Let's Go Out To The Kitchen

When I was 8 years old, new to the Americas, I saw this commercial on television and got hooked singing the song "Let's go out to the kitchen..."  I remember being thin and getting criticized for it.  Adults kept telling me to eat because I looked anorexic.  As a young impressionable kid who sought love and approval, I made myself eat even though I didn't want to.  Then I gained the weight and was still criticized for being chunky - by then the damage was done - I couldn't get out of the kitchen.  ha ha!  So I stayed to this day.  :-D

In essence, I love the kitchen and all the cool stuff that can be created there.  It's not only a form of art, but a party for my taste buds.  One of the most satisfying things in the world is to taste a variety of impeccable foods.  Even to travel and dare to risk eating street vendor foods with optimistic caution is exciting.  Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to travel to do so - then blog about it.

Saw this helpful little snippet on pinterest about finding your mistakes into baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie from the website itself.  It's very useful and good for someone who loves to bake cookies such as myself:

PROBLEMS

From the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

 There are many variables in baking.  Pictured are cookies with various problems using the same dough (with flour adjustments in numbers 3 &4).

1. This cookie is done just right. It is pictured to compare with the rest.
2. This dough was not refrigerated.  It is still good but a little flatter than it should be.
3. This dough contained too much flour and did not spread much at all. It is interesting to note that the dough looked identical to the correct dough, but was much stiffer and drier.
4. This dough had too little flour.  It spread too much and didn’t bake evenly.
5. This dough was over-mixed.  It had a poor color, baked flat and had a strange consistency. 
6. This dough was formed too small.  It was overcooked at eight minutes. It is fine to make smaller cookies, just bake them for less time.
7. This dough was formed too large.  The outsides were done while the middle was too high and underdone.
8. This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too hot.  The outside was overdone and the inside was slightly underdone.
9. This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too cool.  It fell flat and became too crisp without much of an inside.
10. This dough was frozen when baked.  It took longer to bake and didn't cook as evenly.  To use frozen dough, set on cookie sheet at room temperature while oven is preheating, 15-20 minutes.  It takes the frost off and bakes perfectly.

Check out the website, it's pretty awesome - and don't forget to follow me on pinterest.