When its quiet and the chores are done and your boss has already left the building, what do you do? Head out out early, that’s what. 🙂 Now dont go thinking that I have “when the cats away…” attitude. I checked if it was ok first. But it means now that my weekend has started early. And it is a rare occasion that this particular weekend I have no plans whatsoever.
I think it might be the universe might be trying to tell me to slow down. The last two weeks have seemed to be alright but have gone by so slowly. Today was the same way. Since I really have no place to be and I’m not sleepy enough for an afternoon nap, I am going to make a batch of cookies. This the season for sweets and sweaters.
Sugar cookies are a favorite of mine of course because you can roll them out ant cut shapes, decorate and the dough is so tasty when you sneak a bit. The down side is that they take hours. Almost like you have to plan one day to make the dough, one day to cut and bake and a fun night of decorating. Today the extra Christmas fun decorating energy isn’t there for me but the sweet tooth is.
Cookie of choice today is Oatmeal Cranberry Walnut. Cranberry because it does come around this time of year and I am definitely a lover of nuts in cookies. The recipe is simple just add it all together in the right steps and bam!, you’ve got yumminess hot and fresh from the oven. I have the recipe in the link below but I have a few tips.
Oatmeal cookies are easy but I depending on your butter, rising agent and oven they could spread really thin or they can burn. So I have three steps I do to make sure I eat my cookies nice and chewy. One: I add about a 1/4 cup extra flour if the butter is softened or melted. It helps to adjust the spread of the cookie on the sheet. Two: I use a bit less of the baking powder or baking soda that make the cookies rise. If they rise or bubble too fast they can spread or burn from being uneven. And three: I always do one tester cookie before I scoop the whole batch onto the baking sheet. If the cookie stays true, meaning it cooked even and doesn’t spread all over the sheet, then I get to scooping. If not I add just a bit more flour and try gain.
I admit to not being a pastry chef. These are just my tips, not to be confused for Betty Crocker instructions. But I have mixed and baked plenty of batches that have turned a cookie into a cake as the spread from butter. And I have also had cookies that I have sold to friends that couldn’t get enough of them. So true if you dare.
Ooh ooh and I recommend listening to Christmas music or turning on a Hallmark Christmas Movie in the background so while you have cookies in the oven you are also entertained. Any Candice Cameron Bure movie works for me haha!
The Distracted Damsel 