Deanna's recipe for baking cookies

[dr4b]

1. Take out three sticks of butter. Place on counter.

2. Play DDR for half an hour while butter is warming up to room temperature.

3. Dump flour, baking powder, salt etc in a bowl. Stir.

4. Go look for electric mixer. Swear a lot. Find electric mixer.

5. Beat the butter and sugar to a pulp.

6. Add other stuff to the mixture. Mix more.

7. Put whole bowl of crap in fridge. Play DDR for another hour while waiting for mixture to chill.

8. Wash off sweaty arms and hands. Roll dough out on board. Use cookie cutters obtained at Ralph and Lori's wedding last year to cut lots of cookies. Bake cookies.

9. Take shower to remove outer layer of DDR sweat and cookie dough and flour.

10. Whee! Cookies!

11. Decorate cookies OR play more DDR.

12. Find people to foist your cookies on after realizing you can't eat seven dozen of them.


Fortunately, I am still at stage 2 of this 12-step plan. But I think it will work out okay.

Updated, 3:45pm: Now I am at stage 7, waiting for the dough to cool. I realized there are some other steps in there: 3a. clean flour and junk off counter. 6a. clean flour and junk off counter. 6b. swear more when you realize the mixer smells like burning metal and you still don't think the dough is mixed well enough.

i think 6c. will be "go to geagle and look for stuff to decorate cookies with", as I just took a shower anyway.

Comments

[alegria-a.livejournal.com]

I want cookies! :)

Though you can also just microwave the butter to melt it, that's what I do - it's easier to mix in that way too.

[blk]

The problem with that is that you really want the butter soft, not actually melted. There's a difference in baking between soft melted butter and liquid melted butter; it separates out and loses all consistency and doesn't do the right thing in some recipes. And when you microwave, there's an incredibly fine line between soft and melted, and it's one you can't reverse. So sitting out is safer if you want "proper" consistency in your cookies. :)

[alegria-a.livejournal.com]

There's a difference in soft vs melted butter? That seems odd to me, but okay. I've never noticed any difference in my cookies between making them with soft or melted butter, but perhaps the Tollhouse recipe is especially forgiving. :)

What sorts of things happen if you use liquid butter instead of soft butter? And of course, I only use real sweet cream salted butter, not some fake margarine crap.

[blk]

Yeah, I'm not actually sure on the physics and chemistry of it all, but when butter clarifies (separates out into liquid and cream), it doesn't recombine well, and behaves different when it is baked. A lot of baking recipes (like cookies) depend on the fat melting as it cooks to give the food the right texture. So the taste probably won't change, but the shape and consistency probably will. I guess it depends how picky you are.

[ssaiscps.livejournal.com]

well, butter cools pretty quickly, so sometimes i throw it in the microwave until it is half melted, then stir it around a bit to make it an even consistency, then let it cool a little bit. seems to work ok. must faster for an impatient person such as myself.

i think there is also something with the butter about how you don't want it to be too hot or it will cook the eggs a bit. well, that's always what my mom told me.