Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Baking Cookies with Ben

Ben always wants "a kitchen job."  He is a good kitchen buddy - compliant, pleasant, and easily entranced.  Today he wanted to help with the bread after breakfast, but we both forgot.  He kept at me and it was so cold outside that I said we could bake cookies.  So we started on Oatmeal Chip Cookies from Mennonite Country-Style (oatmeal, choc chips, and coconut).

He put the measuring cup on the cabinet pull.
 
 
Then I realized that I was embarking on a recipe that made 7 dozen cookies and there were rusks and a full 9x13 apple cake in the house already. That is a lot of sweets for a family where the adults are nominal sweets-eaters.
 

Fortunately, Rebecca advised me that I was simply thinking ahead (riiiiiiight) by freezing little lumps of cookie dough to bake later when the house was shorn of sweets.

 
 
 
I think the idea is to plop the frozen lumps of dough onto a cookie sheet, bang them into a hot oven, and bake for the required time plus a few extra minutes (right?).


That reminds me:  I need to do a post on how I experimented over Christmas with freezing yeasted goods to bake later.
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11 comments:

  1. Jennifer JoJanuary 23, 2013 at 9:33 PM

    Oooo, I want to hear how the yeast breads turned out.

    I love the way you talk---your word choices are so charming.

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  2. JulianJanuary 23, 2013 at 9:57 PM

    Lovely cookies! Look at that smile from Ben. Bet it was all worth it!
    Christina

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2013 at 10:00 PM

    Oh those cookies look delicious! Freezing the cookies for later use is a wonderful idea indeed :)

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  4. MarciaJanuary 23, 2013 at 10:38 PM

    What a cute smile from a helpful little boy :-)

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  5. AlicaJanuary 24, 2013 at 6:08 AM

    Hmmm...or you could make some neighbors really happy with a plate of cookies! :)

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  6. MargoJanuary 24, 2013 at 9:12 AM

    Alica, that's a more generous thought!

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  7. Sew Blessed Maw [Judy]January 24, 2013 at 11:00 AM

    Ben is adorable.. And he looks like the best cooking partner.. And just waiting for the warm cookies to come out of the oven, is the best time!!!
    Since it is just Kenny and me at home, [if I'm not expecting the grandkids],I always freeze my cookie dough.. I will cook 5 or 6 at a time.. Works great..

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  8. jenny_oJanuary 24, 2013 at 7:17 PM

    What sweet pictures of your son! Do you suppose he will carry on his interest into the future? As a three-year-old, my daughter loved to knead bread, stir batter, anything - and she is still a baker now at age 26 ...

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  9. jenny_oJanuary 24, 2013 at 7:19 PM

    ... by which I mean she likes to bake, NOT that she's employed as a baker, although I can certainly think of worse jobs :)

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  10. PollyJanuary 26, 2013 at 12:52 AM

    He is so cute!!

    I have frozen the unbaked dough--my husband likes 'freshly baked cookies' but I don't want to whip up a batch all the time (seriously bad for the waistline). I can pull out a few and bake them in the toaster oven (or the real oven)...works fine! (I let them thaw first.)

    It's always good to have some cookies stashed away in the freezer!

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  11. MargoJanuary 26, 2013 at 9:36 PM

    Polly, thank you!

    I tried out my frozen cookie dough tonight with guests. I just put the frozen balls on a cookie sheet while the oven heated. Baked them a few minutes longer than usual = perfect. Awesome.

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