Ask Me Help Desk - Baking Cookies

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKaeTrue

nohelp4u, that is an awesome trick...I'll be trying that one for sure:D

Also Clough, I'm no betty crocker and I like to burn things, so I bought an insulated cookie baking sheet...works like a charm:)

Your mentioning Betty Crocker just reminded me of the time my brother graduated from high school. I think that I was in the sixth grade and the year must have been about 1969.

As everyone went up, one-by-one, to get their diplomas, they came to the section of people whose first letter of their last name was "C." One gal was named Betty Crocker! When her name was announced, it seemed like everyone laughed. I felt very sorry for her! What a thing to remember about her graduation... :(

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clough

So, are you saying that the heating process for the cookies is done in a pot on the stove and then the way the cookies are then finished is by letting them dry on the waxed paper?

Also, why is a double boiler preferable? About all the double boiling that I do involves the heating up lacquer when I do refinishing. :)

Yes, the cookies, instead of being baked in the oven, are cooked on the stovetop much like one makes fudge. Instead of cooking to a certain boiling point, like one does with fudge, one boils these stove-top cookies a minute and not more than two minutes. That sort of applies the same principle but the cook doesn't have to mess with a candy thermometer.

A double boiler will have water in the bottom pot and the stuff (chocolate pieces/squares or caramels) in the top pot. As the water heats up in the bottom pot, the stuff in the top pot will begin to melt. A watchful cook will stir the stuff in the top pot and regulate how quickly it all melts by adjusting the flame/burner under the bottom pot. The reason a double boiler is used is to slowly and carefully melt stuff. If only one pot were used and sat directly on the flame/burner, the contents could possibly burn or there could be other disasters. (My fudgies recipe uses only one pot, not a double boiler, because I am a risk-taker cook and love to live dangerously.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clough

So, are you saying that the heating process for the cookies is done in a pot on the stove and then the way the cookies are then finished is by letting them dry on the waxed paper?

Also, why is a double boiler preferable? About all the double boiling that I do involves the heating up lacquer when I do refinishing. :)

Hahaha! You're hilarious! I love your sense of humour!

Yes, you are correct. You do not bake these cookies. They are very simple, but they melt in your mouth and fill the senses with incredible textures. :) I don't know if letting them 'dry' is the purpose... more like letting them cool and set. :p

The double boiler is preferable to prevent burning the ingredients. It is more likely to happen on direct heat.

By the way, Craig, I sent you an email a little bit ago. Did you get it? It was semi-important. (That's kind of like semi-sweet chocolate.) :rolleyes:

Hugs, Didi

Quote:

Originally Posted by AKaeTrue

nohelp4u, that is an awesome trick...I'll be trying that one for sure:D

Also Clough, I'm no betty crocker and I like to burn things, so I bought an insulated cookie baking sheet...works like a charm:)

What's an insulated cookie baking sheet? What is the material or materials of which it is composed?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clough

So, is this baking stone something that must be maintained in a similar way as cast iron skillets are

No, a baking stone is make of, um, stone. Here's the composition: 15-45% portland cement, 30-55% fireclay, 4-11% mullite, 2-6% silica, 0.5-3% glass fiber, 10-30% water and 0.03-1.5% of a plasticizer plus a pigment in order to produce a colored baking stone. It is breakable and must be gently washed but not with soap or SOS or Comet cleanser, just warm water and a scrubber to get off any debris.

I recently awarded my baking stone to AmVets since I hated it and never had good luck with it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grammadidi

Hahaha! You're hilarious! I love your sense of humour!

Yes, you are correct. You do not bake these cookies. They are very simple, but they melt in your mouth and fill the senses with incredible textures. :) I don't know if letting them 'dry' is the purpose... more like letting them cool and set. :p

The double boiler is preferable to prevent burning the ingredients. It is more likely to happen on direct heat.

By the way, Craig, I sent you an email a little bit ago. Did you get it? It was semi-important. (That's kinda like semi-sweet chocolate.) :rolleyes:

Hugs, Didi

Just moved me, a lot of food, computer and other stuff back into my home after house and dog-sitting. Have oogobs of email that is still on the server to download into my computer. Did not download much email into my computer because the phone line connection was so poor in the home where I was.

I will download in just a bit. May take me a little while. Am on a phone line here too, although it's much better than the other connection. When downloading email, I tend to not be able to jump around on sites when I am doing it.

There should be a DSL package cheaper than dial-up around there, isn't there? My bil in Hampton switched recently.

I hope you're writing down all this cooking stuff, Craig.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

No, a baking stone is make of, um, stone. Here's the composition: 15-45% portland cement, 30-55% fireclay, 4-11% mullite, 2-6% silica, 0.5-3% glass fiber, 10-30% water and 0.03-1.5% of a plasticizer plus a pigment in order to produce a colored baking stone. It is breakable and must be gently washed but not with soap or SOS or Comet cleanser, just warm water and a scrubber to get off any debris.

I recently awarded my baking stone to AmVets since I hated it and never had good luck with it.

So, I take it that there must be better and worse kinds/types/brands of baking stones?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

There should be a DSL package cheaper than dial-up around there, isn't there? My bil in Hampton switched recently.

I hope you're writing down all this cooking stuff, Craig.

Just did, Carol! Please look down, or up! :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clough

So, I take it that there must be better and worse kinds/types/brands of baking stones?

I know people who bake cookies on them, reheat pizza on them, probably warm their mittens on them, and generally think they are the best thing since fire was invented, so I probably had a cheap version or something. I hated mine.

Am going to download email... now!

(Michelle is posting her songs and poems now in another thread. Maybe Clough can put them to music.)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

(Michelle is posting her songs and poems now in another thread. Maybe Clough can put them to music.)

Well, there may be hope yet for the girl! :) Good to see her trying some different things!

I'll check it out.. :)

Thank you for letting me know, Carol!

Email has been downloaded. Thanks Didi!

Quote:

Originally Posted by grammadidi
My favourite cookies are cocoa, oatmeal and coconut. I mix the ingredients, heat them in a pot on the stove (double boiler preferably, but not necessary), then drop them by spoonfuls onto waxed paper. They are awesome and I never burn myself!

Sometimes I use a pizza pan and make one giant chocolate chip with nuts (and sometimes marshmallows) cookie. When I used to babysit I would tell the kids we were having pizzas for lunch and they would get so excited because they knew that one of them was my famous giant chocolate chip cookie with secret messages on top (done with the marshmallows or with a thin chocolate icing printing)!

Hugs, Didi

Quote:

Originally Posted by wackymb

Wow!! I didn't know that you can do that. I'm going to try that next time I make cookies. I made Banana cookies earlier. I didn't even know there was a banana cookie until I found the recipe in one of my son's Highlights book. And they taste pretty good to.

And, I didn't know that they posted recipes in Highlights books! :)

I'm guessing (hoping?) there will be a Christmas cookie recipe thread started one of these days. I start baking around Thanksgiving and freeze each batch to save until Christmas.

ONLY FIVE DAYS UNTIL YOUR BIRTHDAY, WONDERGIRL!! :) :D ;) :eek:

You and dr. luther making any plans? :D

No plans yet. Martin hasn't contacted me.

Have you ever heard of Portillo's?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wondergirl

No plans yet. Martin hasn't contacted me.

Have you ever heard of Portillo's?

Oh, so you're on a first name basis with Dr. Luther, eh?

In answer to your question, "No."

It's a Chicago area restaurant chain. Their main food is Italian beef and Chicago hot dogs. Since they started years ago, they've branched out into salads and chocolate cake and grilled tuna sandwiches and full-slab or half-slab ribs a la carte or dinners, and so many other things. I could eat there every night for two weeks and never repeat myself. I hope there's a Portillo's in heaven. That's what I want for my birthday supper (in our family the birthday person gets to pick the food).