I volunteered to bake chocolate chip cookies for the barn's xmas party. Not brain surgery, I can do this.
I pulled out my mixer, which i bought at a tag sale a while back. I invisioned the cream and butter creaming really nicely in the bowl, just like on TV. I added the 2 sticks of butter, but I didn't cut them up, I just dumped them in. The butter wrapped around the blades of the beaters. I added the sugar and then the eggs, but most of the mix stayed stuck inside the beaters.
Adding the dry ingredients helped, and I cranked up the mixer to power thru the dry ingredients. This worked great for a few seconds, then there was this mechanical gear grinding noise and the blades stopped moving.
I turned off the mixer and unplugged it to find one of the beaters had bent itself around the other beater. Not Fun. I got most of the batter out of the beaters, and finished the job by hand.
I was on the last cookie sheet of cookies when I realized that a small piece of the broken beater was missing. The small nylon washer that is at the end of the one beater to move along the bowl was gone from the beater.
And that missing piece was probably somewhere in one of the cookies. We carefully examined each cookie, but could not find the broken piece. We couldn't bring these cookies to the barn party.
We drove down to our local bakery, which is run out of the walk in basement of Wendy's house. Wendy has great cookies, and we bought a pound of sugar cookies with dried cranberries in them. Off to the party the cookies went.
Later on, a friend was over, we were in the kitchen, and he noticed Charlie Pup had something in her mouth. He fished it out of her mouth, and there was the missing nylon piece from the mixer.
Now I have a nice batch of chocolate chip cookies in the freezer, ready for the long holiday weekend. Have you ever had something like this happen? Let us know below in the comments.
MinnesotaKathi
Dear GardenFork,
Just yesterday, I began to mix up German Pfeffernuisse cookies. If you've never tried them, they're delicious!! They're a pepper cookie, and are a refreshing and addictive variety to all the sugary treats in the fall and winter. (I keep Pfeffernusse spices together in a baggie for easy location)
Anyway, my last years holiday present, a real KitchenAid Classic mixer, began to have trouble mixing the 4 cups of flour - it only made it to 2 1/2 🙁 Not wanting to ruin the motor, I hand mixed in the final almost 2 cups. I didn't expect a real KitchenAid to be challenged.
I received this recipe from our local reinactment 1900's village here in Minnesota. Originally, they were dunking cookies, so I recommend you eliminate the corn syrup, replace with brown sugar, add an egg. If someone out there has a SOFT version, I'd be happy to know of it.
Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours!
MNKathi
Original Recipe:
German Pfeffernusse Cookies
1 C. Granulated Sugar
3/4 C. Butter
1 C. Dark Corn Syrup (*replace with brown sugar to help soften)
3 Tblsp. Hot Water
2 tsp. Anise Seed
1 tsp. Black Pepper, ground
1/4 tsp. Allspice, ground
1/4 tsp. Cloves, ground
1 tsp. Cardemon (*my new favorite spice!! try it in breads and desserts like bread pudding or pear compote)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
4 - 5 Cups Flour, all purpose (*I use 1/2 wheat)
(*I add 1 egg to help soften)
Mix sugars, butter, spices, soda, salt. Gradually add in flour. CHILL 3-4 HOURS (*I've baked them immediately and they turn out fine)
Roll into long tubes and slice into 1/4" circle pieces. Bake at 350F for about 10-12 minutes, 2" apart on baking sheet, until golden brown.
Cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar. (*Or, I sprinkle red/green sugar on them before baking)
Enjoy!!
Eric Gunnar Rochow
wow. thanks for sharing that recipe. eric.