50.29% -- I still have a long way to go

Last weekend I made recipe no. 88, which puts me just past the halfway mark on my cookie baking project!  Unfortunately, as the post title indicates, I've still got a solid year-and-three-quarters remaining, which seems like a long time when I look back over the same amount of time pointing in the past.

Let's recap a little.

I began this project while I was living at my dad's house after finishing my undergraduate education.  Since then, I have moved to Central Illinois, started graduate school, taken and taught many classes, passed my Qualifying Exam (praise God), joined a research group, and so on.  Of course, there's a lot of other details to be filled in, but I don't want to make this post too long...  Jumping to the present: this semester is getting closer to its end, and although I am now looking at switching research topics, things have progressed very nicely for me since July 2008. The next large chunk of time will hopefully not be as exciting, as I hope to settle down into a good project and start churning out results as soon as possible (This is naive optimism on my part.  Experiments kind of just go slowly all the time).

All that said, let's take a look at this weekend's project.

89. Rosemary Butter Cookies
I had been looking forward to making these ever since I made Cornmeal Thyme cookies last summer, when I discovered that herbs in cookies aren't a bad idea at all.  These are a basic log cookie - that is, the dough is made, formed into a long log and frozen for about an hour, and then sliced into 1/4" thick pieces to make individual cookies - the only difference here is that before being cut each log was washed with egg white and rolled in sanding sugar.  These cookies are your typical mix of butter, sugar, and flour, with about a tablespoon of fresh rosemary added to give them a very distinct flavor.  For those of you who aren't familiar with rosemary, it kind of tastes like pine needles.  Or, I've been told, gin.  The rosemary blends well with the large amounts of butter in the recipe, so that although the taste is unusual, it is not overwhelming.  I think I may hold onto this recipe just for its novelty.


In other news, it's spring break this week, which means the undergraduates are all gone, leaving campus eerily empty.  Tomorrow I will follow suit and make my escape to Pennsylvania for the rest of the week.  The drive is going to be pretty long, but since we're going in a stick shift car, I won't be able to drive, and can instead scramble to make Bonita's second sock.

One Year: I've been scooped!?!

I realize, of course, that keeping a blog for anything at all is not particularly unique in this day and age, but I was glued to the tube the other night when I saw this (notice 1:15 to 1:20 especially). Oh great, a feel-good movie about a woman working her way through a cookbook and keeping a blog on it. Given, Julia Child is kind of cooler than Martha Stewart, and I don't have a soul-crushing job (or, at least I haven't discovered it to be so yet). And if, in the future, someone accuses me of copying this movie, I will at least be able to defend myself with the fact that I started this project an entire year before I heard anything about it.

Yes, that's right, I've been baking cookies on a weekly basis for a year now! The time has passed just as quickly as cliches call for, and here I am in perhaps the busiest summer of my life.

Why am I so busy? Well, let's see: I work full-time in a lab, I have three hours of rehearsal practically every evening, and whatever spare time I have otherwise goes into exercise or studying for the qual. I've still found time to sneak in cookie baking, but many of my projects have been uncomplicated to allow me to do other things. Although I'm often late and backlogged with posting, I promise that I'm keeping up this project, and will continue to stay on schedule with my baking.

Last weekend I made the 7-hour drive home to spend the Fourth of July with my family. This is one of the most important holidays on my Dad's side of the family, perhaps because there are something like 8 birthdays that happen in June and July put together. So everyone came home - my drive wasn't the longest, either - for a weekend of sun, soccer, and celebration. It was awesome. It also meant that I did not make cookies on Saturday.

Instead, I came home from rehearsal Monday night and started baking cookies that are perhaps the most interesting thing I've made yet: Cornmeal Thyme Cookies (53). Now, it's very difficult to imagine what it tastes like to put a savory herb into a cookie, and, to be honest with you, I thought that these were going to be disgusting. Or, considering that this is a published cookbook, I thought they wouldn't be better than mediocre.

After mixing everything together - that is, the cornmeal, currants, thyme, lots of butter, sugar, and other normal cookie things - and baking, I found that these are some of the best cookies I've ever had, especially the day after they were baked. Something between the first three ingredients listed made for a fantastic and unique taste, and perhaps it's the unique part that won me over. After all, I have some basis of comparison for most of the cookies I make, but this was totally new, and totally delicious. My friends were equally surprised that these were so good. If you're looking for a different cookie to share with people, this is definitely it.


Yesterday I decided to go with something a little more normal, and whipped up some Dark Chocolate Cherry Cookies (54). These are a basic cookie with Dutched Cocoa in the dough and bittersweet chocolate chunks and dried tart cherries mixed in. The product is a couple dozen large cookies that have a very strong chocolate taste. The cherries do not feature too heavily in the overall taste of the cookies, but when you get a bite of one, you definitely notice it. Although I think these cookies are tasty, I would have liked it if the cherries were a stronger taste in them - especially considering how difficult it was to find sour cherries around here. Ah well. I'll chalk these down as good, but they were kind of a waste of money.


Alright, it's time for some sleep - I've got to be up early tomorrow for the start of yet another busy week. Hi ho the glamorous life!