A Baking Resolution, 2009

Wow.  Well, here I am - typing out my first post to this brand new weblog.  I thought since it was the beginning of a brand new year, full of new life and promise, I should take the big step to open up my little kitchen to the big, wide world.  My New Year "bake-a-lution" is to keep a fairly regular posting schedule for this new blog as much as I can, and to reach out a little more widely across the web to you fine people taking the time to hop along the baking bus of learning.  Thank you for making this journey with me! 

I am going to start out with sharing a fun discovery.  When my little sis was but a wee bearn, she had an audio cassette called "The Teddy Bears' Picnic." I am almost positive that my big sis and I found it at the library and probably taped it for her. Anyway, it was chock full of funny songs including one called "Honey Cookies" and it went like this:

Honey cookies

Honey cookies

Let's all have some

Honey cookies

Honey cookies after dinner

Makes your dinner taste so right

So let's all have some

Honey cookies

Honey cookies after dinner tonight!

(Mom always talks about the part where the bears start going over all the ingredients and then yell: "don't forget the honey! don't forget the honey!")

So, anyway... that song gets stuck in my head from time to time and I have to say - since I've had no luck finding a copy of that cassette (even eBay failed me on that one, *snap*) I sure have dreamed of a decent honey cookie recipe ever since... and I think I've finally found it. It completely fits the bill - super simple, super easy, and so super fast it's ridiculous. Last but not least, it has to taste, well..."super honey-ey"-and I can vouch that these cookies are definitely all that.

The recipe is from Cooks.com; and I have to say - I really didn't have to do any tweaking at all (which is rare!) Here is the image of the recipe below and you can also just click on this link: Honey Bee Cookies.

One trick I've learned with measuring out sticky stuff like honey, corn syrup and molasses is to quickly spray the inside of the measuring cup. It really helps for quick, clean pouring.

Save your really good, artisanal honeys for something else - you don't want to damage all those valuable "notes" in that honey by baking it out. Just use a nice flavored, not too fancy honey. This Trader Joe's clover honey was awesome.

Mix all your wet ingredients together (*remember that in the baking world, sugar is always considered a wet ingredient because it melts during baking.)

Sift together all your dry yummies, separately...

... and slowly stir into the wet mixture, being careful not to overbeat. You will not believe how yummy these smell even at this point, mmmmm.

I've just loved using this awesome 1 T. cookie scoop lately, and I found that this recipe really does well with it. The batter is really soft and the scoop makes the perfect sized cookies.

Place your drops on an ungreased sheet. You can place them closer together than I did here - the cookies don't spread as much as I had imagined.  As you can see, I still use my trusty Pampered Chef stoneware for most of my baking.  They are so well seasoned and I just swear by them for cookies, and for perfect browning (uh...mmmmost of the time.)

Let the batch cool just a couple of minutes on the cookie sheet itself to set up a bit and you'll get the perfect little cookie - lightly browned and slightly crunchy on top...

...and perfectly soft but lightly browned on the bottom.

Finish cooling on cooling rack or enjoy warm - or atop our favorite Häagen Dazs' Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream (limited edition, unfortch. :-( for double the honey goodness! :-D  

(Please read all about HD's efforts towards researching the honey bee crisis here.  (I am sure I will be writing more in the near future about this serious topic that does, and will, effect us all.

If you have only about 1 hr.'s time to bake, you should try a batch of these beauties.  I can almost visualize you having all the ingredients you already need in your pantry right now to get started.

This post is dedicated to my little sis and all the goofy times listening to the Teddy Bear Picnic, Honey Cookies, Teddy Ruxpin and everything else! Love ya, sis. :-)