Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!

Once upon a time a pale, freckled, redheaded girl moved to North Bay for school.  No, not Pippi Longstocking or Anne of Green Gables!  That scared girl was me!  I had enrolled myself in Nipissing University's sociology program, and moved myself and all my worldly possessions 4 hours away from my home to start on a new journey.  It wasn't as easy as I thought though, and I found myself skipping school more and more, and spending my time at home.  Here I baked often, cookies, cakes, you name it, I'd bake it!  I tried my hand at mini lasagnas, tiered cakes, and even fondant!  I baked and baked, and my roomies loved coming home to find me baking (or cleaning!).  Alas, when I transferred back home and moved back in with Mom and Dad, the baking came to an end.  In North Bay I'd dance around the kitchen blaring my music and singing at the top of my lungs, but back at home I couldn't  do that anymore, because my mom worked from home.  This also meant that while I was baking, and generally making a mess, Mom would often come down and begin rampaging through the kitchen making a fuss about the flour on the counters and floor, and the batter splattered on the walls.  Baking lost it's appeal with a mother breathing down my neck.

I know, that's a lot of writing, and no one asked for my life story, right?  There is a point to this, I swear!  The thing is, I could, at one point, bake!  And I was darn good at it!  Times have changed.  I may have lost my touch.  I baked 3 different kinds of cookies today, and I'm not as pleased as I wish I were!  Granted, I was always more of a cake person, but cookies still shouldn't be so hard for me!  Well, I'll fill you in on all my mistakes in due time.

Game plan!

First up, Banana Rainbow Chip Cookies.  These cookies caused the most problems, simply because of my own absentmindedness.  I forgot the eggs!!  As I rolled them into balls, and patted them into cookies, I thought that they didn't feel moist enough, but I had followed the instructions, so it must be right!  I had them in the oven for about ten minutes, and they still weren't looking like cookies, so I double checked what I had written down, and, sure enough, I had forgot to write down to add 2 eggs!  Despite what my mother suggested (which was to throw the whole batch out!) I decided to dump the slightly cooked cookies back into the bowl, along with the ones that hadn't been cooked yet, and put the two eggs in, mixed them up, and tried again.  It actually worked out alright!  I overcooked the second batch by a little bit though, I forgot that they needed to cool down a bit in order not to break apart...

Piggy Joe thinks the batter's quite tasty!

But it wasn't quite right - it wasn't nearly moist enough.  Oh ya! Eggs!

Crinkled cookies

Overcooked batch on the left, good batch on the right

Next, Cake Batter Pudding Cookies.  This recipe calls for yellow cake mix.  I don't know about you, but I have never seen yellow cake mix, and, to make matters worse, I forgot to write it down on my shopping list, so this morning I was running around town trying to find some!  First I went to Shoppers Drug Mart, where they only had white.  Then I went to BulkBarn, where, once again, they only had white.  Then I tried the Superstore, which was a feat in itself seeing as I try to avoid that place as much as possible due to the long lines and the fact that their debit machines are usually broken.  ANYWAYS,  ranting aside, I found golden cake mix, and assumed that that was the Canadian equivalent to yellow cake mix.  This recipe made quite a few!  Here they are all piled up.

Perfectly baked, slightly golden!

Last I tried my hand at these Strawberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This provided me with another Canadian obstacle though... I've never seen strawberry cake mix!  I wanted these cookies though, so I had to find a way to improvise, and I came up with the idea to mix a box of strawberry Jell-o with a box of white cake mix.  I had no idea how it would work, but I had high hopes.  Just think about the possibilities if this recipe works!  Grape cookies! Blueberry cookies!  Any Jell-o flavour could now be a cookie flavour!  And it worked!  It really did!  I'd probably add more white chocolate chips in the future, but the cookie itself turned out!  A word to the wise, though, these cookies expand like crazy!  They get huge!

I loved the color, the Jell-o really made for something special!  I wish

I had a little girl to bake for!

And then it expanded and they all stuck together!  They did come apart

after though, thankfully.

All in all, I was in the kitchen for a good couple hours but, really, there's nothing better than seeing people enjoying something that you put your blood, sweat, and tears into (well, your eggs, milk, and vegetable oil).

Alright, so I have an addiction to Piggy Joes.  And now you also

know that I can't make a good shaped cookie patty.

Cookie pile!

As a bonus I made some Rice Crispies, because, well, who doesn't love Rice Crispies?