LIVING LIFE

As I have mentioned in prior posts, baking is an activity that I truly enjoy. There is just something comforting about watching a mixer blend sugar and butter together with other ingredients to create a fragrant, soft, malleable dough.

Cookie decorating is, however, an entirely different experience. I love the photos of beautiful cookies covered in icing – the outlines are perfect and the surface looks like glass. The instructions for decorating cookies start with mixing fine white powder with a very small amount of water to create a thick, sugary liquid.

My experience with decorating cookies did not go exactly as planned. Unfortunately, as I began to make the icing, a white cloud of sugar flew out of the blender and covered everything within a six inch radius, including me. The fur on our dog’s head looked like we had chemically lightened it. When the icing was finally done, I made a thick line around the perimeter of the cookie to protect the icing from going over the edge of the cookie. Filling in the top of the cookie required thinning the icing and “flooding” it. I thought I had perfected this process until I checked a few minutes later after the “flooding” occurred and found that the countertop had become a small river of white icing. In my attempt to rescue the drowning cookies, I managed to create a series of small lakes which resembled a map of the Great Lakes in Michigan.

This adventure in baking taught me a lot. First, never underestimate powdered sugar – behind that soft and pretty exterior, it has a mind of its own. Second, when a recipe uses the word “flooding” take it seriously, and get ready to steam clean your kitchen. And finally, keep your dog out of the kitchen.

My next project will be Oreo bats – no baking, just dipping the cookies in chocolate, adding wings, two eyeballs and two fangs.

I will start as soon as my feet stop sticking to the floor.

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