Finally a baking success!

Ever since the very first time I used our oven to make Monster Cookies, I have had one baking disaster after another. Overcooked on the outside, undercooked on the inside, flat cookies resembling gooey pancakes...you name it.

I was really frustrated as I love baking and do a pretty good job of it in the U.S. All of my recent baking attempts have gone right in the trash because I would be too embarrassed to send them to work with John and we didn't even want to eat them. I used different recipes, made cookies, then tried cookie bars and they were all pretty bad ( to my Martha wannabe standards anyway...).

I was recently telling my friend Jill about how my cookies always come out bad here and she suggested that perhaps I was using the wrong setting on the oven. There are several different settings and given the product info in German that we received, I never understood the difference. Most frozen pizzas that we buy indicate that you can use two different settings and the temperature and cooking times differ slightly between the two. I always used the setting that looks like two horizontal parallel lines. I don't know why, I just did. I think maybe the first time I ever used the oven for the Monster Cookies, I may have used the other setting because that was the only time my cookies came out like they are supposed to!

Jill suggested trying the setting that looks like a little fan. She said that heats the entire oven instead of just the top and the bottom. Who knew? I tried it tonight and it totally worked! The cookies came out great.  I used the recipe for Quaker Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, but instead of raisins I used dried cranberries and I added some white chocolate as well. The only white chocolate I could find had hazelnuts in it, so I my cookies were Oatmeal with white chocolate, hazelnuts, and cranberries.

MMMMMMMM.

Still working on the whole food photography bit, but here are a few shots:

Aren't those pics big enough to make you just want to take a bite!

The real close up is a bit too blurry for my liking, but that particular setting was not cooperating tonight. 

John and I will be making a long trip to the gym tomorrow!