Enjablog

It turns out salt is a key ingredient when baking. The recipe I was using had two columns of ingredients, except that the only ingredient in the second column was salt. I forgot the salt and found that my cookies came out thin with some air bubbles. This could be due to a number of reasons:

1. I had no rolling pin. I thought I had moved it with me, but it turns out I forgot it at Sonny’s place and haven’t had a need for it until now. The first tray, I used a drinking glass, which was ok, but wasn’t the right length, so it left some lines in the dough from the ends. I finally ended up using a wine bottle, which worked out really well.

2. I had no wax paper. You’d think with me planning to make cookies for 2 weeks I would have the necessary supplies when the time came. You’d be wrong. I ended up using freezer paper, which had a plastic coating on one side, so the dough didn’t stick to it. It was thicker than wax paper and not translucent, so it was hard to ensure there was a uniform thickness to the dough.

3. I forgot the salt. I’m not exactly clear on what that does, but I think it means that not all the CO2 that reacted from the baking powder was able to be released. Salt facilitates the release of carbon dioxide because it brings little air bubbles into the mixture that helps diffuse the CO2. Since the baking powder all reacted properly, but the gas couldn’t get out, the cookies didn’t rise and ended up with bubbles in them. (If someone has a better explanation, please share. I had difficulty finding a good explanation on the internet. *gasp*)

End result: not the best texture, but they still taste like regular cookies.

There’s a duck, a fish, a dog, a stegosaurus, left and right feet, a t-rex, and a bone:

With the final dough-ball, I made a kind of creepy-looking leprachaun and a gold coin:

Rich Rolled Sugar Cookies (from The Joy Of Cooking)

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup Unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup Sugar
1 large Egg
1/4 Tsp Baking powder
1/8 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Tsp Vanilla
2 1/3 cups All-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
2. Beat the butter and sugar until very fluffy and well blended. Beat in egg, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Stir in flour.
3. Divide the dough in half and roll out a scant 1/4-inch thick. Keeping the wax paper in place, layer the rolled dough on a tray and refrigerate for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cold and slightly firm but not hard.
4. Working with 1 portion of dough (leave the other refrigerated), cut out cookies, using 2- or 3-inch cutters. With a wide spatula, carefully transfer them from the wax paper to the cookie sheets, spacing about 1 inch apart.
5. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, in the upper third of the oven for 6 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are just slightly colored on top and slightly darker at the edges. Rotate sheets halfway through baking for even browning. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies firm up, 1 to 2 minutes, Then transfer the cookies to wire racks and let stand until thoroughly cool.

Store, airtight, for 1 or 2 weeks, or freeze for up to 1 month.
This recipe yields 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 dozen 2 1/2- to 3 1/2-inch cookies.