Breakfast (somewhat later than usual, after driving my daughter to school because her bus mysteriously didn't show up this morning): leftover red lentils, ambasha bread with butter, crystallized ginger.
After breakfast I start the dough for Jennifer Reese's homemade "Oreos." It is not actually as hard as she makes it sound, although I'm glad she warned that the batter, at first, "will look like a mistake-- a tacky, fudgy brown mess. Don't worry. Let it rest for 20 minutes at room temperature to firm up." It did look like a mistake (how could I possibly roll this loose glop into a log?), and it did firm up. Another amazing thing: the dough actually tastes like Oreos.
After breakfast I start the dough for Jennifer Reese's homemade "Oreos." It is not actually as hard as she makes it sound, although I'm glad she warned that the batter, at first, "will look like a mistake-- a tacky, fudgy brown mess. Don't worry. Let it rest for 20 minutes at room temperature to firm up." It did look like a mistake (how could I possibly roll this loose glop into a log?), and it did firm up. Another amazing thing: the dough actually tastes like Oreos.
Oops. Lunch: unsalted cashews mixed with dried cranberries, crystallized ginger.
Second stage Oreos: the baking. Unfortunately, I took the recipe at its word and crowded the cookies together on the sheet, reassured that they would not expand. This was incorrect. The cookies swelled into one continuous chocolate sheet, with barely identifiable delineations. I cut them apart into rectangular-ish shapes. They also got a little bit scorched, even at 325 degrees. Reese mentioned that it was optional to line the baking sheets with parchment paper, but I think the paper would have prevented over-browning.
Second stage Oreos: the baking. Unfortunately, I took the recipe at its word and crowded the cookies together on the sheet, reassured that they would not expand. This was incorrect. The cookies swelled into one continuous chocolate sheet, with barely identifiable delineations. I cut them apart into rectangular-ish shapes. They also got a little bit scorched, even at 325 degrees. Reese mentioned that it was optional to line the baking sheets with parchment paper, but I think the paper would have prevented over-browning.
Making the filling and icing the cookies together proved easy enough. We immediately taste-tested them. I have to say they are not my favorite. Not inedible, certainly, but I wouldn't make them again. The cream is a little too squishy, the cookies a little too crisp and buttery-- they don't seem as though they go together, and it feels like a chore to get through a whole cookie-- they're not two-bite-sized like an Oreo. My daughter opined that she liked them, but she preferred the chocolate cookies without the cream. ... but stay tuned for the updated opinion! Because these cookies get substantially better with the passage of time, like a good stew!
Dinner: Smitten Kitchen's Avocado Cup Salads with Black Bean Confetti, Madhur Jaffrey's Stir-Fried Beet Greens with Ginger and Green Chiles. I didn't really have sufficient beet greens for the latter recipe, and what I had cooked down so much that we only had a few oily and salty bites apiece. Not a success, but my own fault. The avocado cups salads were fine, not terribly exciting. We had two each as an entree, but I might prefer just one avocado half as a side salad or appetizer. I think a heavier hand with the lime juice and salt would have improved these.
Dinner: Smitten Kitchen's Avocado Cup Salads with Black Bean Confetti, Madhur Jaffrey's Stir-Fried Beet Greens with Ginger and Green Chiles. I didn't really have sufficient beet greens for the latter recipe, and what I had cooked down so much that we only had a few oily and salty bites apiece. Not a success, but my own fault. The avocado cups salads were fine, not terribly exciting. We had two each as an entree, but I might prefer just one avocado half as a side salad or appetizer. I think a heavier hand with the lime juice and salt would have improved these.
Also, check out the new frying pan my husband bought me!
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee, 2 regular, 2 decaf, with half and half. Some cookie tasting. Glass of Madeira in the evening. 2 cookies for dessert while watching Fargo. They have gotten much, much better. The wafers don't slide around on the squishy filling anymore, and everything has settled together into its true self, which is both crispy and creamy at the same time, and delicious.