Crochet & Cookies

I'm feeling a bit more excited about crochet again. For awhile there, I just didn't feel like picking up a hook and doing anything. I was able to finish a couple of projects that were sitting around here. Here are a couple of photos:


This is a piggie I made for K's third birthday. It was a hit!




Here's an infant blanket that I made for K's new brother. My first project without a pattern! I'm still working on some fine details and want to make it larger before sending it to a magazine in hopes of publishing.





Here is a detail of a scarf I made for S. He told me he's had a lot of compliments!

Right now I am finishing up yet another baby cardigan. Lots of friends with buns in the oven! I can't do a blanket for every girlfriend, but I feel babies and new moms need handmade things, so little cardigans it is!

I also need to concentrate on a spider web cardigan for MezzoDiva. She's working on a great summer tank for me. I started her cardigan in the Fall and of course thought that I had a ton of time before Spring arrived. Even though the Winter from Hell is only just now retreating, I've hardly picked up the project!

Cookie Challenge update!! Finally! Along with not being interested in crochet, I haven't been motivated to bake either. So much for the Cookie Challenge. Last weekend I finally put the apron on and baked two different batches.

Cookie number 5: Orange Oaties



Easy & fast!
Great orange flavour!
Chewy, not crispy (thumbs down for me when it comes to thin cookies).
Low fat (thumbs up for those who care about this).
A little bit too sweet for me.
The gals at work really liked them.

I think if I made these again, I would add some toasted almond slivers.


Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies



Again, easy & fast!
Great chocolate flavour!
Good combination of soft cookie texture and oat crunchiness.
A little bit crumbly, but not so much that it is really messy for eating.
Just the right amount of sweetness for me.

I put chocolate chips in the thumbprint centre instead of chocolate spread as the recipe asked for. Next time I will add a nut to the chips. Chocolate spread would be great if there is already some in the house. I would make these babies again!


Other news: In about 9 days, Hubby and I will be on a plane for San Francisco! I can't wait! I'll be meeting Hubby's 86 year old aunt for the first time. Hubby and I will be doing some free walking tours in the city, lots of eating, a little shopping and possibly driving to see the Muir Woods.

Post Script on Chocolate Truffle Cookies

I took the cookies to a pumpkin carving get-together last night. They were a HUGE hit!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies

Cookie number 4 of the Cookie Challenge is a success!

Chocolate Truffle Cookies



These were fairly quick to make, if you don't mind the 30 minute cooling time in the fridge before you roll them into balls.
Good texture: slight crunch on the outside, yummy chewy on the inside.
Not too sweet (thumbs up!)
Nice and chocolaty (thumbs up!)
I would make them smaller next time, as they spread a bit more than I expected.

I will make these again for my Holiday gifts.

Dough issue

I tried the Chocolate and Prune Cookies on page 171 today. These are rolled cookies. I've never had a lot of success with rolled cookies, so I tend to shy away from such recipes. At least I am consistent - I wasn't successful with these rolled cookies either.

Here is how they are meant to look:




Perhaps I did not let the butter get quite to room temperature before creaming it with the sugar. Perhaps the flour amount listed in the recipe is one cup too much. Not sure. The dough just didn't come together. It was much too dry. I'm leaning towards the flour as the problem. When I sifted the flour and cocoa powder on to the creamed butter, I immediately thought that the dry ingredients were going to overwhelm the wet.

I decided to make bars from the recipe. This is what I got:





They don't look bad, but they are dry'ish', crumbly, and tad too sweet for me. I can tell that they would be quite yummy and unique cookies, if I had been able to get the dough to come together. As cookies, you would be eating less dough at once and I think this would address the 'too sweet' issue.

I've decided to try again (not right away) and follow the recipe exactly. If the dough issue happens again, I will try the recipe a third time with less flour. In the mean time, I shall do a little research on rolled cookies to compare wet and dry ingredient amounts.

This recipe calls for 2/3 cup butter creamed with 3/4 cup sugar, add 1 egg yolk. Then add 1/4 cup cocoa powder and 2 1/4 cups flour. Any thoughts?

Luscious Lemon Bars

Finding time for the Cookie Challenge has been challenging. I'm home today getting insulation blown into our walls, so about the only place I can hang out and amuse myself is the kitchen. Perfect time to make these:




Luscious Lemon Bars
Not too sweet (thumbs up!)
Not lemony enough (thumbs down!)
My dough didn't form into a ball like I thought it might. I think I let the butter get too soft. It is still delicious and I could use it for many other bar recipes.

I would make them again with more lemon rind.

That was fast!

The first cookie is baked!



Chocolate Chip Cookies on page 28
Sweet & delicious. Light & buttery texture.
Recipe made 20, even though it stated 12.

Items I need to buy in order to continue The Challenge:
parchment paper
golden caster sugar
self-rising flour

#19 on the life list (a.k.a. Cookie Challenge)

A while back I wrote about starting a life list. Back then I had only six items on my list, or perhaps only six that I was willing to share at the time. I'm up to nineteen items on my list now.

Number nineteen started brewing this past Sunday. I was having a wonky day. I dropped a thirty dollar cake in its box onto our living room floor and had a bit of a freak out over it. (The cake tasted fine that evening. It just didn't look as beautiful as it had in the store.) Anyway, after Hubby did his best at comforting me, making me laugh, and talking about how my freak out had very little to do with the cake face plant and more to do with other things, we decided to go to The Annex for a stroll.

I just love that stretch of Bloor St W! Music stores, book stores, clothing stores, furniture, food, and coffee all in one lovely five block strip. We went into BMV Books to poke around the shelves for kitchen design ideas. There's nothing like a little book store browsing to perk up my mood. Before diving in to the architecture and design books Hubby and I browsed the cookbooks. Hubby found this:



I love to bake! This book is like a gold mine for me! Since it was only nine dollars, it felt like an extra sweet deal. We bought it (along with two kitchen books).

I took a closer look at the book once I got it home. The first sixty-five pages is dedicated to discussion on ingredients, tools, technique, storage, and presentation.




The remaining 160 or so pages is recipes. Everything from fancy to savoury.




I was reading up on ingredients when our friend arrived for dinner on Sunday night. We started talking about the book, my love of all things related to baking, and it dawned on me that I could actually make every cookie in the book. Our friend pointed out that I'd better start an exercise program if I didn't want to gain 100 lbs in the process. That is an unfortunate side effect of having a sweet tooth and loving to bake.

After sleeping on the idea for a few nights, I've decided to take on my Cookie Challenge. I'm going to make every single cookie recipe in The Cookie Book - that's over 200 different cookies, according to the book. The Cookie Challenge is now number nineteen on the life list.

I do not think I will make the cookies in the order they are in the book. There's an entire kids' cookie section, so I'll have to work my way through those as occasions arise.

Train cookies:




Name cookies that could be used as place cards:




As a means to gather opinions on the cookies and avoid out growing my clothes, I shall share generously with co-workers, friends, and neighbours. One of my co-workers is already quite excited about this. Perhaps a little rating card will be developed to track my results.

The big question is: what cookie will be first?