that I would like to try baking and plan to add it to my list of skills to acquire in 2014. Cookies and Sourdough bread are first on my list of to do items.

Four sourdough you need a starter. My best advice is to just make one with a pinch of regular yeast. No matter what you do for a starter, within about 5 or 6 baking cycles it will have adapted to the humidity/temp/flora/fauna of your house anyway and this is by far the easiest way I've found. Starts out making bread that is pretty normal and it gets more sour with each baking until it settles in. Sourdough pizza crust is my thing.
I do 95% of the cooking and baking in the house, so I don't know why this bugged me so much this morning, but it did. Cookies are done. Time for a nap. I love my job.

I like baking. Everyone gets all "oooh your wife made hella cookies" and I'm like "Nah, she can't boil water, I made these" and they all lose their minds. Baking is science and numbers- I'm good at both.

914Driver wrote: Double check the list of kids who need to harden the berkeley up.

FTFY

How far away is the nearest fire extinguisher and/or the local fire department?

Kidding aside, I love to cook/bake but rarely have time anymore. Wally mentioned birds nests...I love those things. My wife and I don't really eat cookies much due to our nutrition plans. However, we're "on vacation" the week of Christmas. We're having an open house and my wife has been baking cookies for days. I'm planning on eating each and every left over before the New Year...

Baking hates me. I could put cookie dough in the freezer and still blacken it to a crisp.

I have Porsche 911 cookie cutters. They are awesome.

SilverFleet wrote: I have Porsche 911 cookie cutters. They are awesome.

Tell me where I can get them?

I made F-22 cookies for the work party this year. I had to fab my own cookie cutter for that. Totally grassroots. Then I discovered nobody makes gray food coloring. I had to use a delicate blend of blue coloring and cocoa powder to get the right shade.

It was fun, but I found myself wondering once again why I make things so hard for myself.

Cookies are easy. Here is a handy video that tells you everything you need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpYVWA-92xY

mazdeuce wrote:

SilverFleet wrote: I have Porsche 911 cookie cutters. They are awesome.

Tell me where I can get them?

When my sister worked for a local Porsche dealer, she would come home with random Porsche swag all the time. She called me up one day and told me to stop over her house and pick these up.

(not mine, but you get the idea)

They are official Porsche merchandise. They were made to commemorate the new 911 a couple years ago. they came in an embossed tin, and one is the original 911, while the other is the new model (997?).

I'd ask your local Porsche dealer!

EDIT: I just called my sister. She said they were a promotional item only for the launch of the new 911. No part number, and they were never sold at the dealer.

But this got me thinking.... a crafty GRM'er could easily make all sorts of cookie cutters shaped like cars out of sheet metal. Making a set of these Porsche ones should be super simple. What other GRM-friendly cars should have cookie cutters made?

Miata
E36 M3
Cherokee

I could probably do it very easily. Get some thin sheet steel, make a bending jig, and go for it. I might have to investigate this. Anyone know where I can get 1" wide steel ribbon?

mazdeuce wrote: Miata E36 M3 Cherokee

All three have been brought to the Challenge by Team External Combustion. I approve of this!

In reply to hobiercr:

I've never had any of those doughs make it to an oven. One of them didn't even make it in from the car.