Chocolate Chip Cookies for Thanksgiving

I recently wrote over at Strollerderby that this time of year, I feel especially undomesticated. While other folks brag about their out-of-this-world cornbread stuffing or green bean casserole, I smile weakly and change the subject.

Avo finds it relaxing spending time in the kitchen, but being in the kitchen stresses me out. Therefore, he is usually in charge of planning and preparing the Thanksgiving meal and all I do is show up, eat, and clean up.

As you know if you've been following this blog for a while, last year I decided to pitch in a bit — I was proud of myself for making my first-ever apple pie (I even made the crust from scratch!).

Since Ruby has enlisted me to bake an apple pie for her class Thanksgiving party and I'm making an apple and a pumpkin pie for our Thanksgiving dinner at home, I went for the store bought crust.

For Jesse's school party, I figured I'd mix it up a bit and go with an old favorite: chocolate chip cookies. It was a breeze preparing the batter -- until I tried to mold it into little balls and it crumbled into pieces.

Oops. Seems I forgot to add the eggs! I whisked in some eggs at the last minute and it seemed to do the trick. They came out of the oven looking perfectly browned. I figured I'd let them cool for a while before packing them up for the night.

Oops again. I was so tired that I forgot to pack up the cookies. When I awoke this morning, I realized my mistake. They're no longer nice and chewy. In fact, they're like cookie pellets.

"You ruined chocolate chip cookies?!" my mom asked in disbelief.

"Well, they might still have some life in them," I said.

She suggested that I wrap them in a damp paper towel and microwave them a bit to moisten them. A Twitter friend gave me another idea: put a piece of bread in the container with them.

Jesse's party is tomorrow. I'm hoping one of these methods helps to resuscitate them by then.

Yes I Can!

"I can't believe how far you've come," my dad said this morning.

Honestly, I can't believe it either.

If you had told me a year ago that I would be baking pies from scratch, I would have called you a liar.

Am I finally getting over my fear of the oven?

If so, it's about time. It's only taken me 41 years!

So in case you're wondering, Thanksgiving was a big success. Avo cooked up the bird and all of the fixings, and I tackled dessert. I ditched the snickerdoodles at the last minute and came up with dessert menu:

1. Homemade Apple Pie (a la mode, with vanilla ice cream, of course)

2. Pumpkin pie (using a frozen pie crust and canned filling)

3. Brownies from scratch

4. Freshly whipped cream (to top the brownies or the pies)

5. Sugar cookies which the kids decorated with disgusting store-bought pink frosting and then topped with equally disgusting "chocolate" sprinkles (this recipe was more for entertainment than culinary value)

Everyone was stuffed after Avo's amazing meal (turkey, gravy, Brussels sprouts, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, and cranberry sauce). Still, we mustered up the energy to pack in quite a bit of sweet treats. I've got to say that the apple pie was the real crowd-pleaser.

The consensus was that it was perfectly done -- not too sweet, not too runny, not too tart, not too chunky. Just right. And Crisco fans, take note: the all-butter crust was nice and flaky. The only thing I might do differently the next time is add some more apples.

Maybe it was just beginner's luck, but I'm starting to think this may become my signature dish. I can't wait for the next holiday, just so I'll have an excuse to bake another pie. Then again, who needs an excuse to bake a pie?

Easy As Pie!

Friends and family members have been calling and e-mailing to find out how it turned out, so I figured I'd announce it publicly: I made an apple pie today and it looks darn good (see picture). The verdict won't be in until tomorrow, but I'm optimistic.

I don't want to get all cocky about it, given I haven't even tasted it yet. But it wasn't so difficult to make. Even the homemade crust wasn't such a big deal.

In case you're wondering, I ended up using a variety of apples: Cortland, Winesap, and Gala.

I guess I've caught the baking bug because after I finished the pie, I baked sugar cookies with Ruby. We both had fun using her toy-sized cookie cutters to make various shape cookies: stars, hearts, little people. But eventually, Ruby lost interest and turned to Play-Doh to bake a "birthday cake." Sadly, the sugar cookies were pretty tasteless. Her Play-Doh cake probably tasted better.

"Think I should serve them tomorrow?" I asked Avo.

"Are you proud of them?"

"No."

"Then don't serve them. I wouldn't."

Good advice.

Instead of wallowing in my minor failure of the afternoon, I decided to bake brownies. Nothing too fancy. Just basic brownies. Once I whip some cream tomorrow, they'll be delicious. Of course, I'm hoping all eyes will be on the apple pie!

I'll report back.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Easy As Pie?

The anticipation is killing me. Thanksgiving is two days away and I'm antsy to bake my first ever apple pie. But I want to wait 'til tomorrow so it's fresh for the big day.

In the meantime, the dough is already ready and waiting in the fridge. And I've been busy listening to advice. Everyone, it seems, knows the best way to bake the tastiest pie.

I made a couple of bold decisions: I opted for an all-butter crust rather than using lard or Crisco (despite advice to the contrary from some well-respected foodies). Instead of investing in a pastry blender, I relied on the food processor.

Now comes the next big decision: which type of apples to use and how thinly do I slice them?

My cousin's wife passed on some advice from her Aunt Viola, who apparently makes an amazing apple pie.

"Her trick is to use many different types of apples (red delicious, granny smith, Rome apples, Macintosh, etc). In addition, when she cuts up her apples instead of using thin slices (which she says turns into applesauce) she uses big thick slices (which yield nice chunks of apples after cooking)."

Sounds like good advice. I might even follow it!

Friends and family have rallied together to bolster my confidence (although my mom suggested I go out and buy a frozen crust).

One friend e-mailed her support.

"May there be many flaky, flaky crusts in your future," she wrote.

Thanks!

The Thanksgiving Countdown

It was all set. Yesterday, my foodie friend Katherine K. (not the Katherine who taught me how to make burgers) invited me over for an after-school cooking lesson. She was going to teach me how to roast pork and veggies. More importantly, she was going to give me a lesson in the pie-baking basics.

But, alas, Jesse came down with a fever and we had to cancel. So now I'm on my own when it comes time to bake my first ever pie. Yikes!

It's the 4th year in a row that we are hosting Thanksgiving Dinner at our house. But this year is different. Usually, Avo is in charge of planning and preparing the meal and all I do is show up, eat, and clean up. But now that I've learned a thing or two about cooking myself, I want to help Avo out. Then again, I'm not sure he wants my help!

To make things easier for Avo -- especially given that we have a small kitchen -- I will make the desserts and leave the rest to him. I plan to spend the day before Thanksgiving baking, so he can have the kitchen to himself for the big event.

I've decided on making apple pie and snickerdoodles. Apple pie is classic Thanksgiving -- and it goes well with vanilla ice cream. picked the snickerdoodles because the kids will have fun making them with me. Plus, I like any excuse to say "snickerdoodle!"

Recently, I've become intrigued by the pie-making process, especially after an especially gripping "pie" episode of "Throwdown with Bobby Flay" on the Food Network (Bobby beat the Maine "Pie Moms" with his Peach-Blackberry Pie.

Katherine K. warned me that the biggest challenge is the crust -- it's difficult to get the crust flaky and to be sure that the bottom isn't soggy.

"Do you have a pastry blender?" she asked.

"Um, no. What's that?"

"You can use forks for the pie crust, but using a pastry blender makes it easier to cut the butter into the flour."

Katherine also tipped me off that many apple pie recipes call for Crisco.

"They taste good, but I refuse to eat anything with Crisco in it," she said. "Same goes for lard. I'm all about butter."

Indeed, it seems as if every recipe I find calls for Crisco.

Butter or Crisco? Pastry blender or food processor or by hand? What apples work best? How small do you cut the apple slices? What's a girl to do?

Who knew there were so many choices were involved in making apple pie? Everyone insists that their way is the only way!

I've got to make some decisions and fast because I don't want to have to resort to buying a store-bought crust -- or be forced to pass off a store-bought pie as my own!