Don't Text and Bake

In a new town, a new home and a new stretch of my 20-something, I felt the desire to create a new tradition.  The Christmas Eve Cookie tradition where I try something spectacular and challenging to test my skills of a baker.  In the past few months, I have found baking to be my comfort zone.  I bake better than I cook.  But I still have a lot to learn about baking and Ms. Martha Stewart brought her "A" game to play today!


There were two cookies on deck today, both from Martha and while one will be revealed its fate tomorrow as the dough is still setting, the 2nd challenger was a doozy.  Candy-Stripe Cookie Sticks were challenging and I wish Ms. Martha would give me a few pointers out or any baker for that matter on how to perfect this cookie. 


I was supposed to reproduce this....

Perfect, beautifully piped and rolled to perfection.  Only I got this....

Well, it really looked like this...

They were neither light or crispy, not perfectly rolled and piping...I forgot to pipe a batch while talking on the phone with my Sister and my Brother-In-Law.  Never talk and bake. 

Batch #2

So what happened? 


The batch on the left were my 2nd batch and they came out more like the first picture.  The only thing missing is the red piping that could have definitely be done better shown on the right.  Moreover, because there were two cups of sugar and baked to bubbliness, cleaning the cooking sheet reminded me of my childhood days when I had to scrape the ice off the car windows.  Worse off, they were more difficult to clean as time passed.  Solution?  Run your baking sheets under water and scrap with a butter knife CAREFULLY!  I am lucky my baking sheets survived another day. 

Lesson learned:  Parchment Paper is  a MUST!

My third batch looked more like this:

Batch #3

What I have learned is instead of making them into pirouettes, I should just bake them into wafer cookies.  Notice the uneven coloring? If I decide to make this again AND use baking spray, I would consider baking them until a Crisp Golden Brown color.  I realized that while baking is an exact science, measuring out cookies to its dimensions and thickness are not my forte.  This brings nervousness to my cookie for tomorrow but I am sure, they will turn out better than these little guys! 

Lessons learned:

1.  Use parchment paper.
2.  Piped lines can be closer together.
3.  Use a spatula to even out the batter to a thin, even layer.
4.  While it asks for piping gel, I don't see why I can't just use food coloring.
5.  These are just as good as a wafer cookie than being pirouettes. 

Ms. Martha Stewart, awesome bakers out there?   What can I do to make this a thin, rolled to perfection cookie for next time?!