Last night I made chocolate chip cookies! Woohoo!!
Yes, yes, ordinarily this wouldn't be cause for celebration, but for ME, here in Moscow, it sure is time for a fiesta.
1a) First and foremost, you can't get chocolate chips here. Really! Um, kind of important for say, chocolate chip cookies. They probably do sell some type of imported chips at the high-end stores, but I can't imagine the cost...and 'just' for cookies....I will look next time though. Perhaps when I've lived here longer, buying fancy imported chocolate chips won't be a big deal to me but I can't stomach it yet.
1b) You also can't buy vanilla extract. Here too, it's probably possible to find imported vanilla or maybe an adequate substitute, but again....FOR COOKIES?!
2) Secondly, the ovens are different. Aside from the obvious Celsius-Fahrenheit issue (which of course I can sort out), they have fans and settings that are different from what I'm used to (again, probably won't be a big deal after I'm here longer). Plus, our oven has icons instead of words. And the thing is, with baking, timing and temperature are critical. So this is definitely an issue.
In fact, my first attempt at baking (box brownies) was a complete disaster because of #2. So I had very low expectations this time.
To solve #1, I'd actually purchased a bag of tollhouse morsels while we were in the States 2 weeks ago. I realize now I should have bought more because now they're all gone. :( I also purchased a big bottle of vanilla extract. Those are just two of the things I would now tell newbies to bring with them in their shipments if anyone ever asks me (assuming they like to bake).
To solve #2, I winged it and erred on the low side (ie I chose an icon that looked like hear would be coming only from one side of the oven since I'd randomly picked something else for my brownies and they had come out way overdone).
As an added precaution I did not leave the kitchen or sit down the entire time the cookies were baking, so I could really watch that oven like a hawk.
Several dozen perfect cookies that tasted like Home. Yum!!!
Here's a little photo montage of the baking process.
 |
| Just a few of the delicious finished product. |
Yes, yes, ordinarily this wouldn't be cause for celebration, but for ME, here in Moscow, it sure is time for a fiesta.
The Problem
Why is it so hard to make chocolate chippers here?1a) First and foremost, you can't get chocolate chips here. Really! Um, kind of important for say, chocolate chip cookies. They probably do sell some type of imported chips at the high-end stores, but I can't imagine the cost...and 'just' for cookies....I will look next time though. Perhaps when I've lived here longer, buying fancy imported chocolate chips won't be a big deal to me but I can't stomach it yet.
1b) You also can't buy vanilla extract. Here too, it's probably possible to find imported vanilla or maybe an adequate substitute, but again....FOR COOKIES?!
2) Secondly, the ovens are different. Aside from the obvious Celsius-Fahrenheit issue (which of course I can sort out), they have fans and settings that are different from what I'm used to (again, probably won't be a big deal after I'm here longer). Plus, our oven has icons instead of words. And the thing is, with baking, timing and temperature are critical. So this is definitely an issue.
In fact, my first attempt at baking (box brownies) was a complete disaster because of #2. So I had very low expectations this time.
 Ingredients all lined up and ready to go!  |
| I mean really, what do they all MEAN!@? The Solution |
To solve #2, I winged it and erred on the low side (ie I chose an icon that looked like hear would be coming only from one side of the oven since I'd randomly picked something else for my brownies and they had come out way overdone).
As an added precaution I did not leave the kitchen or sit down the entire time the cookies were baking, so I could really watch that oven like a hawk.
In Conclusion
It worked!Several dozen perfect cookies that tasted like Home. Yum!!!
Here's a little photo montage of the baking process.
 |
| Rockstar Baking Project! |
No comments:
Post a Comment