Confessions of a Pop Fan

Sunday, December 23, 2007

YOU MAY BE A LOVER BUT YOU AIN'T NO BAKER, part iii

Hubris? Check!

Naivete! Check!

Self-delusion! In spades!

Here I thought ginger snaps would be a breeze. I've made cookies tons of time. Cookies are easy. You've got this, Rich. Don't sweat it.

DISASTER!

Okay, not disaster. I'm exaggerating. I did screw up, though. I had mixed my dry ingredients and was starting to add the wet ingredients, the final stage, when I realized the two tablespoons of molasses I had just added were really two tablespoons of vanilla. Ooops. Look at that bottle you grab, you doofus!

I tried to scoop out the offending clumps of dough and replace them with guestimates of the other ingredients, but then I decided it was better to scrap it and start over.

This is mainly a mixing game. Put together dry goods in one bowl, sugar and butter in another, and then start throwing in the eggs and the molasses and put it all together. Because of the gluten-free element, the recipe called for two types of flour--both soya and potato. I'm curious as to what difference that makes. Maybe gets closer in consistency to wheat flower? (For those of you who don't know, flour is probably the most common source of gluten. Think about that, for a second. Flour. It's in everything! So, it's a tough allergy to have.)

Second mixing went fine. I messed up the order a little, and put the flour in with the butter and sugar before the egg and molasses, but I am not sure it made a difference. I'm actually tempted to go and buy some more sugar and make a second batch just to see. I'm on the third and last pan, though, and I've sampled one from the first batch and it actually tasted good. Not spectacular, but good.

The caramel seems to be drying ever so slowly. I wonder if it is weather sensitive like the divinity? [Edit: It is!] As an experiment, I cut a small corner out, and though it stuck for a little while, it eventually filled back in. It's still almost all cinnamon, too. Not a success, that one.