slow start but NBD

I'm piddling away time this morning but that's really the big bene of retirement. I don't have a lot on the calendar. I'm not going anywhere today. I might do laundry. There's a baseball game tonight. And there will be cookies. But, all in good time.

It's hot/cold. The air outside is cool but inside is still warm from yesterday. The sun is out and that's complicating matters. They promised us a cloudy morning and lied. They are promising rain tomorrow and Sunday. I'm not holding my breath.

I finished ClickBait (Netflix) last night and then proceeded to dream about it. It was really one of the most excellent things I've seen in awhile. All the actors were new to me except one and I looked them all up to see what else they were in and turns out, not a whole lot. Interesting.

I woke up a couple of times last night with a hurt finger. This is the second time that has happened and I don't even remember if it was the same finger or even the same hand! For the record, last night was the middle finger on my left hand. It feels a little stiff this morning but not hurty. Weird.

I made new cookie dough yesterday and today I'm going to roll it out and bake it. I was going to make this next batch thinner but after more extensive taste testing, I think I prefer the thick ones. The good news about baking for me is a very simple feedback loop and decision making process!

Plus I need to do more storage testing.

I also think I'm going to try some piping today. I'm not too concerned about how they look for me, but what if I wanted to give some away? And piping is a skill I should have anyway. Just in case.

Lab Report

Several lessons learned in the cookie lab today.

Lesson One: Rolling

Rolling the dough out between two sheets of waxed paper is a fail for me. It stuck to the paper so dearly, I thought I was going to have to invent a new cookie - waxed paper delight.

Trying to free it made a mess. Then I went back direct roller to dough and did not use enough flour and the dough wanted to mary the roller! Geesh. Another mess.

Finally I got mat, dough, waxed paper, roller and that worked perfectly. Good, messy, lesson that one.

So I cut out what I had rolled and cleaned everything up. I had enough for the next tests anyway.

Lesson two: thickness

Turns out, after the thick batch, I moved the spacers on the roller and forgot so today's batch was thinner and I liked it better! Ok.

Lesson three: piping

Using the little tips and nozzles is an unnecessary PIA. I got too much on most and weird on the rest. Next time I'm just cutting the top of the bag or the corner of a zip lock. That will work fine.

Lesson four: storage

I'm going to wait until the icing has set nicely. It's been an hour and it kind of looks like it will be three or four. Then I'll close up the lids until tomorrow.

Personally, I'm voting for the ceramic cookie jar.



OHHHHH UPS just brought my new cookie sheets and they are AMAZING and fit perfectly in the Ninja! I was sure they wouldn't work and they were more than I wanted to spend so I figured, I'd try them and send them back. Ooops. Totally worth the $$ They are nice and heavy. Serious pans. Their maiden voyage will likely be tomorrow.