So a combination of factors resulted in this uber baking/cookie day for me (and Jeremy):

  • I needed to bake cookies to bring in to my office building’s holiday cookie exchange on Tuesday
  • I had decided earlier in the weekend (after watching Bravo’s Chef Academy where that episode they focused on baking bread) that I wanted to try making bread
  • Saws a tasty looking cookie recipe in December’s Martha Stewart Everyday that I wanted to try
  • and after all that  baking, needed a quick dinner that could provide some leftovers for lunch for the week

So the baking began around 1 and we finished around 7. The bread probably took the longest overall (3 rising periods plus oven time, per the “French-Style Country Bread” recipe from King Arthur Flour) but the results were very tasty. Jeremy made the dough and then split it in half, I supplemented “my half” with chopped rosemary and kosher salt on top and we both sat on the kitchen floor staring through the oven window watching the bread rise for at least half the time it was in the oven, we are such cooking geeks.

The cream-cheese cookies with jam (on the cover of December’s Martha Stewart Everyday, couldn’t find the recipe, pretty close one found on recipezaar) were the most difficult of the projects. I had a heck of a time getting the dough to the right thickness without it warming up too much, in which case it would stick to the counter, or being too cold, in which case it would crack when i tried to form the cookies. It was at this point I also realized I don’t have a rolling pin, so I used an old Illy coffee can, worked pretty well actually but think I will pick up a rolling pin the next time I’m in a store that carries one. I searched the fridge for all the jams I had and ended up with strawberry-rhubarb, blackberry-raspberry, and peach jams and apple butter. Since the cookies were being difficult when I was forming the little cups to hold the jam they ended up opening up while they were in the oven, resulting in a bit of a jam spill. So theend results weren’t the prettiest thing ever, but they were really tasty, so now it’s a challenge for next time to get them to look as good as they taste.

The peanut butter blossoms (standard recipe off the back of the Hershey Kiss bag) were not nearly as feisty, I think I left them in the oven a bit too long as they are a bit drier/crunchier than when my mom makes them but aside from that they turned out well.

In between baking the cream cheese and jam cookies and the bread we tossed together a fritatta from the contents of my freezer (chicken sausage, peas and broccoli) and the remaining eggs I’d bought for all the baking. It looked good coming out of the oven but boy was it stuck to the pan and the resulting attempt to flip the pan onto the plate resulted in a bit of a fritatta fail but Jeremy pieced it back together and it was very tasty regardless.

And thus ends the cooking adventures for today, and the lesson? Things frequently can taste way better than they look 😉