This is how molasses cookies are supposed to look.
My daughter and I made molasses cookies or should I say we tried to make molasses cookies, the other day. We were working on them together and were enjoying making them. We were even playing around a little. We were having fun, but not paying attention.
When I took the first batch of cookies out of the the oven they did not look like the picture above. They had run all over the pan and were not getting done. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. My daughter and I looked over the recipe and realized that we had left something out. That something was baking soda. A very important ingredient.
This is one of the problems with cooking with kids or with one or more people working on the same dish. You think they put something in, and they think you did. In the end it never gets put in.
We ate the cookies. They were not great, but they were edible. We did have a fun afternoon and I am glad we made them. But my tip is pay attention when cooking with kids.
It is easy to get distracted and forget something. It is really important when cooking with kids that you check over the recipe with the kid/kids that are helping to make sure that all the ingredients got put in. This will insure much better results.
This reminds me of the first time my dd tried making cookies on her own The recipe called for 1 1/4 cups of flour and she thought it meant one 1/4 cup.
This was emailed to me.
Yours is one of the sites that for some reason won’t let me comment – I can fill one in, but when it asks for visual verification, all I can see is the phrase “visual verification.” Needless to say, I can’t fill in the box in an appropriate way, so my comment doesn’t post. So here’s what I wanted to say:
My big problem is cutting a recipe in half and forgetting to halve *all* the ingredients. I recently made some bread that included wild rice and onions. Every ingredient was dutifully cut in half – except the onions. It was tasty, if rather strong, but not what was called for or expected. Good enough to try again with the *right* amount of everything, anyway.
Leaving things out is where the concept of mis-en-place comes in handy. Have everything you’re using set out in advance (in small bowls on plates if you’ve got ’em). Put the ingredient away (or dump the bowl in the sink) when you finish with each one. Then when you’re ready to finish up and bake you can see if everything has been mixed in. It also saves trying to measure something out when your hands are doughy or sticky or whatever.
And I’m with you about loving to know the science behind the recipes. And I have four different editions of Joy of Cooking. It’s fun to see how different they are from each other. And certainly handy to have when you are gifted with an undrawn and unplucked pheasant!
Sandra
Hehe, this reminds me of my last batch of Peanut Butter cookies — it took me a day to figure out why the batch of batter was so crumbly… I only discovered the problem the next evening when I opened the microwave, and discovered 3/4 cup of butter that I was softening. 😀
The experience definitely makes up for the cookies! 😀 My children love to get in the kitchen and help or make it themselves. I have them cooking dinner now on Saturday nights for us. I try to stay out of the kitchen as much as possible. LOL! It is hard though! LOL!