6.11.2012

Half-baked

We've been baking a lot of cookies lately.  My daughter mails them to friends, and recently, we mailed a box of goodies to a young man in Afghanistan.  After his batch was in the mail, I found these in the oven.


Twenty-four hours after I'd "finished" the cookies and turned the oven off.

I'm blank on what I did, or how this happened.  They're not burned, so I must have put the last balls of dough on the sheet, slid them in the oven...and then turned the oven off.   Why I would do this is beyond me.   If fact, when I first found them, I thought, "who's been baking cookies?"  Because, it was a day later.

I pulled out some cookies from the batch I baked the day before and laid them next to this unbaked - I think, just dried out - batch.

The normal ones look too dark in comparison.   

The oven-dried ones were very crispy, and we ate them anyway, because no cookie goes to waste in this household.  We decided we prefer baked cookies over oven-dried, in case you were considering this method in your own oven. 

I can't figure out what I was thinking when I did this.   I must have been side-tracked by some of the odd little produce we've been getting from our garden. 

This little guy is a double baby carrot.  He looks like a jester cap. 

This is the rest of his family. 

The two in the middle look like they're pulling their knees up to stretch out their backs.  If they weren't so top heavy, I think they'd sit up on the counter ledge.  

In non-oddball food news, we have tomatoes!  


And a new baby butternut squash!  

I'm not showing pictures of him, because I want to protect him.  The last batch of squash were eaten by a pickleworm (from here on called, "he who will not be named.")  I don't want to jinx it. 

In sweet-tooth news, we've been enjoying the efforts of our daughter, who took a cake decorating class in May.  




The only downside to having these delectable homework projects around was that the required icing for class was made with shortening, instead of butter.   It had to be dry as well, to hold up to all the piping.   It looked beautiful, but wasn't tasty.  

So when we ate a cupcake, we scraped the icing into the trash first.   

The Food Channel would be appalled by what goes on in the Ballpark kitchen.  


14 comments:

The Poet said...

Hello.
Visiting from the Post A-Z Road Trip.

would eat those oven-dried cookies...they look good to me! LOL Nice post. Thanks for sharing.

Thoughts Of Beauty In The Stillness Of Dawn...

Mari said...

Your daughters cakes look good. Great job on those flowers!
The cookie episode had me laughing out loud. My husband and daughter were in the room with me, so I had to tell them of your adventure too. Thanks for the laugh from all three of us!

Tracy said...

Hah, that is funny about the cookies...never have done that before! or even heard of anyone doing it :) I think your daughter is well on her way to being an impressive cake decorator! Good for her :)It's probably a good thing the icing isn't tasty...or I'd be eating it ALL!

Farida said...

Many things are indeed happening in your kitchen! I am amused at the sight of the carrots. More so, it must be great to have a household who bakes well like all of you do! Imagine the scent in the kitchen...hmmmm... and the baked goodies after!

I am a new follower. I hope to get to know you better as I come back for more of your posts. God bless!

Dana said...

Those carrots are hilarious! I remember ones like that from my parents' garden back when I was a kid.

I also would have eaten the cookies. :)

(I checked my email again and still don't see your message. Strange...)

betty said...

Too cute with the carrots!! At least the oven was turned off with those cookies being there overnight! We took a cake decorating class years ago; it was so much fun but you are right, the icing you work with is definitely not the best tasting!

betty

Melanie said...

You are killing me with the sweets! I would give up a pinkie right now for a pan of chocolate chip cookies. It's one of the things I dream of.

You say "jester cap"? I thought the carrot resembled the bottom half of a fetus. But I'm weird like that.

On your strange carrots, I wonder if you are watering them long enough and getting the water far enough into the soil so that they stretch down to get at the water. I heard recently to water in heavy doses less frequently because it makes the roots go down deeper in search of the water, whereas if you do a light watering, they will try to stay at the top to get the water. I don't know if this applies to carrots, but I wonder. I am no plant expert, so this is completely random information.

Lynn Proctor said...

hmmmm those cookies and other treats are tempting me!!! love those veggies!

Rita said...

That's so funny about the cookies! You'll remember that one for a long time...and giggle every time. ;)

Those carrots look like they hit a rock and were trying to make their way around it. They'll still taste good--just be harder to peel. The tomatoes are looking good.

Why would they have her use frosting that tastes yucky? Then when they go to use yummy frosting it won't behave the same way. Seems strange.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!! :):)

Kenya G. Johnson said...

Your tomatoes already look delicious. I love summer tomatoes. Now those carrots - LOL - poor carrots. That's interesting what happened with the cookies. I follow a recipe down to the science on some oatmeal raisin cookies that says to place them on a cooling rack after one minute. I forgot one time and left them on the cookie sheet ( a minute is too long to stand still and wait). We discovered that we liked them better like that. They just cooked more had a little crunch. For mailing purposes (which I do also), it is better to "follow instructions". Those cookies look delicious. I don't think I could wait a whole day for them to be just right though ;-)

Jo-Anne's Ramblings said...

I liked that you ate the biscuits anyway......lol Would I maybe if they where Anzac biscuits......lol
The carrots look like what grows here odd looking little things.....
the tomatoes look good though not that I eat tomatoes but hubby does and he grows his own too.......

Juli said...

I smiled at the carrots. Last year when we pulled ours, we had had to document what each one looked like. My favorite was the two headed alien. :)

Chatty Crone said...

Those carrots are a hoot. Your daughter did a fabulous design. And did you figure out the cookie mystery yet? lol sandie

Dawn M. Hamsher said...

Love the carrots, especially the ones with bent knees.