Baking, Boys and Bread

Tonight Gage and I made some really wonderful oatmeal cookies. We started off by creaming the softened butter into the sugars and then changed the three cups of quick oats into 2 cups of quick oats and 1 cup of rolled oats. I've found this makes the cookies chewier...which is the way I like them~!

Gage had a blast discovering new things. He found out what happens when you add flour to the mixing bowl and then flick the switch all the way on :) That was interesting...and had me more than a little concerned that our cookies were going to end up botched. He tried to crack an egg himself, and didn't succeed this time but I'm sure next time he'll get it to break open...haha. His tentative taps on the counter were very adorable as he tried not to make a big mess and waste the egg. All in all, he is a great help in the kitchen when I bake, and even enjoys cleaning up afterwards.

So about these cookies! They are supposedly going to stay soft, even when they are cooled. So far, so good, but I'd like to see them in the morning. :) The recipe called for a greased cookie sheet...I can't remember the last time I had to grease a cookie sheet, but I did it and wasn't disappointed with the end result. I like that this recipe required the dough to chill for an hour, because I plan to mix them up before dinner next time and bake them after cleanup. The timing should be just about perfect!

My five minutes a day bread did not work. I was so frustrated with the first loaf--on the second day I couldnt' even bring myself to attempt baking a second one. I think I figured out where I went wrong. I used the exact times the recipe stated for allowing the dough to rise, and I think I should have let it go longer. The recipe in the magazine stated "allow the dough to rise until it flattens on top" the part I missed is that once it's in the fridge it should collapse on itself! Mine never did that! So the only logical answer I can see at this point is that it never made it to the point of rising that it was supposed to. However--I have no intention of letting this recipe beat me down--I will be remaking soon, this time allowing it to rise overnight.

I'm not sure about any copyrights on the oatmeal cookie recipe--so I'm going to double check that before I post it. (If you want it I'd be more than happy to email it to you.)

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. --Theodore Roosevelt