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Friday, November 17, 2006

Baking: Procrastination in Disguise

Baking. Baking is doing something, right? You are up, moving around, active, creating - and to top it all off, the family loves it and encourages it. Right. Sort of. I've come to realize that my new found baking compulsion is really just cleverly disguised procrastination. I may well be doing something, but the bottom line is, I'm still not doing what I should be doing. It's a great excuse to not clean or do laundry or any of the millions of other things I should be doing. Then I get to procrastinate some more when it comes time to take pictures and blog about it.


Yesterday was no exception. More procrastination baking. And more cocoa. This time I blame it on the weather - it was nasty outside - pouring, windy, grey and just plain depressing. Why not warm up the house and my spirits with a little baking?

Cocoa was part of the ingredient again, but for a very different kind of cocoa cookie. Over on the CLBB, someone recently posted about a Chocolate Chai Snickerdoodle. Sounded different and divine. I searched the internet to see if anyone else had tried this cookie and found that Anne at Anne's Food, Nicole at Slashfood and Jennifer over at Musings all made these same cookies.

I felt the cocoa was a bit overwhelmed by the wonderful spices, but it added a lovely color and probably a depth of flavor that would not otherwise be present. The spices are lively and have a nice bite - probably from the ginger and pepper. Funny enough, they complemented the Rosemount Shiraz I was drinking while watching Grey's Anatomy last night quite nicely. The cookies are light in texture - a bit chewy on the edges, softer in the middle. Not as dense as the previous two cocoa cookies I made this week - quite a bit lighter. Not my favorite cookie, and I'm not sure if I'll try them again, but it was fun to try something different and they are yummy enough to not go to waste, that's for sure.

Baking may be my favorite form of procrastination..........not only do I get to put off my dreaded chores, but the family is very forgiving........

12 comments:

  1. Oh man... I'm so with you on choosing baking over cleaning or anything else for that matter!

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  2. It's a definite form of procrastination... and enjoyment... and happiness... and tastiness... and it's something to do when you're awake at 5:30am and there's no sign of going back to sleep.

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  3. Yep, baking can be a form of procrastination. I've found that blogging can be, too. ;-)

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  4. Hi Joe, Brilynn and Tracy.

    Yes - blogging is definitely a fun way to procrastinate and somewhat justifiable since you are being creative - writing and photography and all that.

    But there's just something about baking. I think I have really started to love it. I know some folks bake a lot more than I do, but I try to limit it because even if you add whole grains or make it low-fat, it's still not the healthiest thing in the world.

    I feel a post about the joys of baking coming on......maybe sometime after the holidays......

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  5. Anonymous5:59 PM

    I feel like I should always have some kind of homemade baked goodie on hand. In theory it isn't entirely healthy to always have it laying around, but it's much easier to resist that package of Oreos at the store because you have a fresh batch of cookies waiting at home for you.

    Maybe we should start a support group for "those who use baking as a form of procrastination." I bet the membership would be very high.

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  6. Erika - That's a good point, actually. We are the type of family who eats sweets much more than every once in a while. Much better to eat the homemade treats than the storebought. However, my problem is that with cookies, I have a hard time keeping my paws out of the cookie jar!

    Maybe the support group needs to be Compulsive Baker's Anonymous?? ;-)

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  7. Loved the baking. I need to gear myself up for some good baking before the holidays... I fear my motivation has fallen by the wayside. The tempting recipe you tried does look appealing.... :)

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  8. helios - I've been baking quite a bit, but none of it for the holidays! I don't usually go too wild with baking during the holidays only because most people seem to be trying to lose weight or are complaining about eating too much! But I will bake cookies for the family and some goodies for the neighbors........

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  9. Anonymous9:16 PM

    Hi Alysha! I'm starting to bake more myself, only I don't have anyone in the household to share it with! I still have boxes to unpack, but I'd rather be baking.

    I made another batch of the Chai Spice cookies. I think they all got eaten at school today. I'm experimenting w/ the spices to make a chai flavored hot cocoa to give as a Christmas gift.

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  10. Jennifer - chai-flavored hot cocoa sounds awesome! Let us know how your experiments come out!

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  11. I really need to catch up on the blog reading BEFORE I make a post! I made these and posted on them yesterday. My are puffier than yours, I think because I have a large cookie scoop that I used.

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  12. Patti - It's hard to keep up with what everyone is doing! It's kind of fun to see that sometimes we're all thinking the same thing without even knowing it. :) And with many of us reading the CLBB, there is bound to be lots of overlap. I'm behind in my blog reading too........

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