Chocolate Drop Cookies - Ashley Uyeta

Baking has never come easy to me. There have been multiple attempts over the years that have turned into failures. Being in the kitchen is one of the most undesirable places for me. Seeing as this quarter's independent reading project is about honing in on new or old skills, I thought, why not try baking again? It can't be any worse than before.

In Betty Crocker's Chocolate Cookbook, it shows me step by step, that maybe baking isn't as hard as I think it is. I started out with something somewhat easy and simple, her chocolate drop cookies.

       Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
• 1/3 cup buttermilk or water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 e
• 2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
• 1 3/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 chopped nuts, if desired
• Add Chocolate Frosting or Browned Butter Frosting (Below)

For these cookies, I didn't add the chopped nuts due to my allergies to tree nuts, but if you were to add them, I feel, they would add great texture.

Directions

"Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mix sugar, margarine, buttermilk, vanilla, egg and chocolate in 2 1/2 quart bowl. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in nuts. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonful about 2 inches apart from onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched, 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet; cool. Frost with Chocolate or Brown Butter Frosting" (Crocker 45)

Chocolate Frosting

"Heat 2 squares (1 ounce each) unsweetened chocolate and 2 tablespoons margarine or butter over low heat until melted. Remove from heat; stir in 3 tablespoons water and about 2 cups powdered sugar until smooth and of spreading consistency" (Crocker 45)

Brown Butter Frosting

"Heat 1/4 cup margarine or butter over low heat until golden brown. Remove from heat; stir in 2 cups powdered sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and about 2 tablespoons half-and-half until smooth and of spreading consistency" (Crocker 45)

I ended up not doing any of the frosting options. If you did, tell me how it goes!

For my first baking attempt in a long time.  The cookies weren't super great, which is what I expected, but the overall experience was better than previous years. The cookies were soft and warm, but they were kind of bland. Next time, I can work more on making it taste a lot better!  It wasn't so bad and I'm actually looking forward to baking for my next blog post. Hopefully, I am more successful!

Do you think my cookies would've turned out better if I frosted them? What should I have done to get a sweeter cookie?