Let me begin and say that this is not an article about how to perfect baking cookies. I might need one of those articles in the future. And this might be a good lesson on what to avoid when baking. This is just the adventures of a girl who learned to use an oven for the first time during her spring break. It starts with a package of Nestle’s premade cookie dough and the clueless girl whose sister begged her to make cookies even though neither knew how to use the oven.
From what I can remember, my family rarely used the oven. In fact, this oven was used to store pans and probably a bowl. I do not remember because there was an overwhelming amount of kitchenware in there. Quite frankly, I do not remember the last time I saw one of these pans.
However, this is probably more common than you think in some households. In the past with Chinese cuisine, ovens were not commonly used. History depicted ovens as more of a luxury item. Therefore, steaming food became more common. When I was younger, I would eat a sponge cake that my mom made. And yes, it turns out that it was steamed, creating a moist, fluffy texture. Although, it tastes much better warm than cold. Nevertheless, that is not why baking cookies was difficult.
My mom does the cooking in the family. I deem myself a safety hazard in the kitchen. I find myself doing the dishes or helping my mom with little things like getting the spring onions or some sauce from the fridge. I got most of my cooking experience in a home economics class in seventh grade. Even then, there was barely any cooking coming from me. I avoided cooking and purposefully let the other members in my group do it. Coincidentally, I was the only girl in the group, and the teacher called us out because she thought they were excluding me. In response to that, I explained, “No, I just prefer washing the dishes.” And if you do not believe me, I do not know what to say besides the fact that green apple soap was just better than the normal blue soap.
The beginning went pretty well. I learned how preheating my specific oven worked. I had a lot of uncertainties, and my friend was there to help me through a FaceTime call. My sister and I used a weird pan we found stored in the oven to place the cookie dough on. I will later hear my friend say that I didn’t separate the cookies far enough from each other. However, this is what my little sister told me: “I am not getting a ruler and measuring two inches.”
Eventually, we put it in the oven. My sister wanted to film the process, but I knew that we were most likely going to struggle. Thank goodness she forgot about it. While we were waiting, I sifted through the one drawer with rags in it. I never knew we had one, but in the bottom of the drawer I found an oven mitt. It came in handy because after the timer went off, that pan was really hot. I accidentally grazed the side with my other hand. Whoops! Be careful with hot objects…
We had been looking at those cookies while they were in the oven. It took them forever to spread. I took them out, and they were still gooey. In fact, I grabbed a toothpick and poked at one cookie to the point that I created pores on the one side. Not knowing what else to do, I put it back in the oven.
I kept taking the pan out and poking at that one specific cookie with a toothpick. I think this happened four times before I gave in. Later on, I spoke with another friend who went to a technical school in high school for cooking. She told me, “Cookies are still cooking even after you take them out of the oven. Most people do not know that, though.”
I wish she was there with me when I was baking.
I may not be a smart cookie when it comes to baking. However, I had some fun while it happened. It was not an entire failure. I did not burn the house down or the cookies. I think that there is always time to try something new. For me, it was cookies. I probably will take a year-long gap before I attempt to bake again, but I think that the time frame has to be sooner because there’s the other half of the package left uneaten, and I am not a fan of Salmonella from cookie dough.
But if life is an adventure, you have to keep on moving. Best of luck if you are doing something a little different for yourself.