Cookie Day

I meant to take this picture earlier but a swarm descended upon the cookies and, well, you see what happened.

Yesterday was cookie day in the office.  Cookie day? you may ask.  What is this magical event of which you speak?  Well, I am just so glad you asked, my friends.

I love baking, and while I also love eating baked goods, I don’t make it a habit of eating an entire batch of cookies in one sitting (usually).  I used to make cookies, only to have most of them eaten by my jerkatron neighbors, who would actually stand outside our door and smell if anyone was cooking, but now, I have found a much better outlet for my baking.  Coworkers!

I wrote in my introduction bio for my job that I looked forward to winning my coworkers over with my delicious baked goods, and everyone thought I was kidding but I never kid about such serious topics.  It’s hit the point where, if I don’t have cookies out on my desk Wednesday morning, the crowds start pestering me about where the baked goods are at.  And I’m like, guys, I’ve got THINGS TO DO and PEOPLE TO SEE and WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP EATING MY GOLDFISH NEIL they are multicolored and I don’t want to share.

Well, yesterday I was having Cheezits for lunch instead of goldfish and you best bet that there would be a smackdown before anyone touched my Cheezits so I figured I’d better make some cookies.  So I made two different kinds, those oatmeal raisin ones I made a couple of weeks ago and the classic chocolate chip which I churned out in about 20 minutes from start to clean-up with my Kitchenaid mixer, thankyouverymuch.

Here’s the thing, people.  This was a very special cookie day because it was actually the last cookie day ever.  You see, some THINGS have HAPPENED recently.  Tomorrow is my last day at my current job in media sales, and I will be starting a new position on Monday working in PR.  I’m so very excited to join the team at Cornerstone Communications, a boutique PR firm specializing in wine and food clients.  You can check them out at www.cornerstonepr.com!

Guys I just realized that like when you are typing on your Mac the writing will reflect in the toolbar on the bottom if it is close enough and how have I never noticed this that is SO COOL.

Back on track get it together Courtney: I’m really pumped to start this new job because it’s been my dream to have a full-time position in PR, and I love food and wine, but I am sad to leave the peeps over at my old place.  Them’s good people, for reals, and it’s going to be weird leaving.  Besides, it was my first real job post-grad, and it’s the only reason I was able to move back to Manhattan and get an apartment with a creepazoid from Craigslist (I’m just kidding Reece, I love you, even if you did leave a pot of water boiling on the stove for an hour just now <3<3<3) and I’ll always be grateful for that.  But I feel like this transition marks a period of new opportunities and change, and I am looking forward to seeing what lies ahead.

For the record, my coworkers say they’ll miss me too.  But I think it’s just because of the cookies.

Oh, and don’t worry.  I’m still staying on the dodgeball team, which was my first concern when I said that I was leaving.  Because I’m just so great at athletics (not) I really don’t think they would be able to survive without me.  Plus, I’m going to wear a bandanna.  See below.

Here’s to new opportunities, new transitions, and taking chances!

...AND COOKIE DAY!

Love,

Courtney

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies NomYum!

Today I was super exhausted at work for some reason, which couldn't have anything to do with the fact that I wanted to finish watching Project Runway and read a little bit before bed last night.  Since it was raining, I had to go grocery shopping, and I felt like I needed some time to relax, I decided to make dinner and do some baking.  I made chicken with mushroom sauce, as I once posted on my old cooking blog, which was a huge success since it was delicious and I now have at least two batches of leftovers.  Then it was time to make my first attempt at baking oatmeal raisin cookies.

I generally make cookies every Tuesday night to bring into work on Wednesday, but since I just have the loveliest of apartments, the water was out downstairs yesterday and I didn't know if it was going to go out upstairs too, so I decided not to risk it.  Needless to say, I was berated a bit at work today, but I'll show them ALL tomorrow by bringing in oatmeal raisin cookies and not sharing ANY of them.  Maybe a few.  NO, NONE!  Okay, all of them.  NEVER!  But then you'll have to go to the gym for hours and hours.  Yeah, you're right, that would really suck.  Might as well share.

So now that THAT'S out of the way...

Oatmeal raisin cookies have never really been my favorite since I'm such a chocolate fiend, but now that I like trying pretty much anything and everything, I've taken more a liking to them.  One of my coworkers made the request for these after two weeks of caramel-filled chocolate cookies and one week of chocolate chip.  And I believe there was a store-bought cake in there somewhere as well.  Clearly we can all see where I unload my baked goods onto unsuspecting victims.

All that talk is nice and good, but let's stop rambling, forget that we made plans to clean out the fridge, and get to baking!  I used a recipe from Smitten Kitchen because I really don't think you can go wrong there.

In a bowl, combine brown sugar, butter, an egg, and some vanilla.  I used bourbon vanilla because I'm fancy like that.  Also, it's all we had.  I like to play it by ear.  Cream all that stuff together and forget that your arm is sore because you did arm exercises two days in a row.

Normally I would tell you not to eat this and really be kidding to cover up the fact that I ate some of it but really don't eat it because there's a lot of raw egg in there, man.  Safety first.

Add in some salt...

...baking powder...

...and the cinnamon you just ran to the store to get because you forgot to get it earlier!

Also some flour please!  Mix it all up.

Does it look something like this?  Good job!  You're probably on the right track.

The recipe called for rolled oats, and then I got to the store and I was like, I have no idea what those are.  So I got regular oats.  I figured I probably couldn't go wrong...?

Add them in that there mixture, kids!  That's a lot of oats.  I hope you are not an anti-horse.

Because horses like oats so anti-horses would not like oats so... that's where that came from...

Please accept me.  Thank you.

Oh yeah, and some raisins!  Those are pretty important when you're making oatmeal raisin cookies.

So you mixed everything up without me even telling you to, right?  You're so smart.  Now your batter should look like this.  You're like a prodigy, I'll bet, aren't you??

After this the recipe says that we should chill the batter in the fridge.  But I say, why use a fridge when you can use...

...a freezer!  Go do some dishes or clean your kitchen or your fridge or something and stop being such a slob.  You're a girl.  You're supposed to be clean.  I am ashamed.

But don't worry!  Now your kitchen will be clean and I can forgive you.

Also, I have to remind you, I went grocery shopping today.  I froze seven packages of veggies, four turkey burgers, a package of cube steak, some chicken, and a serving of leftovers.  Please disregard how full my freezer is for only sharing it with one other person.  I appreciate that.

Let's try a different camera for this shot since I love my Droid 3, but the camera is always tinted blue.  Did you do all the things I told you to?  Good!  I'm proud of you.  Now you're ready to scoop out your dough.

If you're one of those kinds of people, you can make your oatmeal cookies into pretty little balls.  But if you're me, you can just scoop them into whatever lumpy shape you would like.  Mine were imperfect and a bit quirky.  JUST LIKE ME! 

The recipe says to line the baking sheets with parchment paper, but I just oiled them a tiny bit beforehand.  I wish that the batter had made more cookies just because I have many people fighting over them (it's acceptable to say if it's a fact!) but I suppose it wouldn't have been hard to double it.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  The bottom will be browning a bit, but the top will still be pretty light.  Like...

...this!  Nommm.

Better picture focus!  Double nommm.

COOKIE MONSTER SHADOW!!!

Hip edited cookie picture.  Must eat.

I'm not really sure that I'm the best person to review these cookies because I don't know what oatmeal raisin cookies typically taste like.  They were definitely oat-y and raisin-y.  I think next time I would probably increase the ratio of batter to oats and raisins just because I really love cookie batter and brown sugar, but they are very good.  I'll let you know what the reviews are tomorrow.

If you want the recipe, you can get it here at Smitten Kitchen.  But I'm going to have to warn you, you'll stay on the website forever.  Reece has already yelled at me for adding the Pioneer Woman to his Google reader when he was trying to trim it down, and this is one of those sites as well. 

Now I will go to bed an hour later than I planned to, just as happens every night.  Plus, I mean, I can't just leave this episode of Amazing Race unfinished.  They're ON THE MATTERHORN, for goodness sake!

Priorities.

Love,
Courtney

Lemon Meringue Pie Please?

Today I biked to the grocery store to get lemons to make a lemon meringue pie for my parents anniversary.  I biked.  With a backpack on my back.  I'm really cool.

But then I made the pie (and shrimp scampi!) and it was really good and I took some pikshures for you to see here.

LEZZ MAKE A PIE!!!

Start by combining four egg whites and a pinch of cream of tartar (save the egg yolks!).  Whip in your REALLY AWESOME YELLOW KITCHENAID STAND MIXER until they form soft peaks, then add in two tablespoons sugar.

Keep whipping until they form stiff peaks.  I almost just said hard peaks.  That would be incorrect.

You need a baked pie shell, so bake it if you have an unbaked one.  Unbaked + the oven = baked.  I got a 5 on my Calculus AP.

In a saucepan, throw in 1/3 cup cornstarch...

1 1/3 cups sugar...

1 1/2 cups water...

And a pinch of salt.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until boiling.

My hand looks really weird in this picture and I hate it.

While you're waiting for it to boil, you gotta zest some lemon.  I had a really difficult time at this part.  Is this what you use to zest a lemon?

I mangled this poor lemon.  I definitely didn't do this correctly.  Good thing I don't pretend to be perfect.

I even forgot to take a picture of the zest.  You need a tablespoon.  Imagine that here.

Next, you need 1/2 cup of lemon juice.  It took me 4 lemons, probably because I juiced them wrong.

This is what a half cup looks like, in case you were wondering.

Remember those egg yolks I told you to save?  This is why!  You're going to...

WHISK THEM!!  Good job.

Does your cornstarch/water/sugar mixture look goopy and gross now?  Good!  You're ready for the next step.  Remove that pan from that there heat!

Now, this part is very important... you need to temper the eggs.  Basically, you need to add the hot hot mixture to the eggs slowly so that you don't cook the eggs instantly.  Otherwise, you'd have scrambled eggs instead of a pie, and I really hate eggs.  Which is weird, I know, but they just gross me out.

So, as you are whisking the yolks, add the hot mixture into the eggs one ladle at a time, until at least half of the hot stuff is mixed in.

I added in pretty much all of the mix.  This is what it should look like if you did it right!

Now, pour the egg mix back into the saucepan and cook over low heat for another minute or two.  Then, remove from heat.

Add in three tablespoons of buttah...

...and the zest and juice.  I'm silly and knocked the zest into the juice while I was taking pictures.  Don't be like me.

Stir until completely combined!

Like this!  This tastes really good, but don't eat a lot of it because it has raw egg yolks, and while I've never gotten salmonella, it's just a little yucky.

Pour the yellow goo into the pie shell.

Nom!  Now comes the fun part.  Take your meringue (if it has fallen a little like mine did, whip it back into shape again!)...

...and if you like to be cool and creative and make more work for yourself you can put it in a bag, cut a hole in it, and pipe it on the pie.

It looks like packing peanuts!

Or a cloud.  No, mostly just packing peanuts.  Make sure the meringue covers all the filling, even to the edge, then pop it in the oven (375F for 10-14 minutes!).

And then it will look like this yummm!

Deliciouso.  Stick the pie in the fridge after a little while or else it will turn into soup like mine.  But it still tasted really good!

Ta-da!  You made a pie.  If you want the original recipe, you can find it on the Food Network site. 

So now I have a raging headache and I'm going to go to seeps seeing as I have to wake up tomorrow and unpack.  I have no clothes.  None.  My life is in the garage.  Ahhh!

It was really a pie not soup I swear,
Courtney

Bored Cupcakeing

Happy Easter, everyone!  I'm fairly confident I doubled my body weight through all the eating I did today, from french toast at Amy's to hors d'oeuvres to Easter dinner to delicious dessert, which I made and will be posting here shortly.  Our local fire department gets calls all the time to carry 400 pound people out of their houses because they can't do it themselves (I should know, my dad is the chief), so if they have to come lift a 250-pound Courtney out of here tomorrow, it's really quite a break for them, I think.

Since I forgot my camera card importer at school, I can't post my french silk pie step-by-step, so I figured we could make some cupcakes instead.  I got bored a couple of weeks ago and decided to bake, and I had all of the ingredients for this recipe in my apartment, thus, it was meant to be.  Plus, cupcakes are the best.  Duh.

My KitchenAid mixer made a guest appearance for this baking expedition, so I shall give credit where credit is due.

Let's get started, shall we?

Start by creaming together a cup of sugar and a stick (half-cup) of butter in your mixer, or whatever other inferior piece of equipment you may have on hand.

If you eat some of this, I support that decision.  Just don't eat it all.  No mixture = no cupcakes.

Then violently crack two eggs...

...and add them into the butter/sugar mixture.  If you're taking pictures for your blog, do this slowly, because you don't really get a second shot at this.  Well, actually, you're cracking two eggs... so you actually do get another shot.

Sorry I lied to you.

Next comes two teaspoons of vanilla extract...

...one and three-quarters cups of baking powder...

...and one and a half cups of flour.  If you're using a mixer, be careful.  Flour loves to go everywhere.  I learned this the hard way.

Clearly, I'm not the neatest baker.  It makes it taste better.  I swear.

At this point, the batter is rather thick.  Oh yeah, and it's also freaking delicious.  Be careful.  This step is not for those without self control.

Oh wait, that would be me.

Then, stir in a half-cup of milk until the batter is smooth...

...like this!!

Or like this!!  I don't really know what the difference is between these two pictures.  That's what happens when I wait two weeks between taking the pictures and posting them.

Bake the batter in cupcake pans for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Again, I don't remember how long they actually took because I waited too long.  I keep failing you.  Disappointment reigns.

I mean, but not that much.  I'm not worried about it.  Don't worry about it.  It's cool.

I took a lot of pictures for this recipe, so I'm making you wait on baited breath (she said sarcastically) until tomorrow for the frosting nom recipe.  All I can say is that it's chocolate, it's delicious, and it's served warm.  Cake gods help me now.

Here's the recipe again that I used for the cupcakes - it's a little bit heavier, like a corn muffin: Simple White Cake Recipe.

Now I must return to my eventful night of fitting all of my shopping, painting supplies, and leftovers into my tiny suitcase to take back tomorrow while watching the first Royal Wedding Week special on TLC.  This week is going to be very unproductive for me.

Love and cupcakes,
Courtney