Chef Pres IRP - Baking Cookies Part 4

Preston Viltz

Meara

Honors English P4

Blog

January 23 2015

So its my fourth time baking cookies for y'all. And I am starting to believe that I have really improved my baking skills. I also really enjoy baking at this point. For my fourth cookie I decided to make the Salted Chocolate-Caramel Rounds. I chose this dessert because it really tested my skills and made me a better baker because it infused candy with baking, along with drizzling of caramel sauce. During my baking experience, some things went wrong and I just had to improvise and make the treat as best as possible. The Salted Chocolate-Caramel Round is a cookie that is mostly chocolate with a Rolo (chocolate covered caramel candy) put directly in the center, and caramel sauce drizzled over the top of the cookie. There was many steps in making this snack so here are a few pictures of my experience:

"Ingredients:

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 36 milk chocolate-covered round caramels
• 12 vanilla caramels
• 1 tablespoon whipping cream"

First I found all my ingredients, then in a mixing bowl I used an electric mixer to beat the butter. Next I "add granulated and brown sugars. Beat until combined" with an electric mixer. Pic below:

In another mixing bowl I "stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt". Then I stirred both my mixtures together. Pic below:

I then roll the dough into balls and "press a chocolate-covered caramel into each ball and shape dough around caramel to enclose." I put each cookie on a baking sheet and baked them at 375 degrees for 8 minutes. Pic below:

I made the caramel sauce and "drizzle melted caramel mixture over cookies". My cookies were now finished. Pic below:

Looking back on my experience I don't know if I was ready to take on this hard of a cookie. But to be honest I think for just being a beginner they turned out alright. I had a good batch and a poor batch because they were kind of burnt. My goal going into these blogs was to do something that I could improve on and that is what I have done over these past months. I hope to create something great next time. And I do not plan on making a cookie.

Should I make something extraordinary for my next baked good?

Chapman, Natalie. Baking. Des Moines: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013

Chef Pres IRP - Baking Cookies Part 2

Preston Viltz

Meara

Honors English P4

Blog

December 31 2015

If all you boys and girls read my last blog then you all made the best decision of your lives, besides that though of course you all would have known that for my project I am doing the project of baking. And  you also know why I'm doing baking, because it is a solid skill for only 1 thing, making a solid snack for all lads. This time around I chose a whole different area of cookies, I started out with a chocolate, peanut butter snack and now I have changed my horizons to produce a wonderful (but original) sugar cookie. The reason behind choosing this cookie was simply because I love the sugar cookie. The recipe I used was from the book Baking by Natalie Chapman. This cookie takes my baking skill to the next level because there are many more steps to creating this cookie. This experience was just wonderful now lets take a look:

"Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour"

I mixed all my ingredients together and then I used "a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour". Here is a picture of my finished dough with all ingredients combined in a large mixing bowl:

And then I read to "shape dough into 1-inch balls" and to, "Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets." Then I put them into the 300 degree oven for 12 minutes. This is a picture of the cookies halfway through their bake:

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Once I "Checked cookies for even doneness as they baked" I took them out of the oven and let them cool. Once cooled I transferred to a plate for serving. Here is a pic of the finished product:

These cookies were surprisingly very delicious and I was very pleased. I hope to be able to make the same recipe sometime in the future. This made me step up my baking game from my previous cookies and I have improved as a skilled baker. This helps me push forward to make more difficult and tasty cookies and treats. This was a great success and my book even stated that I could "Store at room temperature fro 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months." Too bad they were gone in under 24 hours... Oops.

As for your guys' opinions:

Will my Dog be able to reach those cookies?

Would you serve my cookies if you owned a bakery?

Lease opinons below. Thank you all.

Chapman, Natalie. Baking. Des Moines: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013

Chef Pres IRP- Baking Cookies

Preston Viltz

Meara

Honors English P4

Blog

November 30 2015


Hola! Yo soy Preston. I made a totally American snack for y'all to salivate to. I wanted to do cooking, more specifically baking for my project because I feel like it would be a good skill to know going into a relationship and during marriage... Uh sike I wanted to perfect this skill to make some tasty food for me and my family as well as Cor, Llama, and Chubbs. But to do this task I wanted to create something that I have never really had before. So I went to the library and picked out the book Baking by Natalie Chapman. I wanted to start my first dish off with a more simple cookie because I am new to baking and didn't want to get ahead of myself. The food I chose was the Peanut Butter Blossoms because personally I think chocolate and peanut butter bode well with each other in the sense of a cookie, so that was just what I was looking for. I have also never made this desert before. So first I gathered all ingredients listed:

List:

• 1/4 cup shortening
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon backing powder
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar (For later)
• 31 milk chocolate kisses

First I put all my dry ingredients into a bowl and here is a picture of me adding the flour to the bowl:

Then once I got all my ingredients together I mixed all of them to a paste-like substance with an electric mixer:

Next I rolled 31 balls of dough and covered them with the 1/4 cup sugar to coat the outside edge and placed them on the baking sheet to be ready for the oven:

After that I placed all the cookies into the oven at 350 to bake for 2 minutes and this is a picture of the cookies baking in the oven:

Lastly, when the 12 minutes had passed, I took the cookies out of the oven and quickly placed a chocolate kiss in the center of each cookie, and here is a picture of the finished project:

I was very pleased with my final outcome and received a couple compliments on the taste. I think this  dessert was the appropriate difficulty for me because I am just a beginner at baking. But I feel like this dish helped my skills and my next treat will be a little bit more difficult because each dish I become more experienced with baking. This was a very successful outcome to me and I am striving to make more snacks in the future.

The book also stated that to store my cookies I should "layer cookies between sheets of waxed paper in an airtight container; cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months". That is a very smart idea that I probably won't follow for a couple reasons: What is wax paper and where do you get wax paper. But thanks for the idea anyways Natalie!

I'll leave you guys with this:

Do you think these look bomb?

If you answered no to the question above you are not getting any and if you answered yes to the question then you still won't get any. Leave your answers below! ;)


Chapman, Natalie. Baking. Des Moines: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013