Traditional Baking in a New Place
On the cold day that it snowed so prettily last week I made Christmas cookies.
What a joy it was to work in this kitchen. I've made the same rolled and decorated cookies for decades, and it is always a messy and tedious job, although I do love doing it.
But I never realized how inefficient my other kitchen was for this project. The kitchen in this house is not only bigger and brighter, but it's laid out in a way that made cookie making so easy this year.
There's more space, and the baking area is separate from the big open prep area, and the sink is away from it all.
Each drawer below the counter has measuring cups and spoons and exactly the utensils needed, so everything is immediate and handy. It really surprised me what a difference this all made to the project.
As my friends and family know, I don't do the cooking. Jim does it all, and I've only occasionally made something simple in this kitchen. So I had no idea how a big messy activity could be so much easier with a new layout and organization.
The kitchen's style is outdated with its pine cabinets and white appliances, but I call it "cottage-vintage" and I love it. The stove, however, is a bit of an issue. It's a not-new low-end model and it bakes inconsistently.
On the same tray of cookies some were brown, others doughy. The front of the oven is apparently hotter than the back.
And what to do about high altitude baking? I studied up and know about less sugar, longer baking times, more liquids, less leavening, etc, but couldn't figure out how to apply any of that to this traditional cookie recipe.
So I made them with the usual measurements (except here's a bit of advice: do not use gray sea salt in cookies, use regular table salt. Really, don't use sea salt.)
They came out okay enough, except for the underdone ones from the back of the oven and the odd zing of sea salt. They are drier than I'm used to -- crunchier. I'll know to use more liquid next time to compensate for the altitude, although I still have to be able to work the dough to roll them out.
I made icing and sprinkled them with colored sugar and they'll soon be packed and shipped to family.
I'll save some to bring to Francie and Jeff's house -- we are going there for a chili supper before Christmas -- and the rest are saved for Jim (and me) to nibble.
What a joy it was to work in this kitchen. I've made the same rolled and decorated cookies for decades, and it is always a messy and tedious job, although I do love doing it.
But I never realized how inefficient my other kitchen was for this project. The kitchen in this house is not only bigger and brighter, but it's laid out in a way that made cookie making so easy this year.
There's more space, and the baking area is separate from the big open prep area, and the sink is away from it all.
Each drawer below the counter has measuring cups and spoons and exactly the utensils needed, so everything is immediate and handy. It really surprised me what a difference this all made to the project.
As my friends and family know, I don't do the cooking. Jim does it all, and I've only occasionally made something simple in this kitchen. So I had no idea how a big messy activity could be so much easier with a new layout and organization.
The kitchen's style is outdated with its pine cabinets and white appliances, but I call it "cottage-vintage" and I love it. The stove, however, is a bit of an issue. It's a not-new low-end model and it bakes inconsistently.
On the same tray of cookies some were brown, others doughy. The front of the oven is apparently hotter than the back.
And what to do about high altitude baking? I studied up and know about less sugar, longer baking times, more liquids, less leavening, etc, but couldn't figure out how to apply any of that to this traditional cookie recipe.
So I made them with the usual measurements (except here's a bit of advice: do not use gray sea salt in cookies, use regular table salt. Really, don't use sea salt.)
They came out okay enough, except for the underdone ones from the back of the oven and the odd zing of sea salt. They are drier than I'm used to -- crunchier. I'll know to use more liquid next time to compensate for the altitude, although I still have to be able to work the dough to roll them out.
I made icing and sprinkled them with colored sugar and they'll soon be packed and shipped to family.
I'll save some to bring to Francie and Jeff's house -- we are going there for a chili supper before Christmas -- and the rest are saved for Jim (and me) to nibble.
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