I'm officially an ICBC!

E

evan

Well-known member
As in, "I Can't Bake Cookies"!!

I have tried everything:

I have softened butter, melted butter, put the dough in the fridge, I have watched the cookies in the oven like a mother would watch her newborn and I STILL CAN'T GET THEM RIGHT!

I either get flarn, or bricks.

No in between. No "soft in the middle" cookies. The last time I tried that, my chocolate chips didn't even melt!

I'm so bad at making cookies it's almost funny!

And, as for those fool proof recipes, they don't fool me!

I managed to make Mimis pumpkin cookies, but they are more like cake.

I love those chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal cookies that you buy in bakeries. I'd love to be able to make cookies like these one day but after today (my whole weat chocolate chip cookies came out like one giat flarn this afternoon and my poor Boy Friend have been eating them like a true trooper just to save my self esteem) I'm at my wits end.

Maybe I should just face the fact that I'm an ICBD!

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Thanks for letting me vent. I just needed to get it out. Please return to your regular sceduled program.

 
I've done both. I usually don't mix it for very long - only just till everything is mixed together.

 
Hey Eva, do you have a good oven thermometer and have you checked your oven's accuracy lately?

 
Meryl, I have two ovens. They are both new so I haven't checked their accuracy

but everything else I make comes out just fine. Breads, scones, cakes, meat, fish and baked vegetables all come out great.
I'm afraid the oven is not to blame here. I think it's me smileys/frown.gif

 
No, No, No, I refuse to believe it's you. How many cookie recipes have you actually tried? Maybe you

need to try a few more before you officially call yourself an ICBC! I have a foolproof chocolate chip cookie recipe and several others I can recommend.

 
Aieeee! Well, it sounds like me and custards - I'm custard-impaired. Another question: what type of

cookie sheets do you use? Are they shiny or dark/nonstick?

 
OK here's another fool-proof recipe REC: Anise-Scented Fig & Date Swirls...

ANISE-SCENTED FIG AND DATE SWIRLS

Serving Size : 36

1 cup dried figs -- packed, solft, stemmed and coarsely chopped (8 ounces)
1 cup pitted dates -- packed, trimmed and coarsely chopped (7 ounces)
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup granulated sugar -- plus
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons anise seeds -- ground in an electric coffee/spice grinder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter -- (1/2 cup) softened
4 ounces cream cheese -- at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup granulated raw sugar -- such as turbinado or Demerara

Purée figs and dates with water and 2 tablespoons granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until almost smooth.
Whisk together flour, anise, baking powder and soda, and salt in a bowl. Beat together butter, cream cheese, and remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at moderate speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla and yolk until combined well. Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.

Halve dough and form each half into a rectangle. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 1 hour.

Roll out 1 piece of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper into a 9- by 7-inch rectangle, about 1/3 inch thick. Remove top sheet of wax paper and drop half of fig mixture by spoonfuls onto dough, then gently spread in an even layer, leaving a 1/4-inch border around edges. Starting with a long side and using wax paper as an aid, roll up dough jelly-roll style into a log. Roll log in raw sugar to coat completely. Make another log in same manner. Chill logs, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cut logs crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices and arrange slices about 2 inches apart on lightly buttered baking sheets. Bake in batches in middle of oven until pale golden, 15 to 17 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool.


NOTES : • Logs can be chilled up to 3 days.
• Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax or parchment paper in an airtight container at room temperature, 1 week.

You might be tempted to bake 2 sheets of cookies at a time in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Don't give in to this urge — the cookies must go in the middle of the oven to cook through and brown evenly.

 
Charlie, don't tempt me smileys/bigsmile.gif

Ok, I am tempted. I love figs and I love, love, love anise!
But I need to go to the store first as I have neither of these ingredients in my house right now.

 
I love those tastes. We sometimes get dried figs packed with anise or fennel seeds. I especially..

like these cookies because you can bake some and freeze some.

I don't like to make cookies that have to be rolled out and cut with a cookie cutter, but these are easy. They don't spread much, so you don't have to worry about that, and the cream cheese makes them light yet crispy.

Have you tried your hand at biscotti? They make so many cookies per batch and are almost indestructable.

 
EvaN, the pumpkin cookies are supposed to be of a cake-like consistency...

so you got those right! :eek:)

Keep plugging away. I can't make a decent gravy to save my life. Dunno what it is, just can't do it. Pie crust neither.

 
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