Baking Success!

So after my big fail from last week(see previous post) I was more motivated than ever to bake something delicious. Especially because I had already offered up baked goodies to a bake sale for today, I had to come through.

I spent the majority of the morning and afternoon in the kitchen yesterday, baking, mixing, washing, testing, tasting and obsessing over cookbooks and cookies.

My first batch of cookies were the basic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar. I followed the recipe exactly and it says to roll the cookies in your hand and flatten them. My dough was a little too oily for that. Since I had a seemingly endless amount of time and supplies I decided to just drop them onto the cookie sheet with spoons and see how it came out. If they tasted good, than I didn't care.

 

Well taste good they did. They spread out a little more than I think they should have during cooking but whatever I did, they were the perfect amount of crisp on the outside and an even more perfect amount of soft chewiness on the inside.

The second batch was the exact same recipe except I added a dash, or two, of cinnamon to the batter. It's something one of my best friends, Janine, taught me years ago. She always used to do it in her cookies and it made the cookies 100x better than plain chocolate chip.  This dough seemed more like it was supposed to. I was able to roll it in my hand and flatten it. I made them sort of small to get the most cookies possible out of the batch. They came out much more round and even looking.They too were the perfect amount of crisp on the outside as well as the perfect softness and chewiness on the inside.

My third batch of cookies were the Peanut Butter Crisscrosses, also from VCIYCJ. There really isn't a lot I can say about this recipe. It has very common ingredients, takes minimal time to prepare and bake, is very easy, and tastes delicious. The recipe called for using the dark metal baking sheets for crispiness. I prefer soft and chewy(and I don't have dark metal) so I stuck with the light baking sheets. It isn't a fancy recipe, but definitely a basic worth keeping around and one that I will certainly go back to again and again.

My baking skills magically reappearing weren't the only success of the weekend though. According to Beth(a PPK peep) so far the amount made on bake sale items(all of my stuff sold!!!), raffles, donations and table fees for the craft fair (some of the crafters are donating portions of their sales so those amounts haven't been factored in yet) was $2,500. This all goes to the Milton Animal League. They are having a new shelter built because the one they are in now was originally built as a temporary shelter in the 1970s. This shelter is run entirely by volunteers and because they are a 501 C3 non-profit they receive no funding from the government at all. Every animal that goes through those doors is taken care of until they are adopted into their forever home. No animal is ever put down because it has been there too long, or may need expensive medical treatment. If they need it, they receive it. If you would like to make a donation to help this local shelter meet their goal and achieve their dream of a new, modern building that will allow them to greater serve these animals while they are in the care of the shelter, please visit Milton Animal Rescue. There are several ways to help. Become a volunteer(if you live in the area), send items from their wish list, adopt an animal or make a donation.