So, as the holidays approach we all know that life gets busy! It's been so fun to shop for Christmas gifts, decorate the house, and most of all . . . PACK for home! Christmas baking has proven to be a little more difficult this year - for several reasons. One - the ingredients. I start by looking for it in the grocery store. The problem I have there is most everything is in Korean - so I look at the packaging, sound out the Korean word if I can, and guess! There are a few baking shops with American products - the problem there is usually the price.
Problem #2 - Baking tools. I brought a few things with me (some of my favorite Pampered Chef.) But what I didn't think about was that Korea isn't into big desserts, so everything is TINY. I have a regular size muffin pan, and a regular baking sheet. 13 x 9's = don't exist. Bread pans = I have the mini ones. I have a pie plate, a 9 x 9 square pan, and can get round ones. Bundt and springform pans = out of the question! (unless you want the individual size.)
So, in the midst of finishing a semester and preparing for the holidays the schedule has been a bit hectic - typical this time of year. In my lack of planning I realized at 10 o clock the other night I hadn't made the promised sugar cookies Cory was going to take to his class. So I acted quickly and began to mix up a batch that I had successfully tried the week before.
Grabbing my mini-cookie cutters I was prepared to come through with sugar cookies after all. After fighting a bit w/the dough (that is supposed to chill overnight) I put in the first batch. The dough didn't taste quite right, but I thought maybe I had bought the wrong flour in my latest guessing game at the grocery store.
When the first pan was done I asked Cory's opinion. They were sweet - but had some unrecognizable "flair". Yes, it seems that my cookies contained GARLIC POWDER!
So, here's my excuse. The vanilla here is a powder, not a liquid. And so in the spice rack there are 4+ powders that are white. The bottoms are labeled, but apparently I didn't check it when I pulled it off the shelf. And so, rather than send the kids garlic sugar cookies (which they very well might have loved) I trashed the dough and Cory had to go buy something at the store. (And they don't sell sugar cookies, or any Christmas cookies here, for that matter.)
The next day, I laughed.
2 comments:
Dear Jennifer, Your story reminds me of a meal I took to a new mom. I made a casserole, baked it & took it to the new family. Along with this I made a second casserole for her to freeze. I wanted to help with expenses so I included canned milk to add before baking. I visited the new family a day after they ate the second casserole.The husband was thankful but said that it tasted "different". The can of milk was still in the trashcan. It was "sweetened condensed milk"!We laughed "til we cried.
Hope to meet you soon! Mrs. Wilson
OH NO!!! Well, at least you had a good story for the blog. Powdered vanilla, hm.
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