no bake fail.

Here I was, just thinking that I had nothing very interesting to blog about... and then, poof! I had a baking adventure.

Well, it might be better called a "no bake" adventure.

Things started off well, with two pretty rhubarb pies, made from freshly picked rhubarb from our backyard. Then I thought I might make some no-bake cookies for the hubby to enjoy while I'm teaching again this week.

I pulled out my trusty recipe from Sarah, who shared this with me on a day that I was rather in need of chocolate. Here's her recipe:

1 and 3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. butter
4 T. cocoa (unsweetened)
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 c. quick oats
1 t. vanilla

And here's the way you're supposed to combine the ingredients:
1. sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa go in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. boil 1-2 minutes
3. remove from heat and add vanilla
4. whisk in peanut butter
5. stir in oats
6. drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or foil. eat all of them. share with a friend. absolutely delicious cookies.

Being the avid recipe reader that I am, I did this instead:
1. dump all ingredients except oats and vanilla into the saucepan, using shortening instead of butter and crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth.
2. realize that you aren't supposed to boil peanut butter, and that you've created a burning cauldron of black lava.
3. add vanilla anyway, and watch it cause a big boiling, splashing mess.
4. dump in the oats, because you don't care anymore
5. drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper or foil. taste.

Hmmm. Despite all the errors, they still taste...not terrible. Well, if you like toasted marshmallow taste. With chocolate. And peanut chunks. And blackened saucepot.

I shall now re-name the recipe that I have (inadvertently) created:

Blackened S'more Cookies!

I washed the pot, but it's a lost cause. It (along with the "cookies") has found a new home in the garbage can. *tears.

There are no pictures of this escapade.

However, I did take pictures of the rhubarb pie and of the centerpiece I put together for last night's movie with friends.


The centerpiece is made of little flowers from my yard and the side of the road (also known as weeds), and of two lilac-scented candles. The china plate belonged to my great-grandma, Alice. Pretty.

chocolate chip cookies!

Warm, cozy comfort food for a way-below-freezing Saturday night? Sounds amazing.

So I pulled out the Ghirardelli chips. 80% cacao. Mmmmmmmm.

I first compared the G recipe to the Nestle version (my personal favorite), and found that there are very slight differences. I proceeded to use the G recipe, measuring the flour and baking powder - no, soda - into the small mixing bowl. Check. Find salt. Added salt. Done.

Sugars - 3/4 cup of each. I pulled out the white sugar, measured, and dumped....

...into the small bowl of dry ingredients. Problem! For those of you who don't know this cookie recipe by heart: it says to put the flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl and sift together, and then to cream the sugars in butter in a separate, larger bowl. Once those are mixed, you add the eggs, vanilla, and very last, the flour mixture.

A mini panic session ensued for this type-A wifey. What do I do? I haven't ever screwed up the chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I've been doing this since I was 10. I can't unmix these, since I'm no chemist. I don't have a sifter. I think I'm gonna cry.

But I have a solution.

The flour/salt/powder/sugar mixture went straight into the big bowl. Added vanilla, eggs, shortening and water (in place of butter). Turned on the mixer. Poof! Dough.

Things were going well. I scraped down the sides of the bowl. And then all of a sudden, the evil dough climbed all the way up the beaters and almost reached the top of the mixer! Darn.

I ended up having to mix the rest of the dough by hand, but that's alright. It's good exercise.

I added the chocolate chips (the ENTIRE bag, thank you) and a handful of walnuts. It doesn't look half bad!

In fact, they look pretty normal. What were the recipe writers thinking? This is actually easier in some ways.

So I figured I would go ahead and bake them. No problems, just a slight cookie casualty as I was putting it on the cooling rack. That's a taste test cookie. :o) Alright! It tastes alright!

Success.

So I took a stack of these over to my hubby, who was waiting in great anticipation of these fail-cookies (which were rather successful, I think). I set the cookies down for him, and reached up to touch my hair.

It was then that I realized that I have melted chocolate on my fingers. And in my hair. Seriously?

But the cookies are delicious. Am I overtired? Has it been a draining week? Perhaps, yes.

Definitely yes. But I'm still laughing!