Baking Time

Last week I was asked to make some finger desserts for a VIP reception that was part of a concert/fireside at church. I was actually really excited about doing it because I enjoy baking and I just haven't done a lot of baking lately because I'm totally focused on losing my baby weight, so making extra goodies that will only serve to tempt me into eating extra calories seems pointless. (Poor Matt, there essentially is nothing dessert-like or sweet in our house at any given time). I also don't usually make super nice things because there's never really an occasion for them. I have a bunch of cookbooks, some of which contain only recipes for sweets and desserts. But I hardly use them. So this gave me the perfect opportunity to try one of the fancy recipes.

The woman who asked me to make the dessert has a reputation for throwing wonderful parties and being an all round amazing entertainer and hostess, so I was really worried about being able to meet her standards. Of course, she didn't put any pressure on me. She was so kind and said that anything I made would do. But still, I wanted to make something that would be impressive.

I decided on a recipe called cigarette russes. They are a thin, crisp cookie that is rolled tightly and dipped in chocolate. The picture in the book looked very elegant, so I thought they would fit nicely with the VIP reception. Still I was very aware that I was trying out a new recipe and I have been disappointed in the past when a new recipe has turned out awfully. To cover myself, I also planned to make my favorite fudge recipe, since I figured you can't go wrong with fudge.

So after the girls were asleep Thursday night and while Matt was doing some work in the basement, I set to work making the cookies. It was a lot of fun. I got to just focus on making cookies and not worry about anything else. I put my iPod on and just zoned. The actual baking time took quite a while because you can only bake four cookies at a time, as you need to individually roll each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven before they cool. It was very time intensive. It probably took me two hours to make two dozen cookies. The good news was that since I could only bake four at time, I was able to figure out exactly how long to cook them without ruining too many of them. My first four were a little undercooked, my next four were a little overcooked, but the rest came out just right.

In the end, I thought they turned out well enough to be included in the reception. I wasn't completely satisfied with them, I thought they looked a little amateurish and not as nice as the book, but I wasn't completely embarrassed by them. Plus I was also sending my fudge and I thought that the women in charge could just pick and choose what they wanted to use.

So it completely made my day when the woman who asked me to make the cookies and a friend of hers who is also very into entertaining showered me with praise on Sunday. They went on and on about how good the cookies were, how wonderful they looked, how impressed everyone that saw them was, etc. It was so nice to hear! Now I want to try new recipes more often. I really had a good time with it. Here's a pic of the final product.