Rock Hard Cookies!

I have been baking cookies for as long as I can remember and this is the very first time I have had this problem. The recipe was for Toll House Choc Chip Cookies..ymmmmm

I doubled the batch; every cookie was the same size (not accomplished very often)
they were beautiful. I didn't try the cookies after they had cooled; luckily it was a very good friend that sampled the cooled off cookies. "Man, these are really HARD
cookies!" This friend has been eating my cookies for over 20 years... I wasn't really listening to him...I went to break off a piece and nearly broke my fingers.
These cookies were not over baked hard, not crispy hard, they were JUST HARD!

You know if this ever happens with cookies being over baked you can place a slice of fresh apple in the container with the cookies and they will soften up. Well, I tried this little trick and my cookies remained hard. I figured maybe one slice of apple wasn't enough for about 6 dozen cookies. I sliced about another 1/2 of an apple and placed the slices skin side down on top of the cookies. YES!..after about 4 hours the cookies became edible. ( I had a plan to use these rock hard cookies like biscotti if the apple trick didn't work.)

In the mean time I had called my friend who is a dietitian and asked her about the little ordeal with my cookies. She immediately knew what the problem was..did you use too much baking powder? Ah Ha! When I was putting together the recipe I put in BAKING POWDER instead of BAKING SODA. Luckily I caught my mistake before I mixed the ingredient in. I scooped the BAKING POWDER out and replaced it with BAKING SODA.
Guess I didn't get all the baking powder out.

I don't know the scientific whys of how BAKING POWDER makes rock hard cookies; but I'll never make that mistake again.

Hope this helped someone's cookies. Kako

No more HOLES!

My girlfriend just enlightened me with a great solution for wearing thoses name tags that put holes into your clothes!

It is kinda weird that we were even talking about this situation.. my son has to wear a name tag at work and it is really damaging the shirt he has to wear. So...

If the name is plastic you have to level the back of the name tag. You can then either hot glue, or the magnet might have a sticky side, permanently place the magnet on the back side of the name tag. Then you need a very strong bar magnet to hold the name tag on.

You have to position the name tag right where you want it on the shirt or blouse.
Take the bar magnet on the inside of the garmet and place it against the back of the name tag. The magnets will then stick together!

It works like those earrings that stay on with magnets. I would think that it would NOT work on a thick garmet such as a jacket, blazer or a thick sweater.

Something new to try. Hope this helped someone!

Later, Kako

One solution to both ends of the loaf!

I really like the end pieces of bread. But that isn't usually the case with most people. Lately I've been using the beginning and ends of the loaf for french toast. I find the thicker the bread the better. If the bread is thin, use it to feed the birds!

I take a raw egg or two, beat them with some milk (any kind of milk will do, I use non-fat cow milk) and some ground cinnamon. You don't want to use the same amount of milk to egg; the mixture will be too runny. More egg to milk. Really mix in the cinnamon or it will just clump up and stay on the top of the milk.

Have your frying pan ready on medium heat. I use PAM between every piece of toast that I make. You can really be decadent and use BUTTER!! If you do use the butter be extra careful to watch the heat so the butter doesn't burn.

Take your piece of dry bread and soak it in the liquid mixture. You want to just dip it completely under the liquid and then turn it over. Don't leave it in too long or it will come apart. You should be able to handle it with a fork or spatula.

Now you can put it into your prepared pan and "cook" it. I like to kinda squish the bread down with the spatula while it is cooking to flatten it. (explanation later)
Flip it over as soon as it gets brown. You want both sides browned but NOT cooked dry! Now you can put it on a plate and dust with powdered sugar. You can butter it and add maple syrup or other flavored syrup!! YUM!

The reason that I flatten out my french toast is that I make up quite a few of them at once (not just with the ends or beginnings) and freeze them for later use. I bag them in sandwich bags...hmmmmmmmmmmmmm(I am going to try using tin foil and see if I can reuse the pieces...) This way I can just pop the piece of french toast into the toaster then dress it with goodies. It isn't just as good as being freshly made; but it will do in a hurry!

I hope the beginnings and ends of your loaf find a new use. Later, KRKK

the need to re-think, re-duce, and re-use

i can't understand what the new interest in individually wrapped food is. people like individualized things; pre-packed things but this is really bad for the environment. all the pre-packaging paper and plastic waste!



we really should cook and bake and then use real plates and real utensils to eat it. we could also use more glass and less plastic to contain our food so that we can re-use.



we also need to tell the pharmaceutical industry to stop packaging their products with so much wasteful paper and plastic. Not only does it take up space, hint, hint, on the shelf (who's product gets seen first) but it isn't necessary.



we should really stop using things that are convenient for us and start using things that are good for the earth. Kako